Bobby Thompson had already shown the Team HARD cars pace in FP1 before blowing all expectations away in a closely fought FP2.
Thompson put a personal best lap together right at the last moment to take away a perfect start for Tom Ingram. Thompson set a 1:25.554 edging out Ingram, the overall pace setter over both sessions, by 0.017 seconds.
Another impressive performance came in the form of the Power Maxed Racing Vauxhaul of Árón Taylor-Smith. Placing the car in third only 0.129 seconds off the pace. The pace of the team has only improved session by session.
Next was a NAPA Racing UK car but not the Ford of Ingram’s title rival Ash Sutton but Dan Cammish setting the pace for the team. Cammish missed out on the top three by 0.027 seconds.
The first repeat manufacturer, as in FP1, was the fifth placed car. This time it was the Power Maxed Racing team in the hands of Andrew Watson. The gaps getting ever tighter as Watson only missed out on a top four performance by 0.020 seconds.
In sixth was championship leader Ash Sutton. Despite being in sixth, the lap time Sutton set meant that the gap from him to Thompson was only 0.250 seconds.
Behind the NAPA Racing UK car was the Team HARD Cupra of Jack Butel, making it two of every team inside the top seven other than the Hyundais. On their way to doing so the two Team HARD cars set the joint most laps completed in FP2 inside the top ten. It was also Butel’s best-ever practice performance in the BTCC.
Eighth is where the field got extremely tight. Josh Cook finished 0.003 seconds behind Butel in the One Motorsport Honda, who was then followed by George Gamble in the Toyota Gazoo Racing UK car only a further 0.005 seconds behind.
Then came Jake Hill rounding out the top ten as the only BMW to feature at the sharp end representing MB Motorsport. Hill was only 0.052 seconds behind Gamble and staggeringly in tenth was only 0.349 seconds from the top spot.
Qualifying is scheduled to get underway at 15:40 BST.
Session results
POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
1 | 19 | Bobby THOMPSON | Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils | CUPRA Leon | 17 | 1:25.554 | – | |
2 | 1 | Tom INGRAM | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 16 | 1:25.571 | 0.017 | |
3 | 40 | Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 15 | 1:25.683 | 0.129 | |
4 | 27 | Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 16 | 1:25.710 | 0.156 | |
5 | 11 | Andrew WATSON | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 15 | 1:25.730 | 0.176 | |
6 | 116 | Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 15 | 1:25.804 | 0.250 | |
7 | 96 | Jack BUTEL | Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown | CUPRA Leon | 17 | 1:25.843 | 0.289 | |
8 | 66 | Josh COOK | One Motorsport with Starline Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 15 | 1:25.846 | 0.292 | |
9 | 42 | George GAMBLE | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 16 | 1:25.851 | 0.297 | |
10 | 24 | Jake HILL | Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 16 | 1:25.903 | 0.349 | |
11 | 12 | Stephen JELLEY | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 19 | 1:25.922 | 0.368 | |
12 | 17 | Dexter PATTERSON | Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD. | CUPRA Leon | 17 | 1:25.938 | 0.384 | |
13 | 77 | Sam OSBORNE | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 14 | 1:25.944 | 0.390 | |
14 | 123 | Daniel LLOYD | Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils | CUPRA Leon | 13 | 1:25.970 | 0.416 | |
15 | 32 | Daniel ROWBOTTOM | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 16 | 1:26.000 | 0.446 | |
16 | 37 | Ricky COLLARD | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 17 | 1:26.090 | 0.536 | |
17 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | One Motorsport with Starline Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 14 | 1:26.217 | 0.663 | |
18 | 3 | Tom CHILTON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 14 | 1:26.300 | 0.746 | |
19 | 14 | Ronan PEARSON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 17 | 1:26.302 | 0.748 | |
20 | 6 | Rory BUTCHER | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 15 | 1:26.303 | 0.749 | |
21 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 18 | 1:26.344 | 0.790 | |
22 | 88 | Mikey DOBLE | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 17 | 1:26.362 | 0.808 | |
23 | 4 | Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 19 | 1:26.432 | 0.878 | |
24 | 70 | Will POWELL | One Motorsport with Starline Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 16 | 1:26.883 | 1.329 | |
25 | 28 | Nicolas HAMILTON | Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown | CUPRA Leon | 15 | 1:27.106 | 1.552 | |
26 | 22 | Nick HALSTEAD | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 18 | 1:27.566 | 2.012 | |
27 | 99 | Jade EDWARDS | Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD. | CUPRA Leon | 12 | 1:28.126 | 2.572 |