The fourth weekend of the 2024 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is underway at Thruxton with Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport's Jake Hill setting the early pace at the fastest circuit in the country.
Hill was not hanging around either with his 1:15.341s benchmark being just over a tenth shy of Dan Cammish's 2020 qualifying lap record, suggesting we could be in for an extremely quick qualifying session later this afternoon.
Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS' Tom Ingram was just 0.191s behind Hill, but the 2024 double race-winning duo were significantly faster than the chasing pack.
The wolves were led by Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing's Árón Taylor-Smith, the Irishman having enjoyed an extremely strong start to the campaign.
Adam Morgan was fourth and the Team BMW star is fresh from two of his best ever qualifying performances – second at Brands Hatch and third at Snetterton – but's its vital that the #33 converts that pace into race results come Sunday.
Andrew Watson (TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK) and Colin Turkington (Team BMW) were next in the order, the latter enduring a mid-session halt when the bonnet of his BMW was dislodged.
Tom Chilton (Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS) was seventh, ahead of a NAPA Racing UK duo of Ash Sutton, Dan Rowbottom and Dan Cammish.
Cammish didn't have a completely smooth session as his NAPA Racing UK Ford Focus ground to a halt with ten minutes to go, with a throttle issue, although he was able to recover to the pits.
Free Practice 2 gets underway at 1205 before Qualifying commences at 1525, with the latter session being streamed live via the ITV Sport YouTube channel.
Thruxton - Free Practice 1 - Classification
P/ | No/ | Name/ | Entry/ | Laps/ | Time/ | Gap/ | On/ |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 24 | Jake HILL | Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | 15 | 1:15.341 | 6 | |
2 | 100 | Tom INGRAM | Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | 19 | 1:15.532 | 0.191 | 18 |
3 | 40 | Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing | 17 | 1:16.173 | 0.832 | 16 |
4 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | Team BMW | 16 | 1:16.350 | 1.009 | 12 |
5 | 11 | Andrew WATSON | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | 17 | 1:16.461 | 1.12 | 11 |
6 | 20 | Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | 14 | 1:16.478 | 1.137 | 13 |
7 | 3 | Tom CHILTON | Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | 18 | 1:16.497 | 1.156 | 7 |
8 | 1 | Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | 17 | 1:16.517 | 1.176 | 7 |
9 | 32 | Daniel ROWBOTTOM | NAPA Racing UK | 15 | 1:16.606 | 1.265 | 10 |
10 | 27 | Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | 13 | 1:16.778 | 1.437 | 9 |
11 | 88 | Mikey DOBLE | Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing | 17 | 1:17.149 | 1.808 | 11 |
12 | 14 | Ronan PEARSON | Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | 17 | 1:17.259 | 1.918 | 16 |
13 | 66 | Josh COOK | LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ | 14 | 1:17.351 | 2.01 | 10 |
14 | 12 | Rob HUFF | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | 17 | 1:17.364 | 2.023 | 9 |
15 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ | 16 | 1:17.449 | 2.108 | 15 |
16 | 222 | Chris SMILEY | Restart Racing | 17 | 1:17.538 | 2.197 | 12 |
17 | 77 | Sam OSBORNE | NAPA Racing UK | 14 | 1:17.888 | 2.547 | 9 |
18 | 18 | Daryl DELEON | Duckhams Racing With Bartercard | 17 | 1:18.657 | 3.316 | 15 |
19 | 29 | Scott SUMPTON | Restart Racing | 15 | 1:19.046 | 3.705 | 9 |
20 | 22 | Nick HALSTEAD | Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | 18 | 1:19.562 | 4.221 | 11 |