Josh Cook has struck first blood in the second Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship meeting of the season at Donington Park, topping the first free practice session with a fastest lap time of 1:10.985 in the MG Triple Eight Racing MG6.
The early pace was set by Tom Ingram, who claimed a maiden race victory for both himself and the Speedworks Motorsport team a fortnight ago at Brands Hatch, but as the lap times started to tumble it was Mat Jackson who emerged as the standout competitor.
There were surprises as both Jake Hill and Martin Depper ran inside the top six at intervals during the opening exchanges, whilst the Team BMR Subaru outfit continued to bed in their brand-new Subaru Levorg models and posted relatively competitive times to place themselves on the fringes of the top ten.
Josh Cook then took to the circuit in anger, first moving his MG6 GT into 2nd behind Jackson, before then going one better a lap later to post the most competitive time of the session to date with a 1:11.226.
The session was red-flagged with thirteen minutes remaining as both Eurotech Type Rs went off, with Jeff Smith requiring a recovery vehicle to rescue his car from the gravel at the Old Hairpin whilst Martin Depper was also forced to stop trackside, bringing the other 29 cars back into the pit lane.
Drivers were only able to get a handful of flying laps in once the session resumed, and it became a contest between Cook and defending champion Gordon Shedden, who only elected to show his hand in the works Honda during the latter stages of the session. Team-mate Matt Neal was surprisingly quiet further down the order, ending the session in sixth.
With fifty seconds left on the clock, the session was curtailed once again by another red flag after Matt Simpson went off at Redgate, leaving Cook fastest after the first session. Second practice gets underway at 12:50.
Session results
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 66 | M | Josh COOK |  |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 14 | 1:10.985 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | 1:11.030 | 0.045 |
| 3 | 7 | Mat JACKSON | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus | 17 | 1:11.431 | 0.446 | |
| 4 | 40 | Árón SMITH |  |
BKR | Volkswagen CC | 16 | 1:11.454 | 0.469 | |
| 5 | 4 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Subaru Team BMR | Subaru Levorg GT | 14 | 1:11.581 | 0.596 |
| 6 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 17 | 1:11.668 | 0.683 |
| 7 | 77 | Andrew JORDAN | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus | 17 | 1:11.703 | 0.718 | |
| 8 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
RCIB Insurance Racing | Toyota Avensis | 18 | 1:11.793 | 0.808 | |
| 9 | 116 | M | Ashley SUTTON | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 14 | 1:11.814 | 0.829 |
| 10 | 100 | C | Rob COLLARD | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 11 | 1:11.901 | 0.916 |
| 11 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 18 | 1:12.046 | 1.061 | |
| 12 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
WIX Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 17 | 1:12.190 | 1.205 | |
| 13 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 11 | 1:12.261 | 1.276 | |
| 14 | 30 | Martin DEPPER | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 12 | 1:12.312 | 1.327 | |
| 15 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmD Tuning | Audi S3 | 17 | 1:12.530 | 1.545 | |
| 16 | 55 | Jeff SMITH | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 8 | 1:12.536 | 1.551 | |
| 17 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Subaru Team BMR | Subaru Levorg GT | 15 | 1:12.553 | 1.568 |
| 18 | 303 | Matt SIMPSON | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R | 14 | 1:12.579 | 1.594 | |
| 19 | 14 | Alex MARTIN | |
Dextra Racing with Team Parker | Ford Focus | 15 | 1:12.683 | 1.698 | |
| 20 | 600 | C | Sam TORDOFF | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 12 | 1:12.780 | 1.795 |
| 21 | 31 | C | Jack GOFF | |
Team IHG Rewards Club | BMW 125i M Sport | 10 | 1:12.900 | 1.915 |
| 22 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
TLC Racing | Toyota Avensis | 14 | 1:13.211 | 2.226 | |
| 23 | 39 | M | Warren SCOTT | |
Subaru Team BMR | Subaru Levorg GT | 16 | 1:13.236 | 2.251 |
| 24 | 12 | Mike EPPS | |
RCIB Insurance Racing | Toyota Avensis | 14 | 1:13.447 | 2.462 | |
| 25 | 20 | M | James COLE | |
Subaru Team BMR | Subaru Levorg GT | 16 | 1:13.606 | 2.621 |
| 26 | 17 | Dan WELCH | |
Goodestone Racing | Proton Persona | 16 | 1:13.863 | 2.878 | |
| 27 | 38 | Mark HOWARD | |
BKR | Volkswagen CC | 13 | 1:16.318 | 5.333 | |
| 28 | 95 | Stewart LINES | |
Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 9 | 1:17.275 | 6.290 | |
| 29 | 84 | Kelvin FLETCHER | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 15 | 1:17.686 | 6.701 | |
| 30 | 53 | Hunter ABBOTT | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 12 | 1:20.534 | 9.549 | |
| 31 | 11 | Rob AUSTIN | |
Handy Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 4 | No time | N/A |