Augusto Farfus posted the quickest time for BMW as the World Touring Car Championship meeting at Brands Hatch kicked off with the opening free practice time.

The Brazilian, who goes into the weekend in third place in the championship standings, posted a quickest time of 1min 24.071secs at the wheel of his BMW 320si to outpace championship leader Yvan Muller by 0.102secs, while Andy Priaulx slotted into third – just 0.020secs further back.

Gabriele Tarquini was fourth ahead of Alain Menu in the first of the Chevrolets, while Rickard Rydell, Tiago Monteiro and Robert Dahlgren rounded out the top eight – the latter in particular impressing at the wheel of his Volvo C30 as the Polestar team returns to Brands Hatch for a one-off outing.

Rob Huff was ninth quickest, while the top ten was completed by SEAT Eurocup runner Norbert Michelisz was an impressive tenth and quickest of the Independent runners ahead of his run with the SUNRED team. The Hungarian was followed on the times by team-mates Tom Boardman and Tom Coronel.

James Thompson was 25th quickest in LADA's new Priora ahead of the second outing for the car, 2.343secs off the overall pace.