Practice: Neal heads Chilton

Neal's day wasn't entirely perfect, however, as a mistake right at the end of the session left him in the Redgate gravel trap.

James Thompson was third fastest for Vauxhall ahead of Phil Bennett, who put in a strong showing in the rapidly improving Proton Impian. Rob Collard was the fastest Independent runner in fifth.

Brands Hatch winner Colin Turkington set the sixth fastest time, showing that MG has made considerable improvement on its car's performance when running full success ballast.

One notable absentee from practice was Yvan Muller, still on suspension for his altercation with Anthony Reid at Brands. However, he will gain some consolation from the fact that his championship lead has been increased after organiser TOCA discovered a computer error at Brands had given Muller one point too few and Thompson one point extra.

Reid was once again involved in the main talking point of the day, when he collided with Carl Breeze coming out of the pit lane. "Reid needs to get down to Spec Savers," said the GA Motorsports driver. "He came out of the pits at a snail's pace. I swerved to go around him but he speeded up and just turned into my car."

Luke Hynes, who can clinch the Production class title this weekend, was fastest in the category, ahead of Barwell Motorsports team-mate Alan Blencowe.

Matt Neal Honda 1m14.912s
Tom Chilton Honda 1m14.997s
James Thompson Vauxhall 1m15.044s
Phil Bennett Proton 1m15.193s
Rob Collard Vauxhall 1m15.395s
Colin Turkington MG 1m15.447s