CPRL continued its fantastic turnaround since mid-season by topping another BTCC session, with Dan Rowbottom leading the way during Free Practice at Silverstone.

Teammate Adam Morgan has won three times in recent rounds while pace-setter Rowbottom searches for his first outright win in the new Mercedes A35 Saloon.

The multiple race winner has kicked off his challenge in the best way possible by clocking a 56.776s lap time around the 1.64-mile National layout, pipping LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing's Mikey Doble by just 0.022s.

The incredible closeness of the order remained apparent with WSR's Charles Rainford and CPRL's Morgan – in third and fourth respectively – just 0.042s and 0.056s off the summit. Incredibly, the top four drivers were separated by just over half a tenth of a second.

Speedworks Corolla Racing's Josh Cook and Team VERTU's Tom Chilton were next in the classification, whilst Restart Racing's Dan Lloyd had a good run to seventh in the #123 Hyundai i30N.

The top ten positions at the end of the 50 minute session were completed by Aiden Moffat (LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing), Daryl De Leon (WSR) and Gordon Shedden (Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport).

Debutant, Osamu Kawashima, performed well as he acclimatises to the the Team VERTU Hyundai, the Silverstone National Circuit and of course the competitiveness of the BTCC.

Standings leader Ash Sutton was down in 20th during practice, which will provide little cause for concern at this early stage of a weekend in which he hopes to secure a record fifth BTCC Drivers' title.

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:

Charles Rainford, WSR, said:

Silverstone – Free Practice – Classification: