Dan Rowbottom has continued the impressive mid-season turnaround of the rookie CPRL squad by topping the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship Free Practice session at Croft.

The team has delivered impressive results during the previous three meetings, which began with Rowbottom's maiden podium for the outfit at Thruxton back in July. At Knockhill, teammate Adam Morgan secured victory in the Qualifying Race, as well as an outright race win, before he scored a triumphant double at Donington Park last time out.

The results underline the efforts of the team's engineers and mechanics, who have worked tirelessly to extract performance from the Mercedes A35 Saloons, and that run may look set to continue here at Croft with Rowbottom setting the pace during practice.      

Both Rowbottom and Morgan have enjoyed success at the 2.127-mile Croft Circuit in the past, with one win, three additional podium finishes and five further top-five results between them in the BTCC.

LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing's Mikey Doble was just 0.156s off the top as he looks to secure his second win of the season in the new Audi A3 Saloon, whilst NAPA Racing UK's Dan Cammish was third.

Josh Cook (Speedworks Corolla Racing) and Tom Ingram (Team VERTU) made it five different manufacturers in the top five as Toyota and Hyundai also joined the party, suggesting that we're in for an unpredictable weekend.

Championship leader Ash Sutton was sixth in the #116 NAPA Racing UK Ford Focus Titanium whilst WSR's Charles Rainford ensured all six marques were covered in the top seven finishers during practice.

Aiden Moffat (LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing), Daryl De Leon (WSR) and Gordon Shedden (Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport) rounded out the top ten.

As is now the case in 2026, the finishing order of Free Practice is now split into two groups, odd-finishing-numbers (Group 1) and even-finishing-numbers (Group 2), for a 15-minute qualifying session to set their fastest times.

The group with the fastest qualifying time will occupy the odd-numbered grid positions for the Qualifying Race, ordered by their respective qualifying times. The other group will occupy the even-numbered grid positions, also ordered by qualifying times.

15 minutes after the qualifying session for Group 2 has concluded, the standard grid procedure for a race start begins, and the pit lane opens. The finishing order of the shorter nine lap ‘Race to Pole’ will determine the grid for the first of Sunday’s traditional trio of races.

Half-points are awarded for the Qualifying Race. There are no bonus points for leading a lap, the fastest lap, or for pole position for the Qualifying Race, whereas the bonus points for leading a lap and the fastest lap are still available on Sunday.

Qualifying and the Qualifying Race can be found LIVE on the ITV Sport YouTube Channel worldwide from 13:50 later today.

Dan Rowbottom, CPRL, said:

Mikey Doble, LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing, said:

Dan Cammish, NAPA Racing UK, said:

Croft – Free Practice – Classification: