BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8's Tom Chilton drove his Hyundai i30N to the top of the timesheets during the morning session of today's Goodyear Tyre Test (4 July).
"It’s been great," said Chilton. "Great weather and a nice bit of rubber down from the World Superbikes at the weekend. Out of the box I was P1, but then obviously others went quicker, but I’ve just put another time in there to return to the top.
"The car’s working really nicely and we’re following our test programme extremely well, but it’s hard on tyres here. At the moment it’s going really well and I’m very happy to be at the top."
Chilton was followed by Team BMW stablemates' Colin Turkington and Adam Morgan, who rounded out the top three.
It wasn't such a productive morning for Jake Hill in the sister Laser Tools-backed BMW as the Kent driver's #24 machine ground to a halt at the Old Hairpin. A short stoppage followed to retrieve Hill's striken 320e M Sport, with West Surrey Racing squad now carrying out an engine change in time for the afternoon run.
The NAPA Racing UK duo of Dan Rowbottom and Ash Sutton sandwiched BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8's Tom Ingram on the times as the trio occupied fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.
The TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK duo of Ricky Collard and Rory Butcher were seventh and ninth, but it was rookie Daryl DeLeon who was arguably the star of the show as the Team HARD debutant hauled his Cupra Leon up to eight.
CarStore Power Maxed Racing's Andrew Watson completed the top ten.
The afternoon session commences at 1330 and will run until 1650 with live timing available here throughout the day.
2023 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Morning Session Top Ten – Donington Park
1. Tom Chilton, BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 1:33.648s
2. Colin Turkington, Team BMW +0.081s
3. Adam Morgan, Team BMW +0.179s
4. Daniel Rowbottom, NAPA Racing UK +0.205s
5. Tom Ingram, BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 +0.259s
6. Ashley Sutton, NAPA Racing UK +0.270s
7. Ricky Collard, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK +0.438s
8. Daryl DeLeon, Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils +0.449s
9. Rory Butcher, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK +0.545s
10. Andrew Watson, CarStore Power Maxed Racing +0.670s
