"
Matt Neal put some oil down when I was behind him so I got covered in that which was great and we have a few minor things to sort it – but it hasn't really hindered us. I'd have taken being half a second off the pace because everything was so late coming together. We're not just viewing this as a big test session, we are here to score points and get the job done as points mean prizes at the end of the day."
Saturday am – The boss plays his first joker
Series director Alan Gow is known to play the odd joke in the BTCC paddock – normally involving members of the press pack that follows the championship around the country.
However, it was the John Guest Racing team that became the target for the Aussie on Saturday as the cars of Mike and Andrew Jordan sported some amendments when they hit the track for the first time.
For those trying to work out which of the Honda Integras is which, 'Old Man' Mike is in #77, while 'Young Man' Andrew is in #78.
"We got told to put that on the car by Gow," 'Young Man' said. "He stuck it on the cars as a bit of fun!"
Saturday am – Motorbase shows its hand
Motorbase Performance may have been the last team to finalise its plans for the 2008 season, but the team hit the ground running in the opening practice session at
Brands Hatch – the home race for David Bartrums team.
Rob Collard ended the opening session in 15th place but rookie team-mate Steven Kane was fifth and only two-tenths of a second behind quickest man
Colin Turkington, a performance exceeding the expectations that some outsiders had going into the weekend.
"We've got to try and keep ourselves there now!" Bartrum said. "We've hardly done any running before the season starts and we wanted to use the testing we've done to work on the car rather than just throwing tyres at it and going for a time. We'll see now if it pays off for us, but if Steven is still in that position at the end of the day, then I'm going to be a happy man."
