SEAT 1-2-3 in Oulton practice

Turner, who was seventh quickest in the early morning session at the Cheshire circuit, improved his lap times by over three tenths of a second later on to lap the track in 1:27.848, becoming the only man to dip under the 1:28 barrier in his Leon TDI.

His team-mate Jason Plato headed the opening session in 1:28.032, but was unable to improve in the second session and still held onto second overall, ahead of the petrol-powered Team Air-Cool SEAT of Adam Jones.

The first session was notable for the close competition at the front of the field, with Turner?s seventh place time less than two tenths of a second off the ultimate pace.

Colin Turkington was the best of the non-SEAT drivers, recording the fourth quickest time in his Team RAC BMW, and he was followed by Gordon Shedden's Team Halfords Honda and the Vauxhall trio with Matt Neal ahead of champion and championship leader Fabrizio Giovanardi and Tom Onslow-Cole.

Shedden's teammate Tom Chilton and BMW Dealer UK driver Mat Jackson completed the top ten, the latter just over a second off Turner's pace over the two sessions.

Alan Taylor went off at Old Hall midway through the first session, damaging the front splitter of his Robertshaw Racing Honda. He was back out for the second session though, improving his times by over six seconds as a result.

Pos  Driver               Car        Time         Gap
 1.  Darren Turner        SEAT       1:27.848
 2.  Jason Plato          SEAT       1:28.032  +0.184
 3.  Adam Jones           SEAT       1:28.063  +0.215
 4.  Colin Turkington     BMW        1:28.081  +0.233
 5.  Gordon Shedden       Honda      1:28.095  +0.247
 6.  Matt Neal            Vauxhall   1:28.114  +0.266
 7.  Fabrizio Giovanardi  Vauxhall   1:28.117  +0.269
 8.  Tom Onslow-Cole      Vauxhall   1:28.177  +0.329
 9.  Tom Chilton          Honda      1:28.178  +0.330
10.  Mat Jackson          BMW        1:28.266  +0.418
11.  Andrew Jordan        Honda      1:28.365  +0.517
12.  Stephen Jelley       BMW        1:29.002  +1.154
13.  Steven Kane          BMW        1:29.291  +1.443
14.  Rob Collard          BMW        1:29.354  +1.506
15.  Mike Jordan          Honda      1:29.382  +1.534
16.  Harry Vaulkhard      Chevrolet  1:29.516  +1.668
17.  Jason Hughes         MG         1:29.648  +1.800
18.  John George          Honda      1:30.050  +2.202
19.  Chris Stockton       SEAT       1:30.065  +2.217
20.  Gareth Howell        SEAT       1:30.320  +2.472
21.  Michael Doyle        Honda      1:30.542  +2.694
22.  Martyn Bell          Vauxhall   1:30.566  +2.718
23.  Alan Taylor          Honda      1:32.537  +4.689