Handy Motorsport's Rob Austin drew first blood in 2017 as he topped the British Touring Car Championship Drivers time trial in the Live Action Arena at the Autosport International Show last weekend.

A strong selection of drivers were paired head-to-head in a Ginetta GT Supercup car as part of the hour-long show, held in front of thousands of fans. Of course, what was intended as a light-hearted contest would never truly prove to be so with a line-up full of ultra-competitive BTCC racers...

Austin, who will once again step into Handy's Toyota Avensis this season, set the quickest time on the very last outing around the two-lap course on Sunday evening – pipping the rest to the post right at the end of the weekend's action.

“I am certainly counting this as a victory – my first of the season,” said Austin. “I am a bit disappointed that I didn’t get a trophy though. Hopefully they will come later in the year!”

Times

1 Rob Austin 36.200s Sunday

2 Colin Turkington 36.830s Sunday

3 Gordon Shedden 37.000s Saturday

4 Matt Neal 37.700s Saturday

5 Andrew Jordan 37.780s Sunday

6 Ollie Jackson 38.040s Sunday

7 Matt Neal 38.240s Sunday

8 Aron Taylor-Smith 38.710s Saturday

9 Senna Proctor 38.720s Sunday

10 Mike Epps 39.390s Saturday

11 Rob Austin 40.500s Sunday, first run

12 Colin Turkington 41.380s Saturday

13 Dave Newsham 43.150s Saturday

14 Aron Taylor-Smith 43.800s Sunday

15 Tom Ingram 44.850s Saturday

16 Andrew Jordan 44.230s Saturday

17 Senna Proctor 47.400s Saturday

18 Matt Simpson 49.820s Saturday