Last-gasp effort puts Gordon Shedden on top in first practice

Gordon Shedden topped the times in the opening British Touring Car Championship practice session of the weekend at Brands Hatch, as the Team Dynamics driver pipped BMW’s Tom Oliphant in the closing seconds.

Oliphant, not carrying any success ballast into the weekend due to being outside the top ten in the points, had been on top of the timesheets for much of the 40-minute session, having gone quickest with a lap of 48.869 seconds after just under half the session.

But the Team BMW driver was ultimately beaten by Shedden’s final flying lap, which ended up just 0.019 seconds quicker around the short Indy circuit.

“We’re not carrying any weight so I’m expecting to be quite strong in qualifying,” said Oliphant. “The times are quite a long way off what we were doing in testing so it was a bit of a surprise when I came across and only did an eight [lap in the 48.8s].

“I’m sitting P12 so if I’m going to put a title challenge together then this is my weekend to get some serious points.

“What will be, will be – there’s a couple of other cars which will be quick who haven’t got weight as well, but I’m feeling pretty confident that we can put it at the front and have a couple of good races.”

Daniel Rowbottom made it a strong start to the weekend for both of the Team Dynamics Hondas as he ended up third fastest, just a further four thousandths of a second back, having put his best effort in ten minutes from the end.

Tom Ingram’s Excelr8-run Hyundai was fourth, a further tenth of a second back, ahead of reigniting champion Ash Sutton’s Infiniti in fifth.

The Team HARD CUPRAs made a strong start to the session, with Jack Goff holding the fastest lap in the early ten minutes, but it was Irishman Árón Taylor-Smith who emerged as the quickest of the quartet in sixth, 0.174 seconds from the ultimate pace.

Colin Turkington was seventh in his BMW, ahead of the best BTC Racing Honda of Josh Cook, who was briefly fastest with his time of 49.059 seconds after 11 minutes, in eighth.

The top ten was completed by MB Motorsport’s Jake Hill and the PMR Vauxhall of Jason Plato. Goff ended the session in 11^th with al ap of 49.100 seconds.

28 of the 29 cars were covered by less than a second, with only the returning Andy Neate outside that bracket in last place.

Second practice is scheduled to get underway at 12:05 BST.

Session results

POS	NO	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	52		Gordon SHEDDEN	Halfords Racing with Cataclean	Honda Civic Type-R	28	48.850	–
2	15		Tom OLIPHANT	Team BMW	BMW 330i M Sport	26	48.869	0.019
3	32		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	Halfords Racing with Cataclean	Honda Civic Type-R	27	48.873	0.023
4	80		Tom INGRAM	Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	29	48.987	0.137
5	1		Ash SUTTON	Laser Tools Racing	Infiniti Q50	32	49.019	0.169
6	40		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	Team HARD. with HUB Financial Solutions	CUPRA Leon	32	49.024	0.174
7	2		Colin TURKINGTON	Team BMW	BMW 330i M Sport	31	49.043	0.193
8	66		Josh COOK	BTC Racing	Honda Civic Type-R	25	49.059	0.209
9	24		Jake HILL	MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square	Ford Focus ST	29	49.081	0.231
10	11		Jason PLATO	Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	26	49.094	0.244
11	31		Jack GOFF	Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct	CUPRA Leon	24	49.100	0.250
12	22		Chris SMILEY	Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	32	49.116	0.266
13	123		Daniel LLOYD	Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	25	49.156	0.306
14	18		Senna PROCTOR	BTC Racing	Honda Civic Type-R	26	49.168	0.318
15	3		Tom CHILTON	Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport	BMW 330i M Sport	29	49.179	0.329
16	12		Stephen JELLEY	Team BMW	BMW 330i M Sport	28	49.266	0.416
17	6		Rory BUTCHER	Toyota Gazoo Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	25	49.285	0.435
18	33		Adam MORGAN	Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport	BMW 330i M Sport	27	49.316	0.466
19	16		Aiden MOFFAT	Laser Tools Racing	Infiniti Q50	30	49.369	0.519
20	41		Carl BOARDLEY	Laser Tools Racing	Infiniti Q50	33	49.434	0.584
21	23		Sam SMELT	Toyota Gazoo Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	21	49.460	0.610
22	88		Glynn GEDDIE	Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct	CUPRA Leon	21	49.472	0.622
23	4		Sam OSBORNE	Racing with Wera & Photon Group	Ford Focus ST	30	49.486	0.636
24	48		Ollie JACKSON	MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square	Ford Focus ST	29	49.498	0.648
25	99		Jade EDWARDS	BTC Racing	Honda Civic Type-R	36	49.618	0.768
26	28		Nicolas HAMILTON	ROKiT Racing with iQuoto Online Trading	CUPRA Leon	29	49.639	0.789
27	62		Rick PARFITT Jr	EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	28	49.790	0.940
28	96		Jack BUTEL	EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	33	49.840	0.990
29	44		Andy NEATE	Racing with Wera & Photon Group	Ford Focus ST	30	49.912	1.062