Jason Plato topped the opening Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship free practice session on Saturday afternoon at Thruxton.
The BMR Racing driver moved to the top of the times after 18 minutes of the 40-minute session, lapping the Hampshire circuit with a time of 1m17.575s in overcast conditions.
The double champion did however also see his session end prematurely following an off at the final chicane, the Volkswagen CC man ending 0.068s clear of West Surrey Racing‘s Andy Priaulx.
Third spot went to another BMR Racing Volkswagen, this time of reigning champion Colin Turkington ahead of Gordon Shedden‘s Honda Civic and the Mercedes A-Class of Adam Morgan.
Another BMW made it into the top six in the hands of Rob Collard, while last year’s pole-sitter Andrew Jordan was the lead Triple Eight MG in seventh. Aron Smith made it three Volkswagens in the top 10 ahead of championship leader Matt Neal, Dave Newsham rounding out the top 10 for Power Maxed Racing.
Josh Cook was the session’s top rookie, finishing behind team-mate Newsham in the second Chevrolet Cruze.
Martin Donnelly‘s debut for the Infiniti Support Our Paras Racing squad saw him complete 16 laps on his way to 24th spot, team-mate Derek Palmer Jr only completing one tour.
FP2 gets underway at 12:45, and you can keep up with the action here at www.thecheckeredflag.co.uk, or via Twitter at @tcfBTCC.
