Gordon Shedden rose to the top of the times in another wet British Touring Car Championship practice session at Thruxton, edging out FP1 pace-setter Ash Sutton by two tenths of a second.
Having been fourth fastest in the morning’s first session, on his return to the championship three-time champion Shedden proved that he remains a force to be reckonened with by mastering the again tricky conditions at the Hampshire circuit.
Rain has fallen all morning at Thruxton, with increasing winds during FP2 meaning that the best lap time was actually nine tenths slower than earlier in the day.
Shedden’s Team Dynamics team-mate Dan Rowbottom was an impressive third fastest, just under three tenths adrift, ahead of former Team Dynamics racer Dan Cammish, as the Hondas proved to be the car to have as the day developed.
Towards the end of the 40-minute session conditions began to improve, and around a dozen drivers ventured out on slick tyres to evaluate the conditions, although the track was still too wet for any lap time improvements to be made.
Tom Oliphant was the best BMW driver in fifth, ahead of PMR’s Jason Plato in sixth, the veteran racer again in the mix inside the top ten on his series return.
Tom Ingram was again comfortably the best of the Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai drivers in seventh, ahead of Aiden Moffat’s Infiniti in eighth.
The top ten was completed by BTC Racing’s Josh Cook, who had been second earlier in the day, and Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan.
Cook was amongst the first drivers to venture out onto slick tyres, although the rubber proved to still be around two seconds off the wet-tyre pace come the end of the session.
Of note, neither of the Toyotas made it into the top ten, with Rory Butcher being Speedworks’ best-placed driver in 12th, whilst Colin Turkington was just 19th, the Northern Irishman over two seconds off the pace.
Qualifying is scheduled to get underway at 14:45 BST.
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 52 |  |
Gordon SHEDDEN | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type-R | 15 | 1:20.994 | – |
| 2 | 1 | |
Ash SUTTON | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 20 | 1:21.194 | 0.200 |
| 3 | 32 | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type-R | 13 | 1:21.260 | 0.266 |
| 4 | 27 | |
Dan CAMMISH | BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 8 | 1:21.338 | 0.344 |
| 5 | 15 | |
Tom OLIPHANT | Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 17 | 1:21.417 | 0.423 |
| 6 | 11 | |
Jason PLATO | Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 16 | 1:21.539 | 0.545 |
| 7 | 80 | |
Tom INGRAM | Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 16 | 1:21.547 | 0.553 |
| 8 | 16 | |
Aiden MOFFAT | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 16 | 1:21.579 | 0.585 |
| 9 | 66 | |
Josh COOK | BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 13 | 1:21.791 | 0.797 |
| 10 | 33 | |
Adam MORGAN | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330i M Sport | 14 | 1:21.895 | 0.901 |
| 11 | 24 | |
Jake HILL | MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Ford Focus ST | 19 | 1:21.990 | 0.996 |
| 12 | 6 | |
Rory BUTCHER | Toyota Gazoo Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 14 | 1:21.992 | 0.998 |
| 13 | 123 | |
Daniel LLOYD | Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 9 | 1:22.221 | 1.227 |
| 14 | 48 | |
Ollie JACKSON | MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Ford Focus ST | 14 | 1:22.376 | 1.382 |
| 15 | 22 | |
Chris SMILEY | Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 18 | 1:22.399 | 1.405 |
| 16 | 31 | |
Jack GOFF | Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct | CUPRA Leon | 18 | 1:22.480 | 1.486 |
| 17 | 12 | |
Stephen JELLEY | Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 10 | 1:22.681 | 1.687 |
| 18 | 40 |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Team HARD. with HUB Financial Solutions | CUPRA Leon | 18 | 1:22.861 | 1.867 |
| 19 | 2 | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 16 | 1:23.025 | 2.031 |
| 20 | 4 | |
Sam OSBORNE | Racing with Wera & Photon Group | Ford Focus ST | 17 | 1:23.045 | 2.051 |
| 21 | 44 | |
Andy NEATE | Racing with Wera & Photon Group | Ford Focus ST | 17 | 1:23.049 | 2.055 |
| 22 | 41 | |
Carl BOARDLEY | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 15 | 1:23.062 | 2.068 |
| 23 | 3 | |
Tom CHILTON | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330i M Sport | 16 | 1:23.147 | 2.153 |
| 24 | 23 | |
Sam SMELT | Toyota Gazoo Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 18 | 1:23.308 | 2.314 |
| 25 | 99 | |
Jade EDWARDS | BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 14 | 1:24.270 | 3.276 |
| 26 | 96 | |
Jack BUTEL | EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 19 | 1:24.666 | 3.672 |
| 27 | 28 | |
Nicolas HAMILTON | ROKiT Racing with iQuoto Online Trading | CUPRA Leon | 18 | 1:24.882 | 3.888 |
| 28 | 62 | |
Rick PARFITT Jr | EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 17 | 1:25.175 | 4.181 |
| 29 | 88 | |
Glynn GEDDIE | Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct | CUPRA Leon | 0 | No time | N/A |