Ash Sutton set the pace in a wet first British Touring Car Championship free practice session of the season at Thruxton, which was red-flagged with three minutes left to run.
Sutton put his Infiniti Q50 on top of the times around half an hour into the 40-minute session with an effort of 1 minute 20.041 seconds, edging out the previous best time which had been held by BTC Racing’s Josh Cook.
With improvements becoming less frequent towards the end of the session, Cook was able to hold on to the second-best time in his Honda at the end of the session, whilst MB Motorsport’s Jake Hill was third quickest in his Ford Focus ST, just over six tenths off the pace.
Returning champion Gordon Shedden proved that he maintains the same pace he had when he last raced in the series in 2017, putting in the fourth fastest time, the last driver to be within a second of the pace.
Similarly, double champion Jason Plato was on strong form in the wet after a year away from the BTCC, leading the PMR Vauxhall Astras with a time just over a second from Sutton.
Aiden Moffat put the second Laser Tools Infiniti in sixth, ahead of the leading Speedworks Toyota of Rory Butcher in seventh.
Tom Oliphant was the best of the BMW drivers in eighth, whilst the top ten was completed by BTC Racing’s guest entrant Dan Cammish and the second Team Dynamics Honda of Dan Rowbottom.
Leading the Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai charge was Tom Ingram in 11th, over one and a half seconds off the pace as none of his three other team-mates could crack into the top twenty.
The first official practice session for the new Team HARD CUPRAs saw Gylnn Geddie in 18th emerge as the fastest, the Scot being almost three seconds off the pace.
In all, the 26 drivers who set a time were covered by just under six seconds, whilst Ciceley Motorsport’s Tom Chilton failed to post a competitive time despite completing five laps of the Hampshire circuit.
Second practice is scheduled to get underway at 12:15 BST.
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 1 |  |
Ash SUTTON | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 17 | 1:20.041 | – |
| 2 | 66 | |
Josh COOK | BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 13 | 1:20.090 | 0.049 |
| 3 | 24 | |
Jake HILL | MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Ford Focus ST | 14 | 1:20.651 | 0.61 |
| 4 | 52 | |
Gordon SHEDDEN | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type-R | 17 | 1:20.816 | 0.775 |
| 5 | 11 | |
Jason PLATO | Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 14 | 1:21.081 | 1.04 |
| 6 | 16 | |
Aiden MOFFAT | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 18 | 1:21.142 | 1.101 |
| 7 | 6 | |
Rory BUTCHER | Toyota Gazoo Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 15 | 1:21.225 | 1.184 |
| 8 | 15 | |
Tom OLIPHANT | Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 15 | 1:21.259 | 1.218 |
| 9 | 27 | |
Dan CAMMISH | BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 15 | 1:21.285 | 1.244 |
| 10 | 32 | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type-R | 20 | 1:21.302 | 1.261 |
| 11 | 80 | |
Tom INGRAM | Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 13 | 1:21.663 | 1.622 |
| 12 | 48 | |
Ollie JACKSON | MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Ford Focus ST | 19 | 1:21.695 | 1.654 |
| 13 | 123 | |
Daniel LLOYD | Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 12 | 1:21.737 | 1.696 |
| 14 | 2 | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 16 | 1:21.891 | 1.85 |
| 15 | 44 | |
Andy NEATE | Racing with Wera & Photon Group | Ford Focus ST | 18 | 1:22.314 | 2.273 |
| 16 | 33 | |
Adam MORGAN | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330i M Sport | 13 | 1:22.564 | 2.523 |
| 17 | 99 | |
Jade EDWARDS | BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 18 | 1:22.615 | 2.574 |
| 18 | 88 | |
Glynn GEDDIE | Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct | CUPRA Leon | 18 | 1:22.855 | 2.814 |
| 19 | 12 | |
Stephen JELLEY | Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 17 | 1:23.096 | 3.055 |
| 20 | 41 | |
Carl BOARDLEY | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 15 | 1:23.258 | 3.217 |
| 21 | 31 | |
Jack GOFF | Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct | CUPRA Leon | 14 | 1:23.269 | 3.228 |
| 22 | 22 | |
Chris SMILEY | Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 15 | 1:23.273 | 3.232 |
| 23 | 40 | |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Team HARD. with HUB Financial Solutions | CUPRA Leon | 15 | 1:23.545 | 3.504 |
| 24 | 4 | |
Sam OSBORNE | Racing with Wera & Photon Group | Ford Focus ST | 18 | 1:23.795 | 3.754 |
| 25 | 23 | |
Sam SMELT | Toyota Gazoo Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 14 | 1:24.047 | 4.006 |
| 26 | 62 | |
Rick PARFITT Jr | EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 18 | 1:24.654 | 4.613 |
| 27 | 28 | |
Nicolas HAMILTON | ROKiT Racing with iQuoto Online Trading | CUPRA Leon | 14 | 1:25.674 | 5.633 |
| 28 | 96 | |
Jack BUTEL | EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 16 | 1:25.997 | 5.956 |
| 29 | 3 | |
Tom CHILTON | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330i M Sport | 5 | No time | N/A |