After an unexpectedly damp session at Thruxton, the top ten had a similarly unexpected look to it.
MG KX Momentum Racing’s Sam Tordoff was fastest in the tricky conditions, half a second quicker than Speedworks Ollie Jackson in a BTCC career best position. Frank Wrathall in the DynoJet Avensis was third with Jackson’s team mate Dave Newsham fourth. Jeff Smith was the best of the Honda Civic’s, taking fifth in his Pirtek Racing machine. Rob Colard was fifth for Ebay Motors in his BMW 1 Series with team mate Colin Turkington in eighth. Splitting them was Adam Morgan in his Cicely racing run Toyota Avensis. Will Bratt took ninth in his Wix Racing Audi A4, so far having more luck here than he’s had during the rest of the season. Tenth and first of the Jack Sears cup cars was Lea Wood in his family run Vauxhall Vectra.
Several drivers either did not set a time at all or did not set a representative lap time despite several trips out on track. Included in these were both Works Honda’s, Andrew Jordan’s Pirtek Honda and Jason Plato’s MG. The spread of times is quite large here so far, a gap of over 6.2 seconds between the front and the back of those that set a representative lap time.
2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Thruxton – Free Practice 1
1. Sam Tordoff (MG KX Momentum Racing): +0.0
2. Ollie Jackson (Speedworks Motorsport): +0.505
3. Frank Wrathall (Dynojet): +0.777
4. Dave Newsham (Speedworks Motorsport): +1.417
5. Jeff Smith (Pirtek Racing): +1.793
6. Robert Collard (eBay Motors): +2.729
7. Adam Morgan (Ciceley Racing): +2.783
8. Colin Turkington (eBay Motors): +2.930
9. Will Bratt (WIX Racing): +3.405
10. Lea Wood (Wheel Heaven/Houseman Racing): +3.584 By Marc Waller
