Jordan tops first Brands session

The Eurotech Racing Vauxhall Vectra driver, who also led the Silverstone pre-season test, attacked the session early and set a best time of 48.798s. That left the TOCA-engined machine just over one tenth slower than Jason Plato's 2010 pole, but a third of a second quicker than Jordan's own qualifying effort last year.

Plato waited before going for a time, his 48.829s lap being good enough for second in his new RML-run Chevrolet Cruze.

Gordon Shedden made it two turbo-engined S2000 machines in the top three with his Honda Racing Civic, but he then crashed at Paddock Hill Bend, bringing the session to a premature close.

Tom Boardman, who is now running a VAG NGTC unit in his Special Tuning SEAT Leon, was fourth, just ahead of Shedden's team-mate Matt Neal.

Arena Motorsport's new Ford Focus rounded out the top six, with Tom Chilton managing 48.995s. Less than one second covered the top 15.

The new Next Generation Touring Cars struggled. Tony Hughes managed some medium-paced laps in the Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis, but Frank Wrathall's Dynojet version only completed one out-lap. The Rob Austin Racing Audi of David Pinkney did not make it out on track.

Pos  Driver           Team/Car              Time     Gap
 1.  Andrew Jordan    Eurotech Vauxhall     48.798s
 2.  Jason Plato      Chevrolet             48.829s  + 0.031s
 3.  Gordon Shedden   Honda                 48.889s  + 0.091s
 4.  Tom Boardman     Special Tuning SEAT   48.917s  + 0.119s
 5.  Matt Neal        Honda                 48.937s  + 0.139s
 6.  Tom Chilton      Arena Ford            48.995s  + 0.197s
 7.  Alex MacDowall   Chevrolet             49.071s  + 0.273s
 8.  Jeff Smith       Eurotech Vauxhall     49.115s  + 0.317s
 9.  Paul O'Neill     Tech-Speed Chevrolet  49.134s  + 0.336s
10.  James Nash       Triple 8 Vauxhall     49.254s  + 0.456s
11.  Rob Collard      WSR BMW               49.355s  + 0.557s
12.  Mat Jackson      Motorbase Ford        49.375s  + 0.577s
13.  Andy Neate       Arena Ford            49.614s  + 0.816s
14.  Tony Gilham      Triple 8 Vauxhall     49.625s  + 0.827s
15.  Tom Onslow-Cole  AmD Volkswagen        49.681s  + 0.883s
16.  Liam Griffin     Motorbase Ford        49.844s  + 1.046s
17.  Nick Foster      WSR BMW               50.247s  + 1.449s
18.  John George      Tech-Speed Chevrolet  50.574s  + 1.776s
19.  Chris James      ES Chevrolet          50.940s  + 2.142s
20.  Dave Newsham     Geoff Steel BMW       51.404s  + 2.606s
21.  Tony Hughes      Speedworks Toyota     53.835s  + 5.037s
22.  Frank Wrathall   Dynojet Toyota