Reigning champion Tom Ingram was the fastest driver in a weather-affected British Touring Car Championship media day test at Brands Hatch Indy, with the Excelr8 Motorsport driver edging NAPA Racing’s Ash Sutton by 0.048 seconds.
With a stormy low pressure weather system swirling over the UK on Wednesday, showers persistently came and went as the day wore on, meaning the vast majority of driver’s best lap times came in the morning session.
Track activity got underway at 10:00 in the morning following some earlier official photography sessions, with BMW drivers Colin Turkington, Stephen Jelley and Adam Morgan sharing the top times over the opening ten minutes in inclement conditions.
One Motorsport’s Josh Cook posted a lap time of 52.574 seconds to then hold the best lap for over an hour and a half.
The changing conditions ended up catching Jelley out, as the Team BMW driver went off into the barriers at Druids just over an hour into the session, causing a brief red flag and limiting his track running to just 17 laps over the day as his WSR team worked to repair the damaged 3 Series.
After the session resumed, Toyota’s Rory Butcher moved to the top of the times with a succession of quick laps, eventually settling on a time of 48.893 seconds.
The NAPA Racing Fords came on strong in the final hour, with Ash Sutton hitting the top of the times with an effort of 48.334 seconds, followed by new team-mate Daniel Rowbottom with a 48.074.
But it was Excelr8’s Ingram who ended up putting his Hyundai on top overall, along with Sutton one of only two drivers to dip below the 48 second mark with his effort of 47.928 seconds set just eight minutes before the chequered flag flew in the morning.
Weather conditions were worse in the afternoon, with most drivers completing fewer than half the number of laps than in the morning.
The top times were traded between Tom Chilton, George Gamble, Jake Hill and Árón Taylor-Smith, but no improvements came in the last two hours, and for the first hour lap times were at least two seconds slower than in the morning.
Ingram ended the day 0.048 seconds faster than Sutton’s Ford, with Rowbottom in third a further tenth adrift.
Toyota’s Rory Butcher, who completed more laps than any other driver, was fourth, ahead of the third NAPA car of Dan Cammish in fifth.
The top BMW driver was MB Motorsport’s Hill in sixth, just over six tenths off the pace.
“It has been a bit wet… very wet in fact,” said pace-setter Ingram. “We did some running in the morning, which went very well, and the car has felt pretty good. Hopefully, we can keep that going into next week when we arrive at Donington Park.
“We have a test scheduled there tomorrow too, but we have our fingers crossed for some dry running as we haven’t much of that during pre-season.”
Like Ingram, Sutton said that the weather conditions had limited the usefulness of the session – the only official pre-season BTCC test.
“The car felt pretty good, but the mixed conditions haven’t made it completely straight forward,” added the three-time champion.
“The trucks also ran at Brands Hatch last weekend, which meant the track felt quite greasy even when it was dry.
“In truth, the serious business begins at Donington Park next weekend and I’m sure it will as close as ever throughout the field.”
Combined session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 1 |  |
Tom INGRAM | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 31 | 47.928 | – |
| 2 | 116 | |
Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 45 | 47.976 | 0.048 |
| 3 | 32 | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 41 | 48.074 | 0.146 |
| 4 | 6 | |
Rory BUTCHER | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 76 | 48.253 | 0.325 |
| 5 | 27 | |
Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 50 | 48.259 | 0.331 |
| 6 | 24 | |
Jake HILL | Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 61 | 48.560 | 0.632 |
| 7 | 4 | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 69 | 48.576 | 0.648 |
| 8 | 66 | |
Josh COOK | One Motorsport with Starline Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 38 | 48.766 | 0.838 |
| 9 | 33 | |
Adam MORGAN | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 57 | 48.809 | 0.881 |
| 10 | 42 | |
George GAMBLE | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 50 | 48.984 | 1.056 |
| 11 | 11 | |
Andrew WATSON | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 57 | 49.023 | 1.095 |
| 12 | 14 | |
Ronan PEARSON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 48 | 49.035 | 1.107 |
| 13 | 40 |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 37 | 49.062 | 1.134 |
| 14 | 3 | |
Tom CHILTON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 36 | 49.093 | 1.165 |
| 15 | 77 | |
Sam OSBORNE | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 42 | 49.183 | 1.255 |
| 16 | 22 | |
Nick HALSTEAD | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 55 | 49.311 | 1.383 |
| 17 | 88 | |
Mikey DOBLE | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 33 | 49.396 | 1.468 |
| 18 | 16 | |
Aiden MOFFAT | One Motorsport with Starline Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 38 | 49.535 | 1.607 |
| 19 | 37 | |
Ricky COLLARD | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 46 | 49.568 | 1.640 |
| 20 | 70 | |
Will POWELL | One Motorsport with Starline Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 43 | 50.053 | 2.125 |
| 21 | 12 | |
Stephen JELLEY | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 17 | 54.459 | 6.531 |
| 22 | 96 | |
Jack BUTEL | Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown | CUPRA Leon | 20 | 54.510 | 6.582 |
| 23 | 17 | |
Dexter PATTERSON | Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD. | CUPRA Leon | 32 | 54.881 | 6.953 |
| 24 | 123 | |
Daniel LLOYD | Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils | CUPRA Leon | 3 | 1:07.589 | 19.661 |