Motorbase Performance’s Tom Chilton went beneath the qualifying lap record en route to the top of the timesheets in the British Touring Car Championships morning test session at Thruxton.
Over two-thirds of the 32-car field have made the journey to Hampshire ahead of the series’ visit on 19-20 May.
Chilton’s best time of 1:15.979s in the Ford Focus RS edges out Matt Neal’s lap record from 2016 by just over a tenth of a second.
Brands Hatch race winner Senna Proctor finished 0.130 seconds behind in second, with Power Maxed Racing team mate Josh Cook third in the sister Vauxhall Astra.
The 2.3 mile venue has been a happy hunting ground for Honda machinery in recent years, illustrated again with Dan Cammish in fourth behind the wheel of the new-for-2018 Honda Civic Type R FK8, and Brett Smith fifth for Eurotech in the hatchback-shaped model.
Reigning champion Ash Sutton was sixth in the fastest Team BMR Subaru Levorg, with decorated team mate Jason Plato in 21st and Josh Price only 22nd.
Dunlop ‘Forever Forward’ standings leader Mike Bushell was seventh in the only present Team.HARD Volkswagen CC, eclipsing the Mercedes-Benz A-class of Adam Morgan by a thousandth of a second.
BMW stablemates Andrew Jordan and Colin Turkington rounded out the top ten.
Aiden Moffat finished eleventh ahead of Chilton’s team mate James Cole, with the Alfa Romeo Giulietta of Rob Austin thirteenth.
Sam Tordoff overcame a flight cancellation from Yorkshire to cover the 250 mile journey to Thruxton this morning and was similarly rapid on-circuit, ending the session fourteenth in the GardX-backed Focus RS.
Matt Neal’s FK8 rounded out the top fifteen, with another session to follow this afternoon.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 3 | Tom CHILTON |  |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 21 | 1:15.979 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 18 | Senna PROCTOR | |
Power Maxed TAG Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 26 | 1:16.109 | 0.130 |
| 3 | 66 | Josh COOK | |
Power Maxed TAG Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 23 | 1:16.147 | 0.168 |
| 4 | 27 | Dan CAMMISH | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 23 | 1:16.219 | 0.240 |
| 5 | 39 | Brett SMITH | |
WIX Racing with Eurotech | Honda Civic Type R | 25 | 1:16.223 | 0.244 |
| 6 | 1 | Ashley SUTTON | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 20 | 1:16.375 | 0.396 |
| 7 | 21 | Mike BUSHELL | |
Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing | Volkswagen CC | 16 | 1:16.562 | 0.583 |
| 8 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
MAC Tools with Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 24 | 1:16.563 | 0.584 |
| 9 | 77 | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 24 | 1:16.665 | 0.686 |
| 10 | 2 | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 22 | 1:16.688 | 0.709 |
| 11 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 24 | 1:16.839 | 0.860 |
| 12 | 20 | James COLE | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 25 | 1:16.939 | 0.960 |
| 13 | 11 | Rob AUSTIN | |
DUO Motorsport with HMS Racing | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 20 | 1:16.951 | 0.972 |
| 14 | 600 | Sam TORDOFF | |
Team GardX Racing with Motorbase | Ford Focus RS | 23 | 1:16.977 | 0.998 |
| 15 | 25 | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 8 | 1:16.995 | 1.016 |
| 16 | 303 | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 26 | 1:17.141 | 1.162 |
| 17 | 15 | Tom OLIPHANT | |
Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 25 | 1:17.462 | 1.483 |
| 18 | 31 | Jack GOFF | |
WIX Racing with Eurotech | Honda Civic Type R | 25 | 1:17.583 | 1.604 |
| 19 | 60 | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 21 | 1:17.789 | 1.810 |
| 20 | 5 | Rob COLLARD | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 26 | 1:17.808 | 1.829 |
| 21 | 99 | Jason PLATO | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 14 | 1:17.964 | 1.985 |
| 22 | 28 | Josh PRICE | |
Autoglym Academy Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 19 | 1:18.314 | 2.335 |
| 23 | 23 | Sam SMELT | |
AmD with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 21 | 1:18.805 | 2.826 |