Speedworks Motorsport's Tom Ingram returned to the top of the timesheets to set the pace in the opening Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship free practice session at Croft.
The Toyota star is no stranger to P1 but he has endured two relatively low-key weekends at Thruxton and Oulton Park over the last month or so. Ingram has critically collected points during those aforementioned weekends, however, and now it seems he is ready to fight for victories once again.
"A positive start to the weekend," he said. "We know this place does tend to favour rear-wheel drive cars and we fully expect them to come on stronger as the day goes on, but it’s obviously good to start on top and without really pushing. We still have quite a bit more to find from the car here, but the balance of the car feels good with the weight on-board – we’re just lacking performance out of the hairpins.
"We’ll keep working hard and hopefully we can qualify somewhere inside the top ten this afternoon.”
Ingram left it late in this session to pip the all-new Alfa Romeo of Rob Austin, which has shown flashes of speed in its maiden season. Austin suggested his HMS Racing team had made solid progress with the car coming into the Croft weekend, and that has been confirmed with its early showing in practice.
Another squad seemingly bouncing back to form is Adrian Flux Subaru Racing as Ash Sutton topped the order for much of the session. The reigning champion had to settle for third at the finish, and was closely followed by team-mate Jason Plato. Driver of the #99 Subaru Levorg sat in the pits for more than half an hour as his team worked frantically on an electrical problem, but as soon as his Levorg was ready to go the BTCC legend clocked some very quick times.
Mike Bushell was fifth in the Team HARD-run VW as he impressively saw off the challenge from three former champions, with Matt Neal, Colin Turkington and Andrew Jordan next in the order. The Mercedes duo of Aiden Moffat and Adam Morgan completed the top ten positions.
The final practice session will take place at midday before the all-important qualifying session – you can keep up to date with all the action via our LIVE section on the website, which provides live commentary and timing. Qualifying for Round 13 of the 2018 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship will be streamed live on www.itv.com/btcc from 15:15.
2018 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Free Practice 1 – Croft Circuit
1 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport 1m24.600s
2 Rob AUSTIN (GBR) DUO Motorsport with HMS Racing +0.074s
3 Ashley SUTTON (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +0.246s
4 Jason PLATO (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +0.301s
5 Mike BUSHELL (GBR) Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing +0.343s
6 Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +0.416s
7 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +0.437s
8 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) BMW Pirtek Racing +0.458s
9 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +0.500s
10 Adam MORGAN (GBR) Mac Tools with Ciceley Motorsport +0.521s
11 Rob COLLARD (GBR) Team BMW +0.526s
12 Sam TORDOFF (GBR) Team GardX Racing with Motorbase +0.549s
13 Tom OLIPHANT (GBR) Ciceley Motorsport +0.611s
14 Josh COOK (GBR) Power Maxed TAG Racing +0.761s
15 Dan CAMMISH (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +0.940s
16 Matt SIMPSON (GBR) Simpson Racing +0.942s
17 Tom CHILTON (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher +1.034s
18 Josh PRICE (GBR) Autoglym Academy Racing +1.098s
19 Jake HILL (GBR) Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing +1.110s
20 James COLE (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher +1.118s
21 Michael CAINE (GBR) Team HARD with Trade Price Cars +1.126s
22 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) AmD with Cobra Exhausts +1.196s
23 Senna PROCTOR (GBR) Power Maxed TAG Racing +1.316s
24 Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team Parker Racing +1.332s
25 Brett SMITH (GBR) WIX Racing with Eurotech +1.547s
26 Chris SMILEY (GBR) BTC Norlin Racing +1.600s
27 Jack GOFF (GBR) WIX Racing with Eurotech +1.615s
28 Dan LLOYD (GBR) BTC Norlin Racing +1.744s
29 Rory BUTCHER (GBR) AmD with AutoAid/RCIB Insurance Racing +1.990s
30 Tom BOARDMAN (GBR) AmD with AutoAid/RCIB Insurance Racing +2.161s
31 Sam SMELT (GBR) AmD with Cobra Exhausts +5.702s
32 Bobby THOMPSON (GBR) Team HARD with Trade Price Cars NO TIME
