Northern Irishman Chris Smiley hit the top of the timesheets in the final Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship free practice session around the Brands Hatch Indy circuit.
The Restart Racing driver leads the Independent Drivers' standings after a decent trio of top ten finishes at Donington Park last month, but the Hyundai squad is chasing overall honours here in Kent.
Smiley's 46.725s lap time is the fastest of the day so far, in fact the fastest ever lap around the famous 1.21-miles of Tarmac, as he pipped Team Vertu's Adam Morgan by 0.091s.
"The track has been resurfaced and the conditions are perfect, it's a real pleasure to drive" said Smiley. "It's great to end up in P1 but you have to always take these things with a pinch of salt, but to end up quickest puts us in a confident mood ahead of qualifying."
If you thought the battle for P1 was close then the scrap for second was even tighter as an incredible 0.003s covered Morgan and LKQ Euro Car Parts with WSR's Aiden Moffat.
It was an encouraging performance for Moffat after a topsy-turvy debut weekend in BMW machinery at Donington. Whilst the Scotsman's race pace was impressive – as he surged into the top ten in each contest having qualified down in 20th – he will be hoping to get things right in the all-important qualifying session later today.
Mikey Doble (Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing), Tom Ingram (Team Vertu) and Charles Rainford (LKQ Euro Car Parts with WSR) continued their form from FP1 with a top six result in the final practice session, whilst the double celebrations continued at Restart Racing with Daniel Lloyd in seventh.
Local favourite Michael Crees (Team Vertu) was eighth – his best showing since his BTCC return – whilst Tom Chilton (Team Vertu) and rookie James Dorlin (TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA) completed the top ten.
Qualifying for Round 4 of the 2025 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship from Brands Hatch takes place at 15:10 later today and will be streamed LIVE via the ITV Sport YouTube channel.
2025 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Brands Hatch Indy – Free Practice 2 – Final Classification:
| P/ | No/ | Name/ | Entry/ | Laps/ | Time/ | Gap/ | On/ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | Restart Racing | 28 | 46.725 | 18 | |
| 2 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | Team Vertu | 20 | 46.816 | 0.091 | 19 |
| 3 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR | 26 | 46.819 | 0.094 | 25 |
| 4 | 88 | Mikey DOBLE | Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing | 27 | 46.88 | 0.155 | 24 |
| 5 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | Team Vertu | 24 | 46.888 | 0.163 | 23 |
| 6 | 99 | Charles RAINFORD | LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR | 27 | 46.958 | 0.233 | 11 |
| 7 | 123 | Daniel LLOYD | Restart Racing | 31 | 46.997 | 0.272 | 25 |
| 8 | 777 | Michael CREES | Team Vertu | 31 | 47.009 | 0.284 | 30 |
| 9 | 3 | Tom CHILTON | Team Vertu | 27 | 47.03 | 0.305 | 23 |
| 10 | 132 | James DORLIN | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA | 24 | 47.237 | 0.512 | 22 |
| 11 | 100 | Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | 25 | 47.248 | 0.523 | 19 |
| 12 | 14 | Ronan PEARSON | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA | 24 | 47.280 | 0.555 | 22 |
| 13 | 2 | Daryl DELEON | WSR | 31 | 47.317 | 0.592 | 26 |
| 14 | 32 | Daniel ROWBOTTOM | NAPA Racing UK | 33 | 47.365 | 0.640 | 9 |
| 15 | 27 | Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | 30 | 47.448 | 0.723 | 9 |
| 16 | 17 | Dexter PATTERSON | ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport | 25 | 47.455 | 0.730 | 15 |
| 17 | 93 | Max HALL | ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport | 26 | 47.483 | 0.758 | 17 |
| 18 | 1 | Jake HILL | Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | 16 | 47.487 | 0.762 | 8 |
| 19 | 77 | Sam OSBORNE | NAPA Racing UK | 24 | 47.538 | 0.813 | 6 |
| 20 | 52 | Gordon SHEDDEN | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA | 24 | 47.596 | 0.871 | 23 |
| 21 | 66 | Josh COOK | One Motorsport | 21 | 47.647 | 0.922 | 15 |
| 22 | 12 | Stephen JELLEY | One Motorsport | 30 | 47.762 | 1.037 | 10 |
| 23 | 28 | Nicolas HAMILTON | Powder Monkey Brewing Co with Esidock | 18 | 48.312 | 1.587 | 8 |
| 24 | 40 | Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA | 4 | 48.364 | 1.639 | 4 |
| 25 | 50 | Nick HALSTEAD | Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing | 22 | 49.610 | 2.885 | 17 |
