BTC Racing’s Josh Cook topped the times in the opening British Touring Car Championship practice session at Thruxton, as the session was ended early when Team BMW’s Stephen Jelley crashed.
Cook, a double winner at the Hampshire circuit at the start of the season, hit the top of the timesheets around 19 minutes into the session, initially with a time of 1 minute 15.737 seconds before he then knocked that down to a 1:15.655 on the following lap.
That was enough to comfortably deny championship leader Ash Sutton the top time, with the fully-ballasted Infiniti driver second quickest, just over two tenths of a second adrift.
Senna Proctor put his BTC Racing Honda in third, three tenths adrift, ahead of the leading BMW of Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan in fourth.
Tom Ingram was fifth in his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai, ahead of Team Dynamics’ Gordon Shedden in sixth.
Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Rory Butcher was seventh, just under half a second off the pace, ahead of the second Team Dynamics Honda of Daniel Rowbottom in eighth.
The top ten was completed by Northern Irish duo Chris Smiley’s Hyundai and Colin Turkington’s BMW.
It was not a good session for Turkington’s Team BMW team-mate Jelley, who crashed his car on the exit of Allard corner, bringing out the red flags.
![Stephen Jelley, Team BMW [WSR], BMW 330i M Sport](https://www.touringcars.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/DSC_4016.jpg)
“We had a little bit of understeer through there and I turned in, got on the marbles slightly and you’re just line-locked on whatever your destiny is at that time.”
MB Motorsport title contender Jake Hill was just outside the top ten in 11th, the best of the Ford Focus drivers.
Second practice is scheduled to get underway at 12:05 BST.
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 66 |  |
Josh COOK | BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 11 | 1:15.655 | – |
| 2 | 1 | |
Ashley SUTTON | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 11 | 1:15.897 | 0.242 |
| 3 | 18 | |
Senna PROCTOR | BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 11 | 1:15.979 | 0.324 |
| 4 | 33 | |
Adam MORGAN | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330i M Sport | 12 | 1:16.014 | 0.359 |
| 5 | 80 | |
Tom INGRAM | Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 11 | 1:16.055 | 0.400 |
| 6 | 52 | |
Gordon SHEDDEN | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type-R | 10 | 1:16.126 | 0.471 |
| 7 | 6 | |
Rory BUTCHER | Toyota Gazoo Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 14 | 1:16.138 | 0.483 |
| 8 | 32 | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type-R | 10 | 1:16.156 | 0.501 |
| 9 | 22 | |
Chris SMILEY | Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 11 | 1:16.182 | 0.527 |
| 10 | 2 | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 12 | 1:16.235 | 0.580 |
| 11 | 24 | |
Jake HILL | MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Ford Focus ST | 11 | 1:16.259 | 0.604 |
| 12 | 3 | |
Tom CHILTON | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330i M Sport | 10 | 1:16.333 | 0.678 |
| 13 | 11 | |
Jason PLATO | Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 12 | 1:16.448 | 0.793 |
| 14 | 12 | |
Stephen JELLEY | Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 10 | 1:16.625 | 0.970 |
| 15 | 15 | |
Tom OLIPHANT | Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 14 | 1:16.694 | 1.039 |
| 16 | 48 | |
Ollie JACKSON | MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Ford Focus ST | 11 | 1:17.020 | 1.365 |
| 17 | 41 | |
Carl BOARDLEY | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 11 | 1:17.164 | 1.509 |
| 18 | 31 | |
Jack GOFF | Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct | CUPRA Leon | 15 | 1:17.221 | 1.566 |
| 19 | 123 | |
Daniel LLOYD | Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 12 | 1:17.301 | 1.646 |
| 20 | 40 |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Team HARD. with HUB Financial Solutions | CUPRA Leon | 13 | 1:17.392 | 1.737 |
| 21 | 20 | |
Paul RIVETT | Racing with Wera & Photon Group | Ford Focus ST | 14 | 1:17.396 | 1.741 |
| 22 | 19 | |
Jack MITCHELL | Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct | CUPRA Leon | 13 | 1:17.524 | 1.869 |
| 23 | 23 | |
Sam SMELT | Toyota Gazoo Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 15 | 1:17.564 | 1.909 |
| 24 | 96 | |
Jack BUTEL | EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 12 | 1:17.711 | 2.056 |
| 25 | 4 | |
Sam OSBORNE | Racing with Wera & Photon Group | Ford Focus ST | 12 | 1:17.893 | 2.238 |
| 26 | 16 | |
Aiden MOFFAT | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 11 | 1:18.081 | 2.426 |
| 27 | 62 | |
Rick PARFITT Jr | EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 10 | 1:18.118 | 2.463 |
| 28 | 99 | |
Jade EDWARDS | PHSC with BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 12 | 1:18.289 | 2.634 |
| 29 | 28 | |
Nicolas HAMILTON | ROKiT Racing with iQuoto Online Trading | CUPRA Leon | 14 | 1:18.325 | 2.670 |