Brands Hatch BTCC: Turkington leads title rival Cammish in practice
Points leader Colin Turkington and nearest title rival Dan Cammish set the pace in first practice for the British Touring Car Championship season finale at Brands Hatch
Greasy conditions meant two red flag stoppages killed off a quarter of the 40-minute session as BMW 330i M Sport driver Turkington set a benchmark time of 1m42.122s on slick tyres.
He enters the final three races with a 16-point cushion over Cammish, and carries the full 54kg of success ballast through both practice sessions, qualifying and race one.
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Team Dynamics driver Cammish was just 0.03 seconds shy of Turkington around the Grand Prix layout, with his Honda Civic Type R carrying 6kg less weight.
The slippery circuit twice caught drivers out at the Druids hairpin, with Team Hard driver Michael Crees causing a red flag when he bedded his Volkswagen CC into the gravel after 15 minutes.
Returning BTCC driver Michael Caine suffered a near carbon copy when the session resumed, with his Motorbase Ford Focus RS requiring recovery.
Although the top 15 cars lapped within 1s of Turkington, third fastest Ash Sutton was 0.217s off the top time, with Aidan Moffat fourth in the Infiniti Q50.
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Stephen Jelley was fifth, meaning the top four runners were in rear-wheel-drive machinery.
Behind Matt Simpson was Andrew Jordan, Turkington's team-mate and third in the points.
The 2013 champion is entering what is expected to be his last BTCC round after the withdrawal of title sponsor Pirtek, and was 0.432s off the pace.
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Jordan, who scored the new 3 Series' first win on the Indy circuit during the season-opening round, holds a 17-point deficit in the standings.
Outside title contenders Tom Ingram and Josh Cook wound up eighth and 13th respectively.
Practice one times
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Colin Turkington | WSR | BMW | 1m42.122s | - | 13 |
2 | Dan Cammish | Team Dynamics | Honda | 1m42.152s | 0.030s | 14 |
3 | Ash Sutton | BMR Racing | Subaru | 1m42.339s | 0.217s | 13 |
4 | Aiden Moffat | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti | 1m42.370s | 0.248s | 17 |
5 | Stephen Jelley | Team Parker Racing | BMW | 1m42.423s | 0.301s | 17 |
6 | Matt Simpson | Simpson Racing | Honda | 1m42.511s | 0.389s | 17 |
7 | Andrew Jordan | WSR | BMW | 1m42.554s | 0.432s | 13 |
8 | Tom Ingram | Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota | 1m42.627s | 0.505s | 13 |
9 | Tom Chilton | Motorbase Performance | Ford | 1m42.635s | 0.513s | 15 |
10 | Senna Proctor | BMR Racing | Subaru | 1m42.673s | 0.551s | 15 |
11 | Jason Plato | Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall | 1m42.681s | 0.559s | 11 |
12 | Matt Neal | Team Dynamics | Honda | 1m42.729s | 0.607s | 14 |
13 | Josh Cook | BTC Racing | Honda | 1m42.765s | 0.643s | 16 |
14 | Chris Smiley | BTC Racing | Honda | 1m42.839s | 0.717s | 12 |
15 | Ollie Jackson | Motorbase Performance | Ford | 1m43.044s | 0.922s | 16 |
16 | Mark Blundell | Trade Price Cars Racing | Audi | 1m43.184s | 1.062s | 19 |
17 | Mike Bushell | AmD Tuning | Honda | 1m43.336s | 1.214s | 17 |
18 | Jake Hill | Trade Price Cars Racing | Audi | 1m43.403s | 1.281s | 14 |
19 | Rob Collard | Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall | 1m43.413s | 1.291s | 15 |
20 | Jack Goff | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 1m43.454s | 1.332s | 14 |
21 | Tom Oliphant | WSR | BMW | 1m43.495s | 1.373s | 14 |
22 | Carl Boardley | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 1m43.507s | 1.385s | 15 |
23 | Rory Butcher | AmD Tuning | Honda | 1m43.812s | 1.690s | 15 |
24 | Michael Caine | Motorbase Performance | Ford | 1m43.920s | 1.798s | 7 |
25 | Bobby Thompson | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 1m44.103s | 1.981s | 5 |
26 | Adam Morgan | Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes | 1m44.224s | 2.102s | 11 |
27 | Rob Smith | Excelr8 Motorsport | MG | 1m44.516s | 2.394s | 17 |
28 | Daniel Rowbottom | Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes | 1m44.859s | 2.737s | 13 |
29 | Michael Crees | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 1m44.917s | 2.795s | 6 |
30 | Sam Osborne | Excelr8 Motorsport | MG | 1m45.194s | 3.072s | 16 |
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