Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS' Tom Chilton set a late benchmark lap in the opening Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship Free Practice session at Silverstone, as he pipped the BMW duo of Jake Hill and Colin Turkington to the early bragging rights.

Championship leader Hill was one of several drivers to be black flagged during the session as a number of competitors pushed beyond the allowed track limits.

Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport's Hill responded well and looked to be ending the session in P1, ahead of his Team BMW stablemate Turkington, but Chilton had other ideas as he blasted his Hyundai i30N to the top of the timesheets.

"It's always nice to see your name in P1 and it's a great start to the weekend," said Chilton.

"We've just got to make sure we get everything right this afternoon. Barry [Plowman], my engineer, is a superstar – eight championships under his belt – and he's been trying to figure out my driving style, and what I need and want from the car. It's actually worked and the car is mega.

"Pole is the plan for qualifying, so fingers crossed."

The top three drivers were blanketed by just 0.038s, whilst TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK's Andrew Watson was just behind in fourth. The Toyota Corolla has often been a potent weapon around the short National Circuit and the Speedworks Motorsport-run squad will be hoping that remains the case this weekend.

Team BMW's Adam Morgan was next in the order as the 330e M Sport also proved its pace with the three Bavarian machines inside the top five, whilst Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing's Mikey Doble was sixth.

Josh Cook (LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ), Tom Ingram (Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS), Rob Huff (TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK) and Árón Taylor-Smith (Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing) completed the top ten positions.

The cars and stars of the BTCC will be back on-track for FP2 at 1205 before qualifying commences at 1535, which will be streamed LIVE via the ITV Sport YouTube channel.

Silverstone – Free Practice 1 – Final Classification