Ingram leads Austin in opening Croft practice

Speedworks Motorsport's Tom Ingram has topped the opening British Touring Car Championship practice order ahead of Rob Austin after storming to the top late in the session at Croft.

The Toyota Avensis driver usurped the Alfa Romeo Giulietta of Austin in the dying seconds of the opening 40-minute running after setting a 1 minute 24.600 seconds around the North Yorkshire circuit.

Despite Ingram and Austin leading the timesheets, it was reigning champion Ashley Sutton who stole most of the limelight throughout the session after leading the order for the vast majority of the running.

In a resurgence of form for the Subaru outfit, Sutton ultimately ended the session with the third quickest time ahead of Jason Plato in fourth.

Plato had spent much of the session confined to his pit-garage due to an electrical issue, but the former two-time champion rapidly rose up the order during the final minutes, despite only completing four-laps.

Mike Bushell shone for the Team HARD squad in fifth position, ahead of Honda's Matt Neal in sixth.

Championship leader Colin Turkington was seventh fastest ahead of his BMW stablemate Andrew Jordan in eighth, while Mercedes duo Aiden Moffat and Adam Morgan completed the remainder of the top-ten in ninth and tenth.