BTCC Brands Hatch: Tom Ingram on top in first BTCC practice of 2018
Speedworks Motorsport driver Tom Ingram topped the opening free practice session of the British Touring Car Championship season at Brands Hatch
The reigning Independents Trophy winner steered his Toyota Avensis around the 1.2-mile circuit in 48.382s at the midpoint of the 40-minute session, to head Jack Goff's Eurotech Racing Honda Civic Type R.
"We weren't really trying for times," said Ingram, who has won the opening round of the season in Kent for the last two seasons in a row.
"We had a programme to work through which we stuck to and the car felt really good.
"This is the first 'live' session that I have worked with my new engineer Spenny [Spencer Aldridge], so that is the best thing, for him to break his duck in the BTCC.
"We have a plan of what we want to do to the car in free practice two to improve it, so we are positive that there is more to come."
Goff was pleased to get some rare mileage in the dry in the build-up to Sunday's opening race.
"We have done most of our running in the wet, so this is a change and it is nice to confirm where we thought we were with the car.
"We know what boost levels people are running and we know what ballast they are on," he said.
"It is really encouraging to start with such a strong baseline in the car and we will only go forwards from here."
Motorbase Performance Ford Focus racer Tom Chilton was third, ahead of Eurotech Honda driver Matt Simpson, Motorbase's Sam Tordoff and the Team Dynamics Honda Civic Type R of series newcomer Dan Cammish. Cammish's team-mate Matt Neal was 16th.
Behind Cammish, Coin Turkington was eighth in the leading WSR BMW 125i M Sport, while reigning champion Ash Sutton took his Team BMR Subaru Levorg to 13th.
Two of the 32 drivers suffered small problems during practice: BTC Norlin racer Chris Smiley was forced to pit with an engine problem in his Honda Civic Type R, while Brett Smith (Eurotech Racing Honda) was late on to the track with electrical woes.
The session was halted briefly due to debris on the circuit.
FP1 times
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Tom Ingram | Speedworks | Toyota | 48.384s | - | 28 |
2 | Jack Goff | Eurotech Racing | Honda | 48.440s | 0.056s | 26 |
3 | Tom Chilton | Motorbase | Ford | 48.441s | 0.057s | 28 |
4 | Matt Simpson | Eurotech Racing | Honda | 48.520s | 0.136s | 31 |
5 | Sam Tordoff | Motorbase | Ford | 48.532s | 0.148s | 29 |
6 | Dan Cammish | Team Dynamics | Honda | 48.534s | 0.150s | 24 |
7 | Rory Butcher | AmD Tuning | MG | 48.561s | 0.177s | 24 |
8 | Josh Cook | Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall | 48.608s | 0.224s | 24 |
9 | Colin Turkington | WSR | BMW | 48.648s | 0.264s | 30 |
10 | Adam Morgan | Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes | 48.657s | 0.273s | 28 |
11 | Mike Bushell | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 48.660s | 0.276s | 28 |
12 | James Cole | Motorbase | Ford | 48.663s | 0.279s | 30 |
13 | Ash Sutton | Team BMR | Subaru | 48.668s | 0.284s | 28 |
14 | Aiden Moffat | Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes | 48.669s | 0.285s | 36 |
15 | Tom Oliphant | Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes | 48.757s | 0.373s | 32 |
16 | Matt Neal | Team Dynamics | Honda | 48.769s | 0.385s | 27 |
17 | Stephen Jelley | Team Parker Racing | BMW | 48.799s | 0.415s | 28 |
18 | Brett Smith | Eurotech Racing | Honda | 48.805s | 0.421s | 25 |
19 | Andrew Jordan | WSR | BMW | 48.852s | 0.468s | 32 |
20 | Jake Hill | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 48.855s | 0.471s | 27 |
21 | Rob Austin | HMS Racing | Alfa Romeo | 48.870s | 0.486s | 25 |
22 | Senna Proctor | Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall | 48.892s | 0.508s | 28 |
23 | Rob Collard | WSR | BMW | 49.016s | 0.632s | 33 |
24 | Ollie Jackson | AmD Tuning | Audi | 49.088s | 0.704s | 26 |
25 | Tom Boardman | AmD Tuning | MG | 49.227s | 0.843s | 15 |
26 | Jason Plato | Team BMR | Subaru | 49.229s | 0.845s | 25 |
27 | Bobby Thompson | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 49.253s | 0.869s | 23 |
28 | James Nash | BTC Norlin | Honda | 49.296s | 0.912s | 30 |
29 | Michael Caine | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 49.318s | 0.934s | 23 |
30 | Josh Price | Team BMR | Subaru | 49.323s | 0.939s | 22 |
31 | Sam Smelt | AmD Tuning | Audi | 49.861s | 1.477s | 23 |
32 | Chris Smiley | BTC Norlin | Honda | - | - | 4 |
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