NAPA Racing UK’s Daniel Rowbottom set the pace in the opening British Touring Car Championship practice session at Knockhill, thanks to a late lap in drying conditions in Scotland.
The session started in damp conditions, but it did not take long for conditions to rapidly improve.
Indeed, there were no fewer than 19 changes at the top of the timesheets in the 35-minute session, as ten different drivers enjoyed speels at the top of the times.
But it was Rowbottom who was last to improve at the top, having changed to slick tyres, posting a lap of 51.885 seconds just seconds before the chequered flag to take the top spot, two tenths of a second ahead of EXCELR8 Motorsport’s Tom Ingram.
Reigning champion Ash Sutton was third, 0.274 seconds off his leading team-mate, ahead of Team BMW’s Colin Turkington in fourth.
Árón Taylor-Smith put his Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall in fifth, ahead of EXCELR8’s Tom Chilton in sixth.
Andrew Watson was the leading Toyota in seventh, ahead of Speedworks team-mate Rob Huff in eighth, who had earlier been the first driver to switch to slicks and consequently posted a quartet of times good enough to briefly top the table with just over five minutes to go.
The top ten was completed by Speedworks’ Aiden Moffat and BMW’s Adam Morgan, the latter just over half a second from the pace.
Second practice is scheduled to get underway at 12:05 BST.
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 32 |  |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 26 | 51.885 | – |
| 2 | 80 | |
Tom INGRAM | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 22 | 52.093 | 0.208 |
| 3 | 1 | |
Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 27 | 52.159 | 0.274 |
| 4 | 20 | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 26 | 52.174 | 0.289 |
| 5 | 40 |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 23 | 52.249 | 0.364 |
| 6 | 3 | |
Tom CHILTON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 25 | 52.292 | 0.407 |
| 7 | 11 | |
Andrew WATSON | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 21 | 52.322 | 0.437 |
| 8 | 12 | |
Rob HUFF | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 26 | 52.346 | 0.461 |
| 9 | 16 | |
Aiden MOFFAT | LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 24 | 52.375 | 0.490 |
| 10 | 33 | |
Adam MORGAN | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 26 | 52.391 | 0.506 |
| 11 | 66 | |
Josh COOK | LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 21 | 52.422 | 0.537 |
| 12 | 27 | |
Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 25 | 52.436 | 0.551 |
| 13 | 14 | |
Ronan PEARSON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 23 | 52.778 | 0.893 |
| 14 | 88 | |
Mikey DOBLE | Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 22 | 53.003 | 1.118 |
| 15 | 18 |  |
Daryl DELEON | Duckhams Racing with Bartercard | CUPRA Leon | 21 | 53.037 | 1.152 |
| 16 | 24 | |
Jake HILL | Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 21 | 55.062 | 3.177 |
| 17 | 222 | |
Chris SMILEY | Restart Racing | CUPRA Leon | 20 | 56.049 | 4.164 |
| 18 | 77 | |
Sam OSBORNE | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 23 | 56.367 | 4.482 |
| 19 | 29 | |
Scott SUMPTON | Restart Racing | CUPRA Leon | 20 | 57.331 | 5.446 |
| 20 | 22 | |
Nick HALSTEAD | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 15 | 57.448 | 5.563 |