Tom Ingram leads the way in practice as the British Touring Car Championship returns to Thruxton.
Ingram set the fastest lap of the morning in the first of two free practice sessions at the Hampshire circuit. Honda driver Gordon Shedden topped the second session but couldn’t reach Ingram’s earlier time.
Jake Hill was flying early in the first practice session, leading Ash Hand and Tom Chilton while Ingram ran at the tail end of the order. A strong lap midway through the session, though, allowed Ingram to jump from P29 to P2, just 0.021s off the time set by Hill.
The order remained Hill, Ingram and Josh Cook at the top of the times until the closing stages of FP1. Ingram managed a time of 1:15.842 around Britain’s fastest race track and was the only driver to set a time quicker than 1:16 during the session.
Hill settled for second ahead of Cook and Hand, who jumped back up the order late in the session.
Championship leader Colin Turkington could only manage seventh quickest, behind Ash Sutton and Stephen Jelley. Dan Lloyd, Shedden, and Dan Cammish completed the top 10.
Turkington would manage slightly better in FP2, bettering his time by three tenths of a second and placing fifth in session.
Hill once again set the early pace in FP2 and remained at the sharp end of the field throughout. Dan Cammish briefly took P1 before a time of 1:16.018 for Cook brought the Honda driver to the front of the order.
The time was good enough to keep Cook at the front of the order for most of the session, until a flying lap in the final minutes put Shedden on the top spot.
Shedden’s time of 1:15.896 was slower than Ingram’s earlier FP1 time, and it looked as if Ingram might have been about to better it when he hit yellow flags in the final sector. Laser Tool’s Aiden Moffat had gotten out of shape and was side ways on track, and Ingram was forced to slow down.
He ended the session just outside the top 10 in P11.
Cook finished FP2 second, ahead of Hill and Dan Rowbottom.
Turkington finished fifth ahead of Chilton, Hand, and Jason Plato. Sutton and Tom Gamble completed the top 10.
There was little drama throughout both sessions, although a broken toe-link in FP1 brought Ricky Collard’s session to an early end. The issue was repaired for FP2 and he managed to go 15th quickest, despite a spin early on.
Practice also marked a return to the BTCC for Tom Oliphant, who is making a one off appearance with Team HARD.
Session results
Free Practice 1
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 80 |  |
Tom INGRAM | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 17 | 1:15.842 | – |
| 2 | 24 | |
Jake HILL | ROKiT MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 17 | 1:16.339 | 0.186 |
| 3 | 66 | |
Josh COOK | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 14 | 1:16.371 | 0.246 |
| 4 | 97 | |
Ash HAND | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 18 | 1:16.393 | 0.257 |
| 5 | 1 | |
Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 16 | 1:16.424 | 0.270 |
| 6 | 12 | |
Stephen JELLEY | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 22 | 1:16.503 | 0.313 |
| 7 | 50 | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 19 | 1:16.579 | 0.325 |
| 8 | 123 | |
Daniel LLOYD | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 18 | 1:16.690 | 0.379 |
| 9 | 52 | |
Gordon SHEDDEN | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type R | 10 | 1:16.702 | 0.439 |
| 10 | 9 | |
Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 19 | 1:16.957 | 0.462 |
| 11 | 6 | |
Rory BUTCHER | Toyota GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 15 | 1:16.984 | 0.518 |
| 12 | 21 | |
Ricky COLLARD | Toyota GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 10 | 1:17.086 | 0.543 |
| 13 | 33 | |
Adam MORGAN | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 15 | 1:17.140 | 0.554 |
| 14 | 32 | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type R | 17 | 1:17.271 | 0.603 |
| 15 | 42 | |
George GAMBLE | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 14 | 1:17.404 | 0.608 |
| 16 | 11 | |
Jason PLATO | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 9 | 1:17.466 | 0.679 |
| 17 | 17 | |
Dexter PATTERSON | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 21 | 1:17.536 | 0.782 |
| 18 | 40 |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing | CUPRA Leon | 21 | 1:17.658 | 0.797 |
| 19 | 96 | |
Jack BUTEL | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 19 | 1:17.669 | 0.820 |
| 20 | 19 | |
Bobby THOMPSON | Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero | CUPRA Leon | 15 | 1:17.738 | 0.839 |
| 21 | 3 | |
Tom CHILTON | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 11 | 1:17.772 | 0.920 |
| 22 | 99 | |
Jade EDWARDS | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 18 | 1:17.907 | 1.011 |
| 23 | 777 | |
Michael CREES | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 17 | 1:17.932 | 1.019 |
| 24 | 16 | |
Aiden MOFFAT | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 15 | 1:18.006 | 1.059 |
| 25 | 15 | |
Tom OLIPHANT | Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero | CUPRA Leon | 19 | 1:18.283 | 1.315 |
| 26 | 48 | |
Ollie JACKSON | Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan | Ford Focus ST | 19 | 1:18.313 | 1.478 |
| 27 | 77 | |
Sam OSBORNE | Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan | Ford Focus ST | 22 | 1:18.618 | 1.592 |
| 28 | 28 | |
Nicolas HAMILTON | Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing | CUPRA Leon | 22 | 1:18.812 | 2.027 |
| 29 | 62 | |
Rick PARFITT JR | Uptonsteel with Euro Car Parts Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 16 | 1:18.929 | 2.465 |
Free Practice 2
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 52 | |
Gordon SHEDDEN | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type R | 18 | 1:15.896 | – |
| 2 | 66 | |
Josh COOK | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 13 | 1:16.018 | 0.122 |
| 3 | 24 | |
Jake HILL | ROKiT MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 18 | 1:16.059 | 0.163 |
| 4 | 32 | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type R | 17 | 1:16.181 | 0.285 |
| 5 | 50 | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 21 | 1:16.213 | 0.317 |
| 6 | 3 | |
Tom CHILTON | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 17 | 1:16.356 | 0.460 |
| 7 | 97 | |
Ash HAND | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 16 | 1:16.385 | 0.489 |
| 8 | 11 | |
Jason PLATO | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 1:16.389 | 0.493 |
| 9 | 1 | |
Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 20 | 1:16.488 | 0.592 |
| 10 | 42 | |
George GAMBLE | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 20 | 1:16.538 | 0.642 |
| 11 | 80 | |
Tom INGRAM | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 18 | 1:16.580 | 0.684 |
| 12 | 19 | |
Bobby THOMPSON | Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero | CUPRA Leon | 18 | 1:16.605 | 0.709 |
| 13 | 123 | |
Daniel LLOYD | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 18 | 1:16.621 | 0.725 |
| 14 | 777 | |
Michael CREES | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 19 | 1:16.771 | 0.875 |
| 15 | 21 | |
Ricky COLLARD | Toyota GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 16 | 1:16.780 | 0.884 |
| 16 | 9 | |
Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 17 | 1:16.794 | 0.898 |
| 17 | 12 | |
Stephen JELLEY | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 20 | 1:16.812 | 0.916 |
| 18 | 33 | |
Adam MORGAN | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 17 | 1:16.850 | 0.954 |
| 19 | 48 | |
Ollie JACKSON | Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan | Ford Focus ST | 20 | 1:16.928 | 1.032 |
| 20 | 6 | |
Rory BUTCHER | Toyota GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 15 | 1:17.226 | 1.330 |
| 21 | 16 | |
Aiden MOFFAT | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 20 | 1:17.259 | 1.363 |
| 22 | 17 | |
Dexter PATTERSON | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 22 | 1:17.294 | 1.398 |
| 23 | 40 | |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing | CUPRA Leon | 16 | 1:17.454 | 1.558 |
| 24 | 99 | |
Jade EDWARDS | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 19 | 1:17.562 | 1.666 |
| 25 | 96 | |
Jack BUTEL | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 21 | 1:17.641 | 1.745 |
| 26 | 15 | |
Tom OLIPHANT | Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero | CUPRA Leon | 20 | 1:18.102 | 2.206 |
| 27 | 77 | |
Sam OSBORNE | Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan | Ford Focus ST | 23 | 1:18.154 | 2.258 |
| 28 | 62 | |
Rick PARFITT JR | Uptonsteel with Euro Car Parts Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 23 | 1:19.432 | 3.536 |
| 29 | 28 | |
Nicolas HAMILTON | Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing | CUPRA Leon | 18 | 1:19.679 | 3.783 |