Chilton tops Silverstone's BTCC practice

Mat Jackson set the pace for much of the session in his Motorbase Focus. The championship contender was the first driver under the 60-second mark and still topped the timesheets when he climbed from the car in the closing stages.

But a late run from Arena Motorsport's Global Focuses took Chilton to the top, with a 59.900s lap, while team-mate Tom Onslow-Cole jumped to third.

Points leader Matt Neal completed many laps without setting a representative time in the first half of the session. He then slotted into the top group when he went for a time, ending up fourth.

Independents leader James Nash was fifth after a late 60.063s effort, just ahead of title rivals Gordon Shedden (work Honda Civic) and Jason Plato (works Chevrolet Cruze).

Former double champion James Thompson ran competitively early on, but ended up 18th, 0.9s behind team-mate Jackson, on his BTCC return.

The Thorney Motorsport Vauxhall Insignia failed to appear for the first session of its planned debut weekend, but the team is hoping to get it out later in the day.


Pos  Driver                  Car           Time                Laps
 1.  Tom Chilton             Ford          59.900s           	16
 2.  Mat Jackson             Ford          59.927s     + 0.027	25
 3.  Tom Onslow-Cole         Ford          1m00.021s  + 0.121	25
 4.  Matt Neal               Honda         1m00.041s  + 0.141	24
 5.  James Nash              Vauxhall      1m00.063s  + 0.163	25
 6.  Gordon Shedden          Honda         1m00.160s  + 0.260	30
 7.  Jason Plato             Chevrolet     1m00.177s  + 0.277	18
 8.  Andy Neate              Ford          1m00.191s  + 0.291	25
 9.  Andrew Jordan           Vauxhall      1m00.299s  + 0.399	24
10.  Dave Newsham            SEAT          1m00.339s  + 0.439	28
11.  Alex MacDowall          Chevrolet     1m00.395s  + 0.495	23
12.  Frank Wrathall          Toyota        1m00.421s  + 0.521	25
13.  Tom Boardman            SEAT          1m00.604s  + 0.704	21
14.  Ollie Jackson           Vauxhall      1m00.652s  + 0.752	28
15.  Rob Collard             BMW           1m00.705s  + 0.805	27
16.  Jeff Smith              Vauxhall      1m00.705s  + 0.805	25
17.  Paul O'Neill            Chevrolet     1m00.808s  + 0.908	24
18.  James Thompson          Ford          1m00.849s  + 0.949	23
19.  Daniel Welch            Proton        1m01.093s  + 1.193	21
20.  Liam Griffin            Ford          1m01.129s  + 1.229	29
21.  Nick Foster             BMW           1m01.441s  + 1.541	27
22.  John George             Chevrolet     1m01.531s  + 1.631	27
23.  Martin Byford           Volkswagen    1m01.574s  + 1.674	21
24.  Tony Gilham             BMW           1m01.642s  + 1.742	26
25.  Rob Austin              Audi          1m01.780s  + 1.880	22
26.  Lea Wood                Honda         1m02.189s  + 2.289	29
27.  Chris James             Chevrolet     1m02.401s  + 2.501	24
28.  Tony Hughes             Toyota        1m02.820s  + 2.920	18
29.  Chris Swanwick          Audi                     	         1