Tom Ingram left it late to show his hand in the opening Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship free practice session at Oulton Park, but the Speedworks driver eventually hit the top with an impressive run.
Ingram has taken two pole positions from the opening three events of the 2016 season so far and he shows little sign of letting up in Cheshire. It's also the local circuit for his Speedworks squad, as the Toyota Avensis continues to prove its qualities at circuits with varying characteristics.
The tight and twisty nature of the Oulton Park layout intially saw three drivers from three different teams vying for pace-setting bragging rights.
Aron Smith's BKR VW was the first to fire into the 1:26s lap times and he was soon joined by Andrew Jordan's Ford and latterly by Gordon Shedden's Honda. In fact, the Halfords Yuasa Racing duo of Shedden and Matt Neal took more than half the session before completing a timed lap, but the Scotsman's immediate rise up the timesheets showed that the Civic Type R is again set to challenge.
When the chequered flag eventually fell it was Ingram ahead of Smith, Shedden and Jordan, whilst Jack Goff's BMW and Hunter Abbott's Chevrolet made it six different marques in the top six order. Abbott produced an extremely good lap to take sixth, as did young rookie Dan Lloyd who slotted into seventh for Eurotech Racing.
Sam Tordoff, Josh Cook and Colin Turkington completed the top ten, with the latter being the best performing Silverline Subaru Team BMR car.
The manufacturer-backed Subaru squad is returning to action this weekend, after being forced to miss race day at Thruxton last time out due to recurring fuel system issues. New components and engine modifications have since been tested during an intensive two day run at the Pembrey circuit in Wales, however, and the team is back with all four of its cars at Oulton Park.
Free practice two takes place at 12:45 before qualifying commences at 15:20, which will also be streamed live and exclusively via www.itv.com/btcc.
2016 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Free Practice 1 – Oulton Park:
1 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport 1m26.049s
2 Aron SMITH (IRL) BKR +0.245s
3 Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +0.398s
4 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) Motorbase Performance +0.443s
5 Jack GOFF (GBR) Team IHG Rewards Club +0.658s
6 Hunter ABBOTT (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +0.700s
7 Daniel LLOYD (GBR) Eurotech Racing +0.794s
8 Sam TORDOFF (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX +0.891s
9 Josh COOK (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +0.912s
10 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +0.973s
11 Jake HILL (GBR) RCIB Insurance Racing +0.981s
12 Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +1.020s
13 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +1.045s
14 Ashley SUTTON (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +1.061s
15 Mat JACKSON (GBR) Motorbase Performance +1.124s
16 Warren SCOTT (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +1.165s
17 Adam MORGAN (GBR) WIX Racing +1.203s
18 Robert COLLARD (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX +1.229s
19 Martin DEPPER (GBR) Eurotech Racing +1.267s
20 Michael EPPS (GBR) RCIB Insurance Racing +1.315s
21 Rob AUSTIN (GBR) Handy Motorsport +1.358s
22 Jeff SMITH (GBR) Eurotech Racing +1.434s
23 Matt SIMPSON (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +1.458s
24 Jason PLATO (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +1.654s
25 James COLE (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +1.678s
26 Kelvin FLETCHER (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +1.685s
27 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) AmD Tuning.com+2.008s
28 Alex MARTIN (GBR) Dextra Racing +2.024s
29 Chris SMILEY (GBR) TLC/RCIB Insurance Racing +2.613s
30 Daniel WELCH (GBR) Goodstone Racing +2.675s
31 Stewart LINES (GBR) Maximum Motorsport +3.069s
32 Mark HOWARD (GBR) BKR +3.897s
