Tom Ingram and Tom Chilton led an EXCELR8 Motorsport 1-2 at the top of the times in the morning session of the final official pre-season British Touring Car Championship test at Donington Park.
Chilton, Rob Huff, Daniel Rowbottom and Andrew Watson exchanged the top times in the opening half hour, as drivers took their time in getting up to speed on a cold and dry circuit.
Chilton was the first to post a time in the 1 minutes 10s, making a trio of successive improvements just before 11 O’clock.
Ash Sutton then went to the top of the times with a 1:09.658 55 minutes into the session, improving three times in quick succession over the next ten minutes.
Watson and Chilton then traded top times for a few minutes, before Tom Ingram broke below the 1:09 barrier with a 1:08.912 and a 1:08.704 on his next lap.
Toyota’s Watson briefly went back to the top of the times, before Sutton posted a 1:08.634 to hold the top spot for 50 minutes.
Ingram deposed his 2023 title rival, improving to a 1:08.298, seven tenths of a second off the Donington Park qualifying lap record of 1:07.598.
The session was red-flagged with 20 minutes remaining when Scott Sumpton, who had been 18th fastest of 19 cars, went off, before the session resumed four minutes later without the CUPRA.
No further improvements came, and Ingram headed team-mate Chilton by 0.271 seconds.
Huff had put in the third best time by this stage, lapping just over three tenths off the pace in his Toyota, a mere one thousandth ahead of reigning champion Sutton.
Watson was fifth, 0.380 seconds off Ingram, ahead of the third EXCELR8 Hyundai of Ronan Pearson in sixth.
The leading Team BMW car was that of Adam Morgan in sixth, the only other driver within half a second of the pace.
19 of the 20 cars present took to the circuit, with only the CUPRA of Daryl DeLeon remaining in the pits, the team now being run under the name of Unlimited Motorsport with only a single-car entry in 2024.
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 80 |  |
Tom INGRAM | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 50 | 1:08.298 | – |
| 2 | 3 | |
Tom CHILTON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 57 | 1:08.569 | 0.271 |
| 3 | 12 | |
Rob HUFF | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 56 | 1:08.618 | 0.320 |
| 4 | 1 | |
Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 71 | 1:08.619 | 0.321 |
| 5 | 11 | |
Andrew WATSON | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 45 | 1:08.678 | 0.380 |
| 6 | 14 | |
Ronan PEARSON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 25 | 1:08.704 | 0.406 |
| 7 | 33 | |
Adam MORGAN | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 52 | 1:08.782 | 0.484 |
| 8 | 16 | |
Aiden MOFFAT | LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 37 | 1:08.827 | 0.529 |
| 9 | 24 | |
Jake HILL | Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 42 | 1:08.855 | 0.557 |
| 10 | 27 | |
Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 31 | 1:08.957 | 0.659 |
| 11 | 32 | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 51 | 1:09.073 | 0.775 |
| 12 | 20 | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 63 | 1:09.106 | 0.808 |
| 13 | 40 |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 29 | 1:09.377 | 1.079 |
| 14 | 66 | |
Josh COOK | LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 33 | 1:09.489 | 1.191 |
| 15 | 222 | |
Chris SMILEY | Restart Racing | CUPRA Leon | 33 | 1:09.760 | 1.462 |
| 16 | 77 | |
Sam OSBORNE | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 54 | 1:09.816 | 1.518 |
| 17 | 88 | |
Mikey DOBLE | Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 34 | 1:09.846 | 1.548 |
| 18 | 29 | |
Scott SUMPTON | Restart Racing | CUPRA Leon | 30 | 1:10.563 | 2.265 |
| 19 | 22 | |
Nick HALSTEAD | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 32 | 1:10.711 | 2.413 |
| 20 | 18 |  |
Daryl DELEON | Unlimited Motorsport | CUPRA Leon | 0 | No time | N/A |