Ash Sutton set a sublime lap in the NAPA Racing UK Ford to finish ahead of teammate Dan Cammish by 0.666 seconds in FP1.
Sutton was spurred having ‘never felt more confident in a touring car’ than at Brands Hatch to keep the rest of the field in his shadow. The three-time champion was the only driver in the 1:54’s putting a big margin between himself and the rest of the drivers.
Cammish would have been happy with that session other than the gap to his teammate out front. Setting a 1:55.618 just edged out fellow championship rival Tom Ingram by 0.011 seconds. Meaning the top three in the standings topped the practice session.
Ingram has continued his practice of being consistent to mount a title charge having still not topped a session despite being second in the standings. Jake hill was behind in fourth in the first of the BMW cars. The MB Motorsport driver ended up 0.148 seconds behind Ingram.
Behind was the very impressive Árón Taylor-Smith getting a top five performance that did not look out of place. Taylor-Smith split the BMW’s of Hill and Colin Turkington who came home in sixth in the opening practice session. Turkington was the first driver outside one second of Sutton.
The Vauxhall looked strong as Taylor-Smith’s teammate Andrew Watson made it two Power Maxed Racing cars in the top 10. Watson was only shy of Turkington by 0.028 seconds showing some more of his impressive Round 1 pace.
Tom Chilton was the second of the EXCELR8 Hyundai’s finishing in eighth. As impressive as eighth is there is still a 0.313 second gap to Watson and 1.424 seconds to Sutton. In ninth was Turkington’s Team BMW teammate Stephen Jelley who, like Watson, have bounced back after the Race 1 collision at Brands.
Making it three drivers from that incident in the top 10 in first practice and rounding it out is Dan Rowbottom. Leaving the NAPA Racing UK driver with some work to as he is 0.907 seconds away from teammate Cammish and 1.573 seconds from teammate Sutton.
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 116 |  |
Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 11 | 1:54.952 | – |
| 2 | 27 | |
Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 11 | 1:55.618 | 0.666 |
| 3 | 1 | |
Tom INGRAM | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 10 | 1:55.629 | 0.677 |
| 4 | 24 | |
Jake HILL | Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 13 | 1:55.777 | 0.825 |
| 5 | 40 |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 13 | 1:55.841 | 0.889 |
| 6 | 4 | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 14 | 1:56.035 | 1.083 |
| 7 | 11 | |
Andrew WATSON | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 12 | 1:56.063 | 1.111 |
| 8 | 3 | |
Tom CHILTON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 12 | 1:56.376 | 1.424 |
| 9 | 12 | |
Stephen JELLEY | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 14 | 1:56.514 | 1.562 |
| 10 | 32 | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 13 | 1:56.525 | 1.573 |
| 11 | 37 | |
Ricky COLLARD | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 12 | 1:56.593 | 1.641 |
| 12 | 6 | |
Rory BUTCHER | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 11 | 1:56.599 | 1.647 |
| 13 | 33 | |
Adam MORGAN | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 11 | 1:56.788 | 1.836 |
| 14 | 66 | |
Josh COOK | One Motorsport with Starline Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 9 | 1:56.849 | 1.897 |
| 15 | 123 | |
Daniel LLOYD | Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils | CUPRA Leon | 8 | 1:56.898 | 1.946 |
| 16 | 14 | |
Ronan PEARSON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 13 | 1:56.902 | 1.950 |
| 17 | 42 | |
George GAMBLE | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 13 | 1:56.903 | 1.951 |
| 18 | 19 | |
Bobby THOMPSON | Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils | CUPRA Leon | 10 | 1:57.035 | 2.083 |
| 19 | 88 | |
Mikey DOBLE | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 12 | 1:57.202 | 2.250 |
| 20 | 16 | |
Aiden MOFFAT | One Motorsport with Starline Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 12 | 1:57.208 | 2.256 |
| 21 | 77 | |
Sam OSBORNE | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 11 | 1:57.496 | 2.544 |
| 22 | 17 | |
Dexter PATTERSON | Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD. | CUPRA Leon | 13 | 1:57.514 | 2.562 |
| 23 | 96 | |
Jack BUTEL | Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown | CUPRA Leon | 13 | 1:58.406 | 3.454 |
| 24 | 70 | |
Will POWELL | One Motorsport with Starline Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 12 | 1:58.840 | 3.888 |
| 25 | 99 | |
Jade EDWARDS | Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD. | CUPRA Leon | 10 | 1:59.900 | 4.948 |
| 26 | 28 | |
Nicolas HAMILTON | Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown | CUPRA Leon | 9 | 2:00.425 | 5.473 |
| 27 |  |
0:00.000 |