Tom Chilton leads Ford 1-2-3 in FP1 at Silverstone

Tom Chilton was fastest in the first Free Practice session at Silverstone in his Arena Motorsport Ford Focus, with Mat Jackson second in the Motorbase Ford Focus ST and Arena team-mate Tom Onslow-Cole third.

Championship outsider Mat Jackson had held the fastest time throughout most of the session, but was pipped in the last few minutes by Chilton’s Focus. Chilton and Jackson were the only two drivers to set times under the one minute mark, with Tom Onslow-Cole just going faster than Championship leader Matt Neal as the chequered flag fell.

Independents’ points leader James Nash was fifth fastest in the Triple Eight Vauxhall Vectra, with Honda’s Gordon Shedden sixth fastest ahead of reigning Champion Jason Plato in the Chevrolet Cruze, whose practice lap of 1:00.177 was already faster than his own qualifying lap from last year.

James Thompson was 0.949s down on Chilton’s quickest time on his Championship return in the Motorbase Ford Focus, but with the times so close in the session that was only good enough for 18th place.

John Thorne did not take part in the session, with the car only just arriving to the circuit mid-session due to a technical issue, whilst Chris Swanwick was unable to set a time in the Rob Austin Racing Audi A4 after stopping on his out lap.

The next practice session is at 12:45 BST.