Jason Plato draws first blood in Knockhill practice

Jason Plato set the pace in first practice for the British Touring Car Championship at Knockhill, with the ballast-free Subaru driver posting a time just 0.007 seconds faster than Speedworks’ Tom Ingram.

Plato hit the top of the times at the half-way stage of the 40 minute session, posting a time of 52.545 seconds to demote Ingram, who had earlier set the pace in the opening minutes of the session, to second, less than a tenth of a second behind.

The session was punctuated by two red-flag stoppages, with the first eight-minute halt coming as a result of Motorbase Performance’s Andrew Jordan spearing off the circuit when his front-left suspension failed, pitching him into the tyres.

When the session resumed there was little time for improvements before the session was stopped for a second time, albeit only for a couple of minutes before the green flags resumed.

That left little time for drivers to improve their times, with MG’s Ashley Sutton in third, just under two tenths further back from Plato.

WIX Racing’s Adam Morgan was one of the early pace-setters in the session and, having been warned several times for exceeding the track limits, ended up fourth fastest.

Sam Tordoff was the leading WSR BMW driver in fifth, proving that the car has strong pace at the track despite carrying a maximum 75 kg of success ballast.

Jordan ended the session in sixth despite his earlier off, ahead of the leading Scot of Aiden Moffat in seventh.

MG’s Josh Cook, WSR’s Jack Goff and Honda’s Gordon Shedden completed the top ten, the latter being just under four tenths off the pace at his home circuit.

All of the damaged cars from the previous round at Snetterton made it out onto the track, with Hunter Abbot being 15^th fastest and Dan Welch in 31^st, just over three seconds off the pace in the Proton which has been rapidly built up from a spare shell.

Session results

POS	NO	CL	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	99	M	Jason PLATO		Silverline Subaru BMR Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	21	52.545	0.000
2	80		Tom INGRAM		Speedworks Motorsport	Toyota Avensis	21	52.552	0.007
3	116	M	Ashley SUTTON		MG Racing RCIB Insurance	MG6GT	17	52.734	0.189
4	33		Adam MORGAN		WIX Racing	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	22	52.739	0.194
5	600	C	Sam TORDOFF		Team JCT600 with GardX	BMW 125i M Sport	15	52.851	0.306
6	77		Andrew JORDAN		Motorbase Performance	Ford Focus	13	52.860	0.315
7	16		Aiden MOFFAT		Laser Tools Racing	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	20	52.863	0.318
8	66	M	Josh COOK		MG Racing RCIB Insurance	MG6GT	19	52.912	0.367
9	31	C	Jack GOFF		Team IHG Rewards Club	BMW 125i M Sport	18	52.916	0.371
10	52	M	Gordon SHEDDEN		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	19	52.938	0.393
11	11		Rob AUSTIN		Handy Motorsport	Toyota Avensis	20	52.991	0.446
12	24		Jake HILL		RCIB Insurance Racing	Toyota Avensis	18	53.024	0.479
13	100	C	Rob COLLARD		Team JCT600 with GardX	BMW 125i M Sport	19	53.031	0.486
14	4	M	Colin TURKINGTON		Silverline Subaru BMR Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	22	53.032	0.487
15	53		Hunter ABBOTT		Power Maxed Racing	Chevrolet Cruze	23	53.144	0.599
16	55		Jeff SMITH		Eurotech Racing	Honda Civic Type R	23	53.178	0.633
17	20	M	James COLE		Silverline Subaru BMR Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	23	53.182	0.637
18	40		Árón SMITH		BKR	Volkswagen CC	20	53.183	0.638
19	7		Mat JACKSON		Motorbase Performance	Ford Focus	18	53.184	0.639
20	71		David NEWSHAM		Power Maxed Racing	Chevrolet Cruze	21	53.384	0.839
21	39	M	Warren SCOTT		Silverline Subaru BMR Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	19	53.518	0.973
22	30		Martin DEPPER		Eurotech Racing	Honda Civic Type R	20	53.541	0.996
23	95		Stewart LINES		Maximum Motorsport	Ford Focus	21	53.669	1.124
24	88		Michael CAINE		TLC Racing	Toyota Avensis	17	53.748	1.203
25	303		Matt SIMPSON		Speedworks Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R	17	53.786	1.241
26	48		Ollie JACKSON		AmD Tuning	Audi S3	19	53.820	1.275
27	12		Mike EPPS		RCIB Insurance Racing	Toyota Avensis	21	53.859	1.314
28	14		Alex MARTIN		Dextra Racing with Team Parker	Ford Focus	23	53.928	1.383
29	38		Mark HOWARD		BKR	Volkswagen CC	18	54.676	2.131
30	25	M	Matt NEAL		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	16	54.800	2.255
31	17		Dan WELCH		Goodestone Racing	Proton Persona	9	55.713	3.168

Complete session results.