Team BMW's Adam Morgan set the pace during the opening morning of the first official pre-season BTCC test at Brands Hatch.

The 2024 testing programme got underway today, 3 April, with Morgan setting the benchmark in the drying morning session.

Track action was limited as the lights went green. With only the BMWs of both Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport's Jake Hill and Team BMW’s Colin Turkington taking to the track as conditions were less than ideal during a spell of heavy rain.

Soon after the on-track action ramped up as the rain had settled. A repeat of 2023 took place early on as reigning champion Ash Sutton (NAPA Racing UK) topped the timesheet come the end of the first hour. Hill and Tom Ingram (EXCELR8 Motorsport) followed behind to start 2024 with the same top three of last season.

The rain continued to pour throughout the opening hours as Andrew Watson, new Toyota Gazoo Racing UK driver, topped the times at the end of hour two. 

Watson’s ex-team-mate Árón Taylor-Smith (Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing) was among the drivers climbing the timesheet in the second hour, breaking into the top five before moving to the summit at the end of the third hour.

Conditions improved late on as the track began to dry for the first time of the test. Taylor-Smith's time would see him in tenth as the track was drying and Morgan set his time late on to put his BMW top of the timesheet. Closely followed by Dan Cammish for NAPA Racing UK and the Toyota Gazoo Racing UK of Watson.

"The time is obviously not important at this stage but I feel good in the car and I'm excited about my second season with WSR," said Morgan.

"Seeing what the team has done over the winter is phenomenal. It's incredible to see that every aspect of the car has been looked at and improved."