Chilton sets Snetterton test pace

The Arena Ford driver left it until the dying minutes of the afternoon session to do it though, ducking under the lap record by 0.3 seconds to stop the clocks in 1m11.408s.

Chilton's pace-setting lap looked unlikely just an hour earlier. After he'd set the fifth quickest time during a dry morning, heavy rain hit the Norfolk circuit at lunchtime and left the track surface soaking wet.

However, bright sunshine dried the surface later on, and conditions were suitable for slick Dunlops during the final half hour.

Already quickest of the afternoon runners, Chilton usurped Alex MacDowall from the top of the timesheets with 10 minutes left and then improved his pace on three more laps to end the day on top. Chevrolet driver MacDowall ended up second quickest, but 0.550s down on Chilton.

Paul O'Neill was an impressive third quickest in his ageing Tech-Speed Honda Integra-R, but did not run in the afternoon after the rain fell.

Jason Plato's Chevrolet and James Nash's Triple 8 Vauxhall were next up while Andrew Jordan's Eurotech Vauxhall - an early pace-setter - wound up sixth quickest.

Tom Onslow-Cole went off the road at Coram in his Arena Ford during the morning and damaged his car, while one of the Forster BMWs had a high-speed spin while running just in front of O'Neill.

Shaun Hollamby, who was 13th quickest, completed the most laps of anyone, 79, in his AMD Milltek Volkswagen.

Neither championship leader Matt Neal, nor his Honda team-mate Gordon Shedden, took part in the test.

Pos Driver           Car           Time       Gap      Laps
 1. Tom Chilton      Ford          1m11.408s           76
 2. Alex MacDowall   Chevrolet     1m11.958s + 0.550s  61
 3. Paul O'Neill     Honda         1m11.971s + 0.561s  35
 4. Jason Plato      Chevrolet     1m11.974s + 0.565s  72
 5. James Nash       Vauxhall      1m12.120s + 0.712s  78
 6. Andrew Jordan    Vauxhall      1m12.406s + 0.998s  29
 7. Tom Onslow-Cole  Ford          1m12.558s + 1.150s  28
 8. Mat Jackson      BMW           1m12.669s + 1.221s  64
 9. Rob Collard      BMW           1m12.715s + 1.307s  73
10. Steven Kane      BMW           1m13.074s + 1.668s  65
11. Andy Neate       BMW           1m13.364s + 1.956s  38
12. John George      Honda         1m13.976s + 2.568s  36
13. Shaun Hollamby   Volkswagen    1m14.257s + 2.849s  79
14. Arthur Forster   BMW           1m14.466s + 3.082s  51
15. Martin Depper    BMW           1m14.984s + 3.574s  36
16. Martin Johnson   Vauxhall      1m15.859s + 4.451s  18