Eurotech Racing's Jack Goff produced a late flying lap to top the opening BTCC mid-summer test day at Snetterton.
Goff had led for much of the afternoon running, before the TAG Racing VW of Jake Hill hit the heights in the final 15 minutes. The Honda Civic Type R of Goff responded almost immediately, however, as the talented young driver fired in a 1:57.408s lap time to return to summit of the timesheets.
"We're just focussing on our own thing but it's always nice to be in P1," said Goff. "Some of the things we tried today simply didn't work but that's all part of the process and we know we're in the ballpark. Things haven't really gone our way in the last couple of meetings but hopefully we can have another good day tomorrow and be set-up well for the rest of the season.
"The title seems a long way away, but if you look at Gordon Shedden last year then you never say never, although the Independents' remains a real target."
Hill managed to squeeze some extra pace from the VW, and whilst it's always hard to read too much into testing he believes that permanent gains have been found both on and off track.
"This has been the most productive test I’ve ever done in the BTCC," said Hill. "We’ve got a new engineering side to our team – two new guys who are doing a great job and we’re all getting on extremely well.
"I feel like I can finally focus on driving the car and these guys can focus on what they do best. I’m over the moon as we’ve already learnt so much today. This is good news for me and for everyone in the team."
The top six times of the day were all set in the afternoon as AmD also enjoyed a great late run with Ollie Jackson claiming third. The Audi racer was in podium contention at Croft last time out, and the Kent squad backed up its potential with another good showing here. The team will not be contesting day two tomorrow as they travel to Spa for a British GT event, but this will have been yet another welcoming boost for the ever-improving outfit.
The Mercedes duo of Aiden Moffat and Adam Morgan were next up in the order, the pair becoming increasingly inseparable when it comes to pace on-track, whilst former championship leader Tom Ingram completed the top six.
Mat Jackson set the pace in the morning session as the Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo driver edged out a trio of unlikely contenders. Team HARD run Will Burns, debutant Brett Smith and Norlin's Chris Smiley were all vying for position behind Jackson, and at the end of the day their times were still good enough for top ten positions overall.
Surprisingly, the manufacturer-backed Subarus, BMWs and Honda failed to trouble the leading order.
Aside from the well known protagonists there were also run outs for Stewart Lines in the Maximum Motorsport Ford and a first ever BTCC test for Chris Milford with Team HARD.
Snetterton - Test - 5 July - Combined Classification:
Click here for the full classified results.
