Tom Oliphant and Mike Bushell set the pace in free practice ahead of qualifying for the penultimate round of the 2018 British Touring Car Championship.
Oliphant pipped Bushell to the top spot in the first free practice at Silverstone, topping a session for the first time in his BTCC career. He managed a 58.474s lap around the short, national circuit, beating Bushell by just 0.042s.
Bushell bounced back in FP2, lowering the fastest time of the morning to 58.423s.
Andrew Jordan was at the sharp end of the field in both practice sessions, finishing just seven thousandths of a second behind Bushell in FP2. He ended the morning third quickest overall, just ahead of Rob Austin.
The Eurotech Hondas were evenly matched, with Brett Smith just beating team-mate Jack Goff to the fifth quickest time.
Chris Smiley took seventh ahead of the first works Honda. Dan Cammish’s best time – set in FP1 – put him just 0.001s ahead of Jason Plato, who was also quickest in the first of the two practice sessions.
Josh Cook, just 0.277s slower than Bushell, was 10th quickest in the combined timings.
None of the championship front runners concerned themselves with lighting up the timing screens in either of the practice sessions. The top three in the points standings all set their best times of the morning in FP1, with Tom Ingram quickest of the trio in P12, his time two tenths off the best of the session.
Ashley Sutton ended FP1 17th in the session, with Colin Turkington finishing 19th.
