Tom Onslow-Cole led the way during the opening free practice session at
Donington Park ahead of the third round of the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship.
The VX Racing man, aiming to build on solid performances at both
Brands Hatch and Rockingham at the wheel of his Vectra, posted a time of 1min 12.544secs during the 40 minute session which enabled him to finish a tenth of a second clear of the Honda Civic of Gordon Shedden; the Team Halfords man looking to win at the East Midlands venue for the third consecutive season.
Despite admitting that circuit wasn't amongst his favourites, Fabrizio Giovanardi also made a solid start to the weekend as he posted the third fastest time in a session where those drivers running with front-wheel drive machinery appeared to have the edge over their rear-wheel drive rivals.
Indeed, only two-rear drive cars appeared amongst the top ten – and both of those were three-quarters of a second off the pace with
Mat Jackson eighth and
Colin Turkington ninth.
Between the two men currently lying first and second in the championship standings, new dad
Jason Plato was fourth fastest for SEAT ahead of team-mate Darren Turner, with
Matt Neal and Tom Chilton slotting into sixth and seventh. Behind the two following BMWs, Matt Allison then rounded out the top ten in the first of the Robertshaw Chevrolets.
Andy Jordan was the quickest of the BTC-spec runners with the eleventh fastest time and was the final driver within a second of the fastest time while Steven Kane, Mike Jordan, Adam Jones and Rob Collard rounded out the top 15.
The session marked the first appearance for the new BTC Racing SEAT Toledos – or at least the appearance of one of them with Chris Stockton spending his session parked in the garage due to an early mechanical issue. Erkut was the other driver to fall foul of mechanical gremlins and also failed to set a time.
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