Toyota Gazoo Racing UK's Rory Butcher has set the pace in both Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship free practice sessions at Silverstone, boding well for the Scotsman ahead of qualifying this afternoon.
A word of caution for the manufacturer-backed driver, however, is that he also led the way at Croft during practice last weekend, before a mechanical failure in qualifying ended his challenge.
As ever, Butcher and Speedworks approach each weekend with renewed optimism and professionalism and their performances so far make them the standout favourite for pole position.
Tom Oliphant (Team BMW), Senna Proctor (BTC Racing) and Ash Sutton (Laser Tools Racing) were next in the order during FP2, whilst Daniel Lloyd showed improved pace in the Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall.
Tom Ingram – looking to bounce back from a challenging weekend last time out – was sixth in the Ginsters-backed Hyundai, whilst Halfords Racing with Cataclean's Daniel Rowbottom was seventh.
The Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport duo of Tom Chilton and Adam Morgan followed on the timesheets, whilst Jack Butel impressed to take tenth in his EXCELR8 Motorsport-run Jack Butel.
"The time we did just then was on the same tyres we used in FP1, we’ll see, give it a go and touch wood everything will be alright!" said Morgan.
"I think we’ve all surprised ourselves really. If you’d have said in our first year in rear-wheel drive that we’d have two wins and two podiums we wouldn’t have believed it. But I’m loving rear-wheel drive. It’s back to where I started, back to my roots and it’s all coming back to me. It just feels so nice to drive. The pace is there or there abouts. We’re still getting used to it, but I’m really enjoying it!
"I loved the Mercedes, it’s an old friend but it was knocking on a bit, so it was time to swap. It was nice to bring the BMW in. It’s a great car and the pace is coming, we’re learning every time we go out. Silverstone is quite unique in that it’s such a high-grip track, so we’re trying to adapt setup for such a high grip and the nature of the circuit, but we’ll give it a go in quali and see what happens!"
2021 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Free Practice 2 – Silverstone
1 Rory BUTCHER (GBR) Toyota Gazoo Racing UK +57.247s
2 Tom OLIPHANT (GBR) Team BMW +0.270s
3 Senna PROCTOR(GBR) BTC Racing +0.345s
4 Ashley SUTTON (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +0.410s
5 Daniel LLOYD (GBR) Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing +0.432s
6 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com +0.450s
7 Daniel ROWBOTTOM (GBR) Halfords Racing with Cataclean +0.459s
8 Tom CHILTON (GBR) Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport +0.456s
9 Adam MORGAN (GBR) Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport +0.501s
10 Jack BUTEL (GBR) EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com +0.508s
11 Sam SMELT (GBR) Toyota Gazoo Racing UK +0.513s
12 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +0.527s
13 Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Racing with Cataclean +0.554s
14 Chris SMILEY (GBR) Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com +0.555s
15 Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team BMW +0.590s
16 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +0.664s
17 Jack GOFF (GBR) Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct +0.685s
18 Josh COOK (GBR) BTC Racing +0.694s
19 Jason PLATO (GBR) Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing +0.748s
20 Andy NEATE (GBR) Racing with Wera & Photon Group +0.765s
21 Árón TAYLOR-SMITH (IRL) Team HARD. with HUB Financial Solutions +0.810s
22 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square +0.846s
23 Rick PARFRITT (GBR) EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com +0.848s
24 Sam OSBORNE (GBR) Racing with Wera & Photon Group +0.864s
25 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) TOCA/Cosworth/M-Sport +0.867s
26 Nicolas HAMILTON (GBR) ROKiT Racing with iQuoto Online Trading +0.941s
27 Jade EDWARDS (GBR) PHSC with BTC Racing +0.951s
28 Jack MITCHELL (GBR) Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct +1.018s
29 Jake HILL (GBR) MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square +1.075s
20 Carl BOARDLEY (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +1.131s
