AmD Tuning’s Sam Tordoff was quickest in the opening British Touring Car Championship test session at Brands Hatch, edging out the Team BMW duo of Andrew Jordan and Colin Turkington.
Tordoff, who has switched to Honda machinery for the 2019 season, initially went fastest in the first third of the session with a 48.622s lap around the Brands Hatch Indy circuit.
Completing the most laps of anyone in the session with 76 tours, Tordoff continued to improve on his time before clocking a 48.087s with just over ten minutes remaining.
His time is just half a tenth shy of Jack Goff’s pole lap at the same circuit at the opening round last year.
Andrew Jordan was second fastest ahead of reigning champion Colin Turkington, the two teammates enjoying positive early pace from their all-new BMW 330i M Sport.
Stephen Jelley was fourth fastest in the previous generation BMW, with Tordoff’s teammate Rory Butcher completing the top five.
Next was the Halfords Yuasa Racing duo of Matt Neal and Dan Cammish, who finished the session in sixth and seventh respectively, ahead of the third WSR-run BMW of Tom Oliphant.
Chris Smiley was ninth fastest in his BTC Racing Honda Civic Type R FK8, while Ollie Jackson’s Motorbase-run Ford Focus rounded out the top ten.
2018 runner-up Tom Ingram placed 15th in his new Toyota Corolla, while the pair of Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astras of Jason Plato and Rob Collard ended up 22nd and 25th respectively.
The session ran without interruption for the full three hours, with the second test due to start at 14:00 BST.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 600 | Sam TORDOFF |  |
Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid / RCIB Insurance | Honda Civic Type R | 77 | 48.087 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 77 | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 330i M Sport | 24 | 48.163 | 0.076 |
| 3 | 1 | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 61 | 48.207 | 0.120 |
| 4 | 12 | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 74 | 48.219 | 0.132 |
| 5 | 6 | Rory BUTCHER | |
Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid / RCIB Insurance | Honda Civic Type R | 54 | 48.233 | 0.146 |
| 6 | 25 | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 59 | 48.271 | 0.184 |
| 7 | 27 | Dan CAMMISH | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 51 | 48.296 | 0.209 |
| 8 | 15 | Tom OLIPHANT | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 63 | 48.347 | 0.260 |
| 9 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 61 | 48.356 | 0.269 |
| 10 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 44 | 48.415 | 0.328 |
| 11 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 38 | 48.433 | 0.346 |
| 12 | 303 | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 51 | 48.450 | 0.363 |
| 13 | 3 | Tom CHILTON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 73 | 48.529 | 0.442 |
| 14 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
Mac Tools with Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 66 | 48.652 | 0.565 |
| 15 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Team Toyota GB with Ginsters | Toyota Corolla | 40 | 48.656 | 0.569 |
| 16 | 31 | Jack GOFF | |
RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | 41 | 48.665 | 0.578 |
| 17 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
TradePriceCars.com | Audi S3 | 67 | 48.669 | 0.582 |
| 18 | 32 | Daniel ROWBOTTOM | |
Cataclean Racing with Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 44 | 48.713 | 0.626 |
| 19 | 28 | Nicolas HAMILTON | |
ROKiT Racing with Motorbase | Ford Focus RS | 61 | 48.751 | 0.664 |
| 20 | 37 | Rob SMITH | |
Exceler8 Motorsport | MG6 | 62 | 48.883 | 0.796 |
| 21 | 19 | Bobby THOMPSON | |
GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct | Volkswagen CC | 43 | 48.923 | 0.836 |
| 22 | 11 | Jason PLATO | |
Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 60 | 48.953 | 0.866 |
| 23 | 66 | Josh COOK | |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 36 | 49.047 | 0.960 |
| 24 | 8 | Mark BLUNDELL | |
TradePriceCars.com | Audi S3 | 51 | 49.049 | 0.962 |
| 25 | 9 | Rob COLLARD | |
Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 48 | 49.145 | 1.058 |
| 26 | 116 | Ashley SUTTON | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg | 29 | 49.151 | 1.064 |
| 27 | 18 | Senna PROCTOR | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg | 34 | 49.293 | 1.206 |
| 28 | 777 | Michael CREES | |
GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct | Volkswagen CC | 21 | 49.614 | 1.527 |
| 29 | 4 | Sam OSBORNE | |
Exceler8 Motorsport | MG6 | 57 | 49.895 | 1.808 |