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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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