Andrew Jordan topped the opening free practice session ahead of this weekend’s triple-header of Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship races, with the 2013 champion clocking a fastest time of 1:16.814 around the 2.4 mile Thruxton circuit ahead of MG’s Josh Cook and the Subaru Levorg of Colin Turkington.
Jordan, who endured a frustrating weekend last time out at Donington Park despite a strong showing at the series opener a fortnight prior, is considered something of a Thruxton specialist after several strong showings in recent seasons, and he will be hopeful of maintaining this form into qualifying this afternoon as he chases a first race victory since Croft 2014. Meanwhile his Motorbase Performance team-mate Mat Jackson finished the session in fourth after putting in solid running throughout.
His closest competition, Josh Cook, stood on the podium last time out but could only come within 0.024 seconds of the Pirtek Racing Ford Focus ST, whilst his team-mate, Ashley Sutton, sat a further nine tenths of a second behind in 13th.
The works Halfords Yuasa Racing outfit chose to focus on completing installation laps and working on the setup of the Honda Civic Type R during the opening session, with Matt Neal only setting his first timed lap after thirty minutes of the session had expired. He ended up in 11th, with his team-mate and defending champion Gordon Shedden following him on the timesheets in 12th.
Colin Turkington put in Team BMR’s strongest showing of the campaign thus far, putting the Levorg in third and just 0.408 seconds off the pace, though his team-mates fared less impressively and were classified in 21st (Plato), 25th (Cole) and 28th (Scott).
WSR put all three BMW 125i M-Sport machines in the top eight, with local hero Rob Collard setting the quickest time of the three race-winners in 5th, ahead of recent London Marathon runner Sam Tordoff in 7th and the IHG-backed Jack Goff in 8th.
Tom Ingram completed another strong showing for Speedworks Motorsport, whilst Eurotech Racing were another outfit to continue their positive form, with Jeff Smith ending the session 9th, and his rookie team-mate and new addition Daniel Lloyd put in the 15th fastest time.
There was one red flag stoppage during the forty minutes running as Adam Morgan crashed at Allards, and it is unknown whether the damage to the WIX Racing Mercedes A-Class will sideline him for the rest of the days running.
The second free practice session gets underway at 12:40, in which Jordan will look to double up his honours and take his strong form into qualifying later this afternoon.
Session results
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 77 | Andrew JORDAN |  |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus | 22 | 1:16.814 | 0.000 | |
| 2 | 66 | M | Josh COOK | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 19 | 1:16.838 | 0.024 |
| 3 | 4 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 14 | 1:17.222 | 0.408 |
| 4 | 7 | Mat JACKSON | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus | 21 | 1:17.234 | 0.420 | |
| 5 | 100 | C | Rob COLLARD | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 15 | 1:17.371 | 0.557 |
| 6 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 14 | 1:17.397 | 0.583 | |
| 7 | 600 | C | Sam TORDOFF | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 10 | 1:17.543 | 0.729 |
| 8 | 31 | C | Jack GOFF | |
Team IHG Rewards Club | BMW 125i M Sport | 16 | 1:17.581 | 0.767 |
| 9 | 55 | Jeff SMITH | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 19 | 1:17.587 | 0.773 | |
| 10 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
WIX Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 19 | 1:17.636 | 0.822 | |
| 11 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 20 | 1:17.649 | 0.835 |
| 12 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 20 | 1:17.674 | 0.860 |
| 13 | 116 | M | Ashley SUTTON | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 11 | 1:17.733 | 0.919 |
| 14 | 53 | Hunter ABBOTT | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 18 | 1:17.867 | 1.053 | |
| 15 | 23 | Daniel LLOYD | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 19 | 1:17.883 | 1.069 | |
| 16 | 11 | Rob AUSTIN | |
Handy Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 16 | 1:17.902 | 1.088 | |
| 17 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
RCIB Insurance Racing | Toyota Avensis | 11 | 1:18.005 | 1.191 | |
| 18 | 40 | Árón SMITH |  |
BKR | Volkswagen CC | 13 | 1:18.191 | 1.377 | |
| 19 | 17 | Dan WELCH | |
Goodestone Racing | Proton Persona | 18 | 1:18.296 | 1.482 | |
| 20 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmD Tuning | Audi S3 | 17 | 1:18.355 | 1.541 | |
| 21 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 17 | 1:18.361 | 1.547 |
| 22 | 12 | Mike EPPS | |
RCIB Insurance Racing | Toyota Avensis | 20 | 1:18.473 | 1.659 | |
| 23 | 303 | Matt SIMPSON | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R | 18 | 1:18.557 | 1.743 | |
| 24 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 19 | 1:18.708 | 1.894 | |
| 25 | 20 | M | James COLE | |
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 19 | 1:18.718 | 1.904 |
| 26 | 38 | Mark HOWARD | |
BKR | Volkswagen CC | 22 | 1:18.899 | 2.085 | |
| 27 | 30 | Martin DEPPER | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 20 | 1:19.004 | 2.190 | |
| 28 | 39 | M | Warren SCOTT | |
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 20 | 1:19.006 | 2.192 |
| 29 | 84 | Kelvin FLETCHER | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 19 | 1:19.333 | 2.519 | |
| 30 | 14 | Alex MARTIN | |
Dextra Racing with Team Parker | Ford Focus | 22 | 1:19.614 | 2.800 | |
| 31 | 95 | Stewart LINES | |
Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 19 | 1:20.112 | 3.298 | |
| 32 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
TLC Racing | Toyota Avensis | 4 | No time | N/A |