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BTCC Oulton Park: Matt Simpson fastest in Honda Civic Type R

Matt Simpson set the fastest time over the two free practice sessions ahead of the qualifying for round four of the 2018 British Touring Car Championship season at Oulton Park

The Honda Civic Type R driver clocked a 1m25.798s (93.40mph) lap in FP2 to finish 0.360 seconds clear of the similar Eurotech Racing Civic Type R of Brett Smith after the two 40-minute sessions on the 2.26-mile track.

Simpson said he was delighted with the handling of his hatchback from the moment he took to the Cheshire circuit.

"The car has been superb right from the word go," said Simpson.

"We hardly made any changes to the set-up and I was able to do quick laps from the start. We aren't going to touch it for qualifying and I am feeling very optimistic."

Smith set his time late on in the session, and team-mate Jack Goff was also inside the top 10 in ninth in his car which is carrying 48kg of championship success ballast.

Third fastest was the HMS Racing Alfa Romeo of Rob Austin, which had topped the timesheets in the morning's first session.

He was not quite able to match that effort in the afternoon but his FP2 time was still within a tenth of his earlier 1m26.300s benchmark.

Second and third spots for Tom Ingram and Tom Chilton in FP1 were enough to give the respective Speedworks Motorsport Toyota and Motorbase Ford drivers fourth and fifth in the combined times.

They were followed by the WSR BMW 125i M Sport pairing of Colin Turkington and Andrew Jordan.

Championship leader Adam Morgan was 19th quickest in both sessions in his Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes-Benz A-Class.

The 29-year-old, who is suffering from the effects of flu, said he was also struggling with his 75kg of success ballast.

Second place man in the championship Josh Cook had limited running in the second session when the power steering on his Power Maxed Vauxhall Astra failed.

He was 17th fastest in the opening session, but was restricted to 29th in the second timed period.

FP1 times

Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap Laps
1 Rob Austin HMS Racing Alfa Romeo 1m26.300s - 17
2 Tom Ingram Speedworks Toyota 1m26.401s 0.101s 18
3 Tom Chilton Motorbase Ford 1m26.417s 0.117s 16
4 Andrew Jordan WSR BMW 1m26.519s 0.219s 16
5 Chris Smiley BTC Norlin Honda 1m26.545s 0.245s 21
6 Matt Simpson Eurotech Racing Honda 1m26.551s 0.251s 15
7 Aiden Moffat Laser Tools Racing Mercedes 1m26.597s 0.297s 22
8 Brett Smith Eurotech Racing Honda 1m26.600s 0.300s 17
9 Colin Turkington WSR BMW 1m26.667s 0.367s 17
10 Jack Goff Eurotech Racing Honda 1m26.669s 0.369s 20
11 Dan Cammish Team Dynamics Honda 1m26.687s 0.387s 18
12 Tom Oliphant Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes 1m26.696s 0.396s 20
13 Mike Bushell Team Hard Volkswagen 1m26.697s 0.397s 12
14 Matt Neal Team Dynamics Honda 1m26.754s 0.454s 16
15 Ash Sutton Team BMR Subaru 1m26.772s 0.472s 16
16 Sam Tordoff Motorbase Ford 1m26.786s 0.486s 16
17 Josh Cook Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall 1m26.789s 0.489s 12
18 James Cole Motorbase Ford 1m26.914s 0.614s 17
19 Adam Morgan Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes 1m26.946s 0.646s 20
20 Daniel Lloyd BTC Norlin Honda 1m26.979s 0.679s 17
21 Senna Proctor Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall 1m27.066s 0.766s 17
22 Rob Collard WSR BMW 1m27.074s 0.774s 17
23 Ollie Jackson AmD Tuning Audi 1m27.214s 0.914s 18
24 Stephen Jelley Team Parker Racing BMW 1m27.265s 0.965s 21
25 Jake Hill Team Hard Volkswagen 1m27.316s 1.016s 8
26 Rory Butcher AmD Tuning MG 1m27.329s 1.029s 11
27 Tom Boardman AmD Tuning MG 1m27.371s 1.071s 9
28 Michael Caine Team Hard Volkswagen 1m27.606s 1.306s 8
29 Sam Smelt AmD Tuning Audi 1m27.752s 1.452s 21
30 Jason Plato Team BMR Subaru 1m27.950s 1.650s 12
31 Bobby Thompson Team Hard Volkswagen 1m28.499s 2.199s 9
32 Josh Price Team BMR Subaru 1m29.052s 2.752s 9

FP2 times

Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap Laps
1 Matt Simpson Eurotech Racing Honda 1m25.798s - 15
2 Brett Smith Eurotech Racing Honda 1m26.158s 0.360s 16
3 Rob Austin HMS Racing Alfa Romeo 1m26.383s 0.585s 15
4 Colin Turkington WSR BMW 1m26.496s 0.698s 19
5 Andrew Jordan WSR BMW 1m26.569s 0.771s 18
6 Dan Cammish Team Dynamics Honda 1m26.570s 0.772s 17
7 Tom Chilton Motorbase Ford 1m26.594s 0.796s 18
8 Sam Tordoff Motorbase Ford 1m26.600s 0.802s 18
9 Jack Goff Eurotech Racing Honda 1m26.601s 0.803s 15
10 Matt Neal Team Dynamics Honda 1m26.610s 0.812s 17
11 Ash Sutton Team BMR Subaru 1m26.643s 0.845s 18
12 Tom Ingram Speedworks Toyota 1m26.654s 0.856s 19
13 Ollie Jackson AmD Tuning Audi 1m26.719s 0.921s 17
14 Aiden Moffat Laser Tools Racing Mercedes 1m26.748s 0.950s 20
15 Rob Collard WSR BMW 1m26.826s 1.028s 20
16 Chris Smiley BTC Norlin Honda 1m26.845s 1.047s 19
17 Jake Hill Team Hard Volkswagen 1m26.903s 1.105s 19
18 Tom Oliphant Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes 1m26.910s 1.112s 20
19 Adam Morgan Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes 1m26.945s 1.147s 19
20 Daniel Lloyd BTC Norlin Honda 1m26.965s 1.167s 18
21 Rory Butcher AmD Tuning MG 1m27.007s 1.209s 17
22 Senna Proctor Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall 1m27.031s 1.233s 15
23 Michael Caine Team Hard Volkswagen 1m27.155s 1.357s 18
24 James Cole Motorbase Ford 1m27.169s 1.371s 16
25 Bobby Thompson Team Hard Volkswagen 1m27.373s 1.575s 18
26 Jason Plato Team BMR Subaru 1m27.471s 1.673s 16
27 Stephen Jelley Team Parker Racing BMW 1m27.509s 1.711s 17
28 Sam Smelt AmD Tuning Audi 1m27.733s 1.935s 17
29 Josh Cook Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall 1m27.809s 2.011s 11
30 Tom Boardman AmD Tuning MG 1m27.902s 2.104s 14
31 Josh Price Team BMR Subaru 1m28.133s 2.335s 16
32 Mike Bushell Team Hard Volkswagen - - 2

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