Excelr8 Motorsport’s Tom Ingram drew first blood with the fastest time in the first British Touring Car Championship practice session at Donington Park, posting a time which was just two tenths slower than last year’s pole time.
After a slow start to the session, with drivers taking their time to post flying laps, it was Team HARD’s Bobby Thompson who put in the initial fastest laps, before Jason Plato took over at the top of the times 15 minutes in.
There followed improvements from Jake Hill, Rory Butcher, Daniel Lloyd and Ashley Sutton, who each took turns at the top of the times.
NAPA Racing UK’s BTCC returnee Dan Cammish then usurped his team-mate with a lap of 1:09.160, before Ingram ultimately settled at the top of the times with his effort of 1:08.792, around eight minutes from the end.
Of note is that Ingram’s time was only two tenths slower than last year’s pole position record set by Shedden, who was at the time carrying 15 kg of ballast. This year, with the Hybrid Energy Management System (HEM) weighing 70 kg, all cars are in effect running at the level of maximum ballast from 2021.
Cammish ended up second fastest, 0.368 seconds behind Ingram, as the leading NAPA Racing driver, ahead of team-mate Sutton in third.
Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan was the leading BMW driver in fourth, four tenths off the pace, ahead of the second Excelr8 Hyundai of Lloyd in fifth.
The MB Motorsport BMW of Jake Hill was sixth as the best WSR-prepared car, ahead of Ciceley’s George Gamble in seventh.
The top ten was completed by Team Dynamics’ Gordon Shedden, racing a new Honda chassis this year, Toyota’s Rory Butcher and Team BMW’s Stephen Jelley.
Jelley was just 0.003 seconds ahead of team-mate Colin Turkington in 11th, with Plato ending up as the best BTC Racing driver in 12th with the time that had earlier put him at the top of the times briefly.
BTC’s Josh Cook was only 17th, the Honda driver having clipped a tyre stack near the end of the session when avoiding a slow Aiden Moffat, causing substantial damage to the front-left of his car.
All 28 cars entered for this weekend’s action took to the track, and the entire field completed more than ten laps each, with Jelley and Nicolas Hamilton completing the most laps with 24 tours.
Second practice is scheduled to get underway at 12:15 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 | 19 | 1:08.792 | – |
| 2 | 9 | |
Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 16 | 1:09.160 | 0.368 |
| 3 | 1 | |
Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 19 | 1:09.169 | 0.377 |
| 4 | 33 | |
Adam MORGAN | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 18 | 1:09.193 | 0.401 |
| 5 | 123 | |
Daniel LLOYD | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 21 | 1:09.233 | 0.441 |
| 6 | 24 | |
Jake HILL | ROKiT MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 21 | 1:09.315 | 0.523 |
| 7 | 42 | |
George GAMBLE | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 19 | 1:09.395 | 0.603 |
| 8 | 52 | |
Gordon SHEDDEN | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type R | 19 | 1:09.419 | 0.627 |
| 9 | 6 | |
Rory BUTCHER | Toyota GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 17 | 1:09.428 | 0.636 |
| 10 | 12 | |
Stephen JELLEY | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 24 | 1:09.480 | 0.688 |
| 11 | 50 | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 22 | 1:09.483 | 0.691 |
| 12 | 11 | |
Jason PLATO | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 12 | 1:09.537 | 0.745 |
| 13 | 48 | |
Ollie JACKSON | Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan | Ford Focus ST | 18 | 1:09.826 | 1.034 |
| 14 | 40 |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing | CUPRA Leon | 19 | 1:09.871 | 1.079 |
| 15 | 777 | |
Michael CREES | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 18 | 1:09.975 | 1.183 |
| 16 | 21 | |
Ricky COLLARD | Toyota GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 19 | 1:10.017 | 1.225 |
| 17 | 66 | |
Josh COOK | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 11 | 1:10.020 | 1.228 |
| 18 | 19 | |
Bobby THOMPSON | Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero | CUPRA Leon | 17 | 1:10.055 | 1.263 |
| 19 | 99 | |
Jade EDWARDS | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 19 | 1:10.164 | 1.372 |
| 20 | 16 | |
Aiden MOFFAT | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 21 | 1:10.198 | 1.406 |
| 21 | 97 | |
Ash HAND | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 16 | 1:10.280 | 1.488 |
| 22 | 77 | |
Sam OSBORNE | Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan | Ford Focus ST | 21 | 1:10.303 | 1.511 |
| 23 | 17 | |
Dexter PATTERSON | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 20 | 1:10.355 | 1.563 |
| 24 | 3 | |
Tom CHILTON | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 15 | 1:10.417 | 1.625 |
| 25 | 28 | |
Nicolas HAMILTON | Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing | CUPRA Leon | 24 | 1:10.743 | 1.951 |
| 26 | 32 | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type R | 12 | 1:11.106 | 2.314 |
| 27 | 96 | |
Jack BUTEL | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 18 | 1:11.307 | 2.515 |
| 28 | 62 | |
Rick PARFITT JR | Uptonsteel with Euro Car Parts Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 19 | 1:11.875 | 3.083 |