Tom Ingram already below lap record in first Donington practice

Team Vertu’s Tom Ingram was already lapping the Donington Park National circuit below the qualifying lap record in the opening British Touring Car Championship practice session of the season.

Ingram, who had the soft tyre on his Hyundai, put in the quickest lap of the session 15 minutes from the finish, lapping the circuit in 1 minute 7.364 seconds, which was two tenths of a second below the lap record posted in 2023 by Ash Sutton.

His EXCELR8 team-mate Tom Chilton was second, making it a Hyundai 1-2, albeit over half a second back.

Sutton put his NAPA Racing UK Ford in third, 0.740 seconds behind his long-time rival, whilst Adam Morgan made it three Hyundais inside the top four with a lap which was 0.749 seconds slower than Ingram.

NAPA duo Dan Cammish and Daniel Rowbottom were fifth and sixth respectively, the only other drivers to be within a second of the pace at a warm, dry and hazy Donington Park.

Power Maxed Racing’s Mikey Doble was the best of the Independents in seventh in the field’s sole Vauxhall.

The top BMW was rookie Charles Rainford in eighth, the only WSR driver inside the top ten, as Aiden Moffat managed only one lap in the other LKQ-backed 3 Series.

Toyota’s James Dorlin and Restart Racing’s Chris Smiley completed the top ten.

Josh Cook, who set the pace in the pre-season test two weeks ago, was 11^th in the best One Motorsport Honda, 1.078 seconds off the pace.

Second practice gets underway at 12:10 BST.

Session results

POS	NO	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	80		Tom INGRAM	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	17	1:07.364	–
2	3		Tom CHILTON	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	14	1:07.929	0.565
3	116		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	18	1:08.104	0.740
4	33		Adam MORGAN	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	19	1:08.113	0.749
5	27		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	21	1:08.116	0.752
6	32		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	17	1:08.187	0.823
7	88		Mikey DOBLE	Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	19	1:08.367	1.003
8	99		Charles RAINFORD	LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	20	1:08.375	1.011
9	132		James DORLIN	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	20	1:08.427	1.063
10	22		Chris SMILEY	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	17	1:08.434	1.070
11	66		Josh COOK	One Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R	14	1:08.442	1.078
12	14		Ronan PEARSON	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	15	1:08.443	1.079
13	123		Daniel LLOYD	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	17	1:08.473	1.109
14	1		Jake HILL	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	BMW 330i M Sport	14	1:08.551	1.187
15	77		Sam OSBORNE	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	20	1:08.732	1.368
16	17		Dexter PATTERSON	ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport	CUPRA Leon	18	1:08.832	1.468
17	40		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	14	1:08.937	1.573
18	12		Stephen JELLEY	One Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R	20	1:08.942	1.578
19	2		Daryl DELEON	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	21	1:08.944	1.580
20	93		Max HALL	ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport	CUPRA Leon	19	1:09.078	1.714
21	52		Gordon SHEDDEN	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	19	1:09.125	1.761
22	28		Nicolas HAMILTON	Powder Monkey Brewing Co with Esidock	CUPRA Leon	17	1:09.979	2.615
23	777		Michael CREES	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	15	1:10.060	2.696
24	16		Aiden MOFFAT	LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	1	No time	N/A