Adam Morgan leads the times in opening Brands Hatch practice

Team BMW’s Adam Morgan topped the times in the opening British Touring Car Championship practice session at a cool Brands Hatch, lapping the Grand Prix circuit a mere 0.017 seconds faster than NAPA Racing UK’s Ash Sutton.

With a track temperature of just 12 degrees, and air temperatures struggling to get into double digits, the opening practice session had a distinctly autumnal feeling.

First to top the times were the Speedworks Motorsport-run Toyota Corollas, with the factory-backed Rob Huff and satellite team driver Aiden Moffat trading the top times in the opening five minutes.

Then it was the turn of Team BMW’s Colin Turkington to set the pace, the Northern Irishman enjoying just four minutes at the top before Sutton went a tenth and a half quicker.

Sutton held the benchmark until four minutes from the end, when Morgan posted his lap of 1 minute 30.572 seconds, edging out Sutton by a slender margin.

Joint championship leader Tom Ingram put his EXCELR8 Motorsport Hyundai in third, just half a tenth off the pace despite having the least hybrid, along with title rival Jake Hill.

Turkington ended up in fourth, a tenth and a half slower than his team-mate, with Speedworks’ Josh Cook in fifth.

Hill was sixth, just over two tenths off the pace in the third of the WSR-run BMWs, ahead of Power Maxed Racing’s Árón Taylor-Smith in seventh.

NAPA’s Dan Cammish, mathematically still a title contender, put his Ford in eighth, with the top ten completed by Moffat’s Toyota and Daniel Rowbottom’s Ford, the latter 0.574 seconds off the pace.

Huff ended up in 11^th having not improved as much in the second half of the session.

Second practice is scheduled to get underway at 12:15 BST.

Session results

POS	NO	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	33		Adam MORGAN	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	14	1:30.572	–
2	1		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	15	1:30.589	0.017
3	80		Tom INGRAM	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	17	1:30.623	0.051
4	20		Colin TURKINGTON	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	16	1:30.726	0.154
5	66		Josh COOK	LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	11	1:30.764	0.192
6	24		Jake HILL	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	BMW 330e M Sport	11	1:30.789	0.217
7	40		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	14	1:30.901	0.329
8	27		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	14	1:30.918	0.346
9	16		Aiden MOFFAT	LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	15	1:31.139	0.567
10	32		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	16	1:31.146	0.574
11	12		Rob HUFF	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	13	1:31.328	0.756
12	3		Tom CHILTON	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	13	1:31.460	0.888
13	45		Dan ZELOS	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	16	1:31.875	1.303
14	222		Chris SMILEY	Restart Racing	CUPRA Leon	8	1:31.943	1.371
15	88		Mikey DOBLE	Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	12	1:31.975	1.403
16	11		Andrew WATSON	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	8	1:31.995	1.423
17	77		Sam OSBORNE	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	15	1:32.034	1.462
18	18		Daryl DELEON	Duckhams Racing with Bartercard	CUPRA Leon	7	1:32.964	2.392
19	29		Scott SUMPTON	Restart Racing	CUPRA Leon	13	1:33.004	2.432
20	22		Nick HALSTEAD	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	18	1:34.329	3.757