Oulton Park BTCC: Colin Turkington sets practice pace
Colin Turkington topped free practice as the British Touring Car Championship returned to Oulton Park's International Circuit for the first time in nearly two decades
Both sessions were wet and Turkington's WSR BMW set the pace in the first half of the morning running.
His time of 1m53.113s put him nearly a second clear of team-mate Rob Collard in second, with the Triple Eight MGs of Jason Plato and Marc Hynes next up.
The second session was closer, but an off by Motorbase driver Jack Clarke brought a premature end to practice just as the times were approaching Turkington's earlier benchmark.
Plato had just recorded a 1m53.345s before the incident, moving him to the top of FP2 and putting him second fastest overall.
Collard continued his good form by improving to 1m53.856s, good enough for third overall, while former Oulton Park polesitter Alain Menu was fourth in his BMR Volkswagen Passat.
Hynes failed to improve in the afternoon and ended up fifth overall, ahead of Rob Austin, Gordon Shedden and championship leader Andrew Jordan, all of whom set their best times in the morning.
Sam Tordoff was ninth, while Nick Foster made it three WSR BMWs in the top 10.
Former BTCC champion John Cleland qualified on pole for the Super Touring support race, but faces a race against time to source a failed suspension component on his Vauxhall Vectra.
Practice 1 Pos Driver Car Time Gap Laps 1. Colin Turkington WSR BMW 1m53.113s 14 2. Rob Collard WSR BMW 1m54.025s +0.912s 12 3. Jason Plato MG 1m54.394s +1.281s 11 4. Marc Hynes MG 1m54.537s +1.424s 12 5. Rob Austin RAR Audi 1m54.592s +1.479s 13 6. Gordon Shedden Honda 1m54.684s +1.571s 12 7. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda 1m54.872s +1.759s 13 8. Sam Tordoff MG 1m55.068s +1.955s 14 9. Alain Menu BMR VW 1m55.071s +1.958s 13 10. Nick Foster WSR BMW 1m55.125s +2.012s 15 11. Jack Goff BMR Vauxhall 1m55.208s +2.095s 13 12. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 1m55.380s +2.267s 13 13. Matt Neal Honda 1m55.574s +2.461s 12 14. Dave Newsham AmD Ford 1m55.676s +2.563s 11 15. Fabrizio Giovanardi Motorbase Ford 1m55.860s +2.747s 12 16. Tom Ingram Speedworks Toyota 1m55.956s +2.843s 12 17. Jack Clarke Motorbase Ford 1m56.203s +3.090s 15 18. Martin Depper Eurotech Honda 1m56.208s +3.095s 13 19. Warren Scott BMR Vauxhall 1m56.261s +3.148s 11 20. Aron Smith BMR VW 1m56.401s +3.288s 13 21. Adam Morgan Ciceley Mercedes 1m56.797s +3.684s 12 22. Aiden Moffat Moffat Chevrolet 1m57.015s +3.902s 12 23. Chris Stockton BTC Chevrolet 1m57.611s +4.498s 12 24. Lea Wood Houseman Toyota 1m57.887s +4.774s 9 25. Dan Welch Welch Proton 1m58.170s +5.057s 9 26. James Cole UA Toyota 1m58.269s +5.156s 7 27. Simon Belcher Handy Toyota 1m58.416s +5.303s 12 28. Robb Holland Rotek Audi 1m58.761s +5.648s 3 29. Glynn Geddie UA Toyota 1m58.882s +5.769s 4 30. Hunter Abbott RAR Audi 2m02.307s +9.194s 1 Practice 2 Pos Driver Car Team Gap Laps 1. Jason Plato MG 1m53.345s 10 2. Colin Turkington WSR BMW 1m53.804s +0.459s 8 3. Rob Collard WSR BMW 1m53.856s +0.511s 9 4. Alain Menu BMR VW 1m53.864s +0.519s 8 5. Sam Tordoff MG 1m55.000s +1.655s 9 6. Marc Hynes MG 1m55.076s +1.731s 10 7. Nick Foster WSR BMW 1m55.098s +1.753s 10 8. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda 1m55.126s +1.781s 10 9. Aron Smith BMR VW 1m55.260s +1.915s 11 10. Gordon Shedden Honda 1m55.327s +1.982s 10 11. Matt Neal Honda 1m55.560s +2.215s 10 12. Dave Newsham AmD Ford 1m55.590s +2.245s 10 13. Rob Austin RAR Audi 1m55.608s +2.263s 9 14. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 1m55.631s +2.286s 9 15. Jack Clarke Motorbase Ford 1m55.863s +2.518s 11 16. Warren Scott BMR Vauxhall 1m56.098s +2.753s 10 17. Jack Goff BMR Vauxhall 1m56.126s +2.781s 8 18. Tom Ingram Speedworks Toyota 1m56.321s +2.976s 10 19. Fabrizio Giovanardi Motorbase Ford 1m56.357s +3.012s 9 20. Chris Stockton BTC Chevrolet 1m56.509s +3.164s 7 21. Martin Depper Eurotech Honda 1m56.627s +3.282s 11 22. Glynn Geddie UA Toyota 1m56.925s +3.580s 5 23. Adam Morgan Ciceley Mercedes 1m56.997s +3.652s 9 24. James Cole UA Toyota 1m57.074s +3.729s 10 25. Aiden Moffat Moffat Chevrolet 1m57.214s +3.869s 10 26. Dan Welch Welch Proton 1m57.255s +3.910s 11 27. Lea Wood Houseman Toyota 1m57.709s +4.364s 12 28. Simon Belcher Handy Toyota 1m58.363s +5.018s 11 29. Robb Holland Rotek Audi 1m58.386s +5.041s 9 30. Hunter Abbott RAR Audi 2m03.938s +10.593s 4
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