Tom Oliphant tops tight opening practice at Silverstone

Ciceley Motorsport’s Tom Oliphant set the pace in a tight opening practice session at Silverstone, heading Team HARD’s Mike Bushell for the majority of the session.

Oliphant went fastest around 15 minutes into free practice one with a time of 58.474s, and held on to the top spot by 0.042s from Bushell.

Rob Austin was third fastest in his Alfa Romeo Giulietta, ahead of BMW Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan by just two thousandths of a second.

WIX Racing with Eurotech’s Brett Smith completed the top five, with stablemate Jack Goff’s Honda Civic Type R just behind him.

Dan Cammish was seventh in the first of the Halfords Yuasa Racing Hondas, ahead of double champion Jason Plato in eighth position, the fastest of the Subarus.

Josh Cook placed ninth with an effort later in the session, with Aiden Moffat rounding out the top ten.

Championship challenger Tom Ingram finished 12th in his Speedworks Motorsport Toyota, while standings leader Colin Turkington could only manage 19th.

Defending champion Ash Sutton was 17th, just behind Ricky Collard, who continues to substitute for his father in the Team BMW seat.

Matt Simpson, who reverted back to running his own car at Knockhill, completed the most laps of any runner in the session, with 30 tours of the 1.639-mile national layout.

The second free practice session is set to get underway at 12:05.

Session results

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	15	Tom OLIPHANT		Ciceley Motorsport	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	26	58.474	0.000
2	21	Mike BUSHELL		Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing	Volkswagen CC	16	58.516	0.042
3	11	Rob AUSTIN		DUO Motorsport with HMS Racing	Alfa Romeo Giulietta	27	58.584	0.110
4	77	Andrew JORDAN		BMW Pirtek Racing	BMW 125i M Sport	25	58.586	0.112
5	39	Brett SMITH		WIX Racing with Eurotech	Honda Civic Type R	25	58.627	0.153
6	31	Jack GOFF		WIX Racing with Eurotech	Honda Civic Type R	29	58.671	0.197
7	27	Dan CAMMISH		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	24	58.698	0.224
8	99	Jason PLATO		Adrian Flux Subaru Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	26	58.699	0.225
9	66	Josh COOK		Power Maxed TAG Racing	Vauxhall Astra	21	58.700	0.226
10	16	Aiden MOFFAT		Laser Tools Racing	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	28	58.743	0.269
11	22	Chris SMILEY		BTC Norlin Racing	Honda Civic Type R	26	58.746	0.272
12	80	Tom INGRAM		Speedworks Motorsport	Toyota Avensis	22	58.750	0.276
13	303	Matt SIMPSON		Simpson Racing	Honda Civic Type R	30	58.756	0.282
14	3	Tom CHILTON		Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher	Ford Focus RS	25	58.761	0.287
15	25	Matt NEAL		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	24	58.784	0.310
16	55	Ricky COLLARD		Team BMW	BMW 125i M Sport	23	58.792	0.318
17	1	Ashley SUTTON		Adrian Flux Subaru Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	26	58.847	0.373
18	26	Daniel LLOYD		BTC Norlin Racing	Honda Civic Type R	28	58.852	0.378
19	2	Colin TURKINGTON		Team BMW	BMW 125i M Sport	25	58.875	0.401
20	600	Sam TORDOFF		Team GardX Racing with Motorbase	Ford Focus RS	22	58.882	0.408
21	33	Adam MORGAN		MAC Tools with Ciceley Motorsport	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	21	58.970	0.496
22	18	Senna PROCTOR		Power Maxed TAG Racing	Vauxhall Astra	22	58.991	0.517
23	60	Stephen JELLEY		Team Parker Racing	BMW 125i M Sport	28	59.027	0.553
24	6	Rory BUTCHER		AmD with AutoAid / RCIB Insurance Racing	MG 6	16	59.077	0.603
25	48	Ollie JACKSON		AmD with Cobra Exhausts	Audi S3	26	59.105	0.631
26	19	Bobby THOMPSON		Team HARD. with Trade Price Cars	Volkswagen CC	17	59.240	0.766
27	20	James COLE		Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher	Ford Focus RS	22	59.429	0.955
28	23	Sam SMELT		AmD with Cobra Exhausts	Audi S3	27	59.529	1.055
29	43	Ollie PIDGLEY		Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing	Volkswagen CC	25	59.605	1.131
30	32	Ethan HAMMERTON		Team HARD. with Trade Price Cars	Volkswagen CC	11	59.759	1.285
31	54	Josh CAYGILL		AmD with AutoAid / RCIB Insurance Racing	MG 6	26	59.814	1.340