Árón Taylor-Smith put in a late effort to top the times in the opening British Touring Car Championship practice session at Oulton Park, less than a tenth of a second ahead of Daniel Rowbottom.
For much of the 45-minute session, it was EXCELR8 Motorsport’s Tom Ingram who led the way, the 2022 champion having put in a strong effort of 1 minute 25.150 seconds ten minutes into the running.
NAPA Racing UK’s Rowbottom then took 20 minutes to beat Ingram’s time, improving two places to post a 1:24.958, which ultimately ended up as the Ford racer’s best lap.
But in the closing minutes, Power Maxed Racing’s Taylor-Smith beat them both, going from ninth to the top of the timesheets with his effort of 1:24.926, improving marginally to 1:24.922 on the very next lap, leaving Rowbottom in second, 0.036 seconds adrift.
EXCELR8’s Ronan Pearson was also a late improver, posting a time of 1:25.126 to beat team-mate Ingram, the latter ending up 0.228 seconds from the top time.
NAPA’s Dan Cammish was fifth, ahead of the leading BMW of Laser Tools Racing’s Jake Hill in sixth, just over three tenths off the pace.
Hill headed a BMW trio, with Adam Morgan in seventh, ahead of team-mate Colin Turkington in eighth.
The top ten was completed by NAPA’s championship leader Ash Sutton and EXCELR8’s Tom Chilton.
The Speedworks Motorsport-run Toyotas struggled for pace in the session, with Aiden Moffat the best-placed Corolla driver in 11th, whilst the factory backed cars of Rob Huff and Andrew Watson were only 14th and 15th respectively, over a second off the pace, ahead of Josh Cook in 16th.
Second practice is scheduled to get underway at 12:30 BST.
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 40 |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 15 | 1:24.922 | – |
| 2 | 32 |  |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 16 | 1:24.958 | 0.036 |
| 3 | 14 | |
Ronan PEARSON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 17 | 1:25.126 | 0.204 |
| 4 | 80 | |
Tom INGRAM | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 18 | 1:25.150 | 0.228 |
| 5 | 27 | |
Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 16 | 1:25.204 | 0.282 |
| 6 | 24 | |
Jake HILL | Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 16 | 1:25.233 | 0.311 |
| 7 | 33 | |
Adam MORGAN | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 18 | 1:25.528 | 0.606 |
| 8 | 20 | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 19 | 1:25.531 | 0.609 |
| 9 | 1 | |
Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 16 | 1:25.575 | 0.653 |
| 10 | 3 | |
Tom CHILTON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 17 | 1:25.681 | 0.759 |
| 11 | 16 | |
Aiden MOFFAT | LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 13 | 1:25.710 | 0.788 |
| 12 | 77 | |
Sam OSBORNE | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 17 | 1:25.918 | 0.996 |
| 13 | 88 | |
Mikey DOBLE | Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 15 | 1:25.985 | 1.063 |
| 14 | 12 | |
Rob HUFF | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 18 | 1:26.215 | 1.293 |
| 15 | 11 | |
Andrew WATSON | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 16 | 1:26.256 | 1.334 |
| 16 | 66 | |
Josh COOK | LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 13 | 1:26.326 | 1.404 |
| 17 | 18 |  |
Daryl DELEON | Duckhams Racing with Bartercard | CUPRA Leon | 17 | 1:26.523 | 1.601 |
| 18 | 222 | |
Chris SMILEY | Restart Racing | CUPRA Leon | 9 | 1:27.366 | 2.444 |
| 19 | 29 | |
Scott SUMPTON | Restart Racing | CUPRA Leon | 10 | 1:28.307 | 3.385 |
| 20 | 22 | |
Nick HALSTEAD | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 15 | 1:29.037 | 4.115 |