Excelr8 Motorsport’s Tom Ingram set the fastest time in the opening free practice session for the British Touring Car Championship at Snetterton, just under a tenth of a second ahead of MB Motorsport’s Jake Hill.
Ingram, running with just 1.5 seconds of hybrid power for qualifying, put in a lap time of 1 minute 55.302 seconds to lap the Norfolk circuit just 0.181 seconds slower than the fastest time during July’s two-day tyre test.
The Hyundai driver, who himself had been fourth overall in last month’s test, was ahead of the top BMW of Jake Hill in second, whilst Team BMW’s championship leader Colin Turkington was third, over six tenths of a second off the pace.
Hill had earlier set the pace in the opening minutes of the session, before Ingram went to the top of the times 20 minutes into the 45-minute session and held the fastest time thereafter.
Daniel Lloyd put his Excelr8 Hyundai in fourth, three quarters of a second back, ahead of Toyota’s Rory Butcher in fifth.
Ricky Collard followed his Toyota team-mate in sixth, ahead of Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan in seventh, with the top order being established around halfway through the session.
Team BMW’s Stephen Jelley went eighth fastest, whilst the top ten was completed by Excelr8’s Tom Chilton, the last driver within a second of the pace, and Team Dynamics’ Gordon Shedden, the latter breaking into the top ten with around eight minutes to go.
Jason Plato was the leading BTC Racing driver in 11th, ahead of Team HARD’s best ranked driver of Bobby Thompson in 12th.
Laser Tools Racing’s Aiden Moffat put his Infiniti in 13th, whilst the two NAPA Racing UK drivers of Dan Cammish and Ash Sutton, who had scored a 1-2 result in the two-day Goodyear tyre test, were just 14th and 15th respectively, almost 1.4 seconds off the pace.
Title contender Josh Cook was only 18th, the BTC Honda driver being slowest of all in every single speed trap around the 4.8 km circuit.
Second practice is scheduled to get underway at 12:10 BST.
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 80 |  |
Tom INGRAM | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 13 | 1:55.302 | – |
| 2 | 24 | |
Jake HILL | ROKiT MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 15 | 1:55.399 | 0.097 |
| 3 | 500 | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 15 | 1:55.916 | 0.614 |
| 4 | 123 | |
Daniel LLOYD | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 13 | 1:56.063 | 0.761 |
| 5 | 6 | |
Rory BUTCHER | Toyota GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 12 | 1:56.085 | 0.783 |
| 6 | 21 | |
Ricky COLLARD | Toyota GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 12 | 1:56.207 | 0.905 |
| 7 | 33 | |
Adam MORGAN | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 11 | 1:56.296 | 0.994 |
| 8 | 12 | |
Stephen JELLEY | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 13 | 1:56.299 | 0.997 |
| 9 | 3 | |
Tom CHILTON | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 14 | 1:56.300 | 0.998 |
| 10 | 52 | |
Gordon SHEDDEN | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type R | 9 | 1:56.358 | 1.056 |
| 11 | 11 | |
Jason PLATO | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 11 | 1:56.504 | 1.202 |
| 12 | 19 | |
Bobby THOMPSON | Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero | CUPRA Leon | 10 | 1:56.631 | 1.329 |
| 13 | 16 | |
Aiden MOFFAT | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 16 | 1:56.636 | 1.334 |
| 14 | 9 | |
Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 15 | 1:56.657 | 1.355 |
| 15 | 1 | |
Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 12 | 1:56.687 | 1.385 |
| 16 | 32 | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type R | 11 | 1:56.789 | 1.487 |
| 17 | 42 | |
George GAMBLE | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 12 | 1:57.055 | 1.753 |
| 18 | 66 | |
Josh COOK | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 11 | 1:57.145 | 1.843 |
| 19 | 97 | |
Ash HAND | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 14 | 1:57.212 | 1.910 |
| 20 | 17 | |
Dexter PATTERSON | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 15 | 1:57.512 | 2.210 |
| 21 | 77 | |
Sam OSBORNE | Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan | Ford Focus ST | 12 | 1:57.729 | 2.427 |
| 22 | 777 | |
Michael CREES | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 13 | 1:57.921 | 2.619 |
| 23 | 40 |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing | CUPRA Leon | 4 | 1:57.992 | 2.690 |
| 24 | 48 | |
Ollie JACKSON | Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan | Ford Focus ST | 14 | 1:58.065 | 2.763 |
| 25 | 99 | |
Jade EDWARDS | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 12 | 1:58.230 | 2.928 |
| 26 | 28 | |
Nicolas HAMILTON | Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing | CUPRA Leon | 12 | 1:58.233 | 2.931 |
| 27 | 96 | |
Jack BUTEL | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 12 | 1:58.545 | 3.243 |
| 28 | 20 | |
Will POWELL | Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero | CUPRA Leon | 14 | 1:58.852 | 3.550 |
| 29 | 62 | |
Rick PARFITT JR | Uptonsteel with Euro Car Parts Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 12 | 2:00.420 | 5.118 |