Tom Ingram and Andrew Jordan have headed the first and second BTCC practice sessions respectively here at Rockingham as the front of the field has taken a different look to usual.
In the first session Tom Ingram was fastest by a considerable 0.309 of a second from The Power maxed racing duo of Dave Newsham and Josh Cook. Adam Morgan continued his usual consistency with a strong fourth. Next up were the BMR duo of Smith and Turkington with team mate Plato chosing not to do a timed lap due to the conditions. Rob Collard was seventh ahead of Hunter Abbott in an excellent eighth. Team mate Rob Austin did very few laps and was down at the rear of the field but like some of the others, had done this deliberately. Sam Tordoff was ninth, putting two WSR cars in the top ten. The third WSR BMW has a different driver this weekend with Nick Foster making a return to deputise for Andy Priaulx who has racing commitments elsewhere for BMW. Foster was fifteenth in the first session. Mike Bushell took the final slot in the top ten ahead of Goff, Moffat, Scott and Depper. Jackson of Motorbase and Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan were the other drivers who chose to sit out most of the session. Kieran Gallagher had his first trouble free session for a while after Team Hard opted to swap his Toyota based NGTC engine for a Swindon built TOCA unit. He took seventeenth, the Scott finally able to show his true pace.
In the second session, the track was fully dry and so all runners took to the track for most of the session. This time Andrew Jordan was fastest by but just 0.009 of a second ahead of Tom Ingram again looking strong in his Speedworks Toyota Avensis. Jason Plato showed his intent with third place ahead of Jack Goff, showing that this could be a potentially good weekend for MG. Josh Cook was still well up with fifth in his Power Maxed Racing Chevrolet Cruze ahead of Gordon Shedden, the first of the works Hondas but team mate Neal was sixteenth. Aron Smith was Seventh in his BMR VW CC ahead of Dave Newsham in the second Power Maxed car. Colin Turkington made it three BMR cars in the top ten with Mat Jackson completing it. Nick Foster was the best of the WSR BMW’s in eleventh this time ahead of Hunter Abbott who was still the best of the Excocet Alcosense Audi’s run by Rob Austin Racing. The team announced on Friday that they were losing Exocet as a title sponsor for 2016 so a good result here would be a welcome boost for the team. Hunter’s team mate Rob Austin was eighteenth. Adam Morgan was thirteenth, lower than he might usually expect but still in the front half of the field. Fourteenth and fifteenth were Tordoff and Collard in the other WSR BMW’s.
Full results for both sessions are available from TSL timing, the championship’s official timers. By Marc Waller
