Pyro Motorsport’s Ollie Taylor set the benchmark time on a drying track surface during the TCR UK warm-up session at Donington Park, heading the returning Josh Price by just over a second.
Five drivers from as many marques and teams enjoyed a stint atop the time sheets in an unpredictable half-hour session, though Taylor’s final flying effort of 1:14.550 proved enough to take top spot.
It was title rival Dan Lloyd’s WestCoast Racing-run Volkswagen Golf GTi that led the way after the entire field’s initial 3 lap run.
Team mate Andreas Backman – back in the VW after a first victory in the series at Croft in the SWR-run Honda Civic FK2 – was the first man to get within half a second of the British Touring Car Championship race-winner, before Price undercut them both with a 1:21.8.
Stewart Lines and Carl Swift then put in a promising early showing for the CUPRA pairing, with the latter becoming the third different pace-setter as a drying line began to emerge.
That prompted a late flurry of improvements, during which Darelle Wilson’s Vauxhall Astra and then Taylor’s Honda Civic Type R FK7 led the way.
Despite further improvements Taylor remained the man to beat, eventually heading Price by 1.084 seconds and title rival Lloyd.
Swift was eventually classified fourth ahead of Backman, with sister Jessica eighth behind Wilson and Lines.
Finlay Crocker was ninth in the Verizion-backed FK7, with Sean Walkinshaw rounding out the top ten in his eponymous team’s FK2.
Lewis Kent’s Hyundai i30 N TCR brings up the rear of the field after having his best time deleted for exceeding track limits.
The weekend continues with Free Practice at 13:50 BST.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 32 | Oliver TAYLOR |  |
Pyro Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 17 | 1:14.550 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 28 | Josh PRICE | |
JP Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK2 TCR | 12 | 1:15.634 | 1.084 |
| 3 | 23 | Dan LLOYD | |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 13 | 1:16.127 | 1.577 |
| 4 | 45 | Carl SWIFT | |
Maximum Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 18 | 1:16.762 | 2.212 |
| 5 | 19 | Andreas BÄCKMAN |  |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 17 | 1:17.240 | 2.690 |
| 6 | 50 | Darelle WILSON | |
DW Racing | Vauxhall Astra TCR | 12 | 1:19.185 | 4.635 |
| 7 | 95 | Stewart LINES | |
Maximum Motorsport | CUPRA TCR V3 DSG | 15 | 1:19.789 | 5.239 |
| 8 | 26 | Jessica BÄCKMAN | |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 14 | 1:21.389 | 6.839 |
| 9 | 8 | Finlay CROCKER | |
Verizon Connect Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 12 | 1:22.939 | 8.389 |
| 10 | 55 | Sean WALKINSHAW | |
Sean Walkinshaw Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK2 TCR | 13 | 1:24.186 | 9.636 |
| 11 | 38 | Lewis KENT | |
Essex & Kent Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 1:24.202 | 9.652 |