BTCC Brands Hatch: Brett Smith quickest in practice for finale

Smith, who was drafted in for the second half of the season to replace his injured father Jeff, led a Eurotech 1-2 and a Honda 1-2-3 in the afternoon's faster second practice session.

A string of improvements towards the end of the session jumped Smith up the order, as he advanced to fourth and then second in his Civic Type R on his second set of runs.

He then produced a fastest lap of 1m31.362s to move to the top of the times, displacing team-mate Jack Goff from the top of the pile.

Smith's effort went unbeaten in the final five minutes of the session, with Goff 0.111 seconds behind and the Team Dynamics Civic of Gordon Shedden third.

Adam Morgan was the leading non-Honda in fourth in his Mercedes A-Class, 0.279s off the pace, with the Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis of Tom Ingram fifth and Dave Newsham's BTC Norlin Chevrolet Cruze sixth.

Jake Hill was seventh in his Team Hard Volkswagen CC ahead of points leader Ash Sutton and his Team BMR team-mate Jason Plato in their Subaru Levorgs.

Sutton's main championship rival Colin Turkington finished the session in 18th.

WSR BMW driver Turkington reported a misfire and returned to the pits early on in FP2, but headed back to the track with 10 minutes of the session remaining.

He made another visit to the pits before completing the final couple of minutes on circuit in his 125i M Sport, but was unable to improve his time.

Sutton and Turkington had earlier finished first practice in ninth and 15th respectively.

Fastest of all in that morning session was Morgan, who recorded a best time of 1m31.698s on a greasy but drying circuit.

The Ciceley Racing driver led a Mercedes 1-2 at the head of the times, with Aiden Moffat second and 0.225s behind in his A Class.

Smith was third fastest in that session in his Eurotech Honda Civic Type R, ahead of the MG of Aron Taylor-Smith and Ingram, who remains in mathematical contention for the championship.

FP1 times

FP2 times