Sam Tordoff fastest in rain-hit first practice
Sam Tordoff set the fastest time in a wet and uneventful first practice session at Thruxton.
The Triple Eight MG driver set a fastest time of 1.24.018 with 12 minutes to go, ahead of the Toyota Avensis pair of Ollie Jackson, in the Speedworks Motorsport machine, and Frank Wrathall’s Dynojet entry.
Dave Newsham made it three Toyotas in the top four, ahead of Jeff Smith’s Eurotech Racing Honda Civic, with the top 10 completed by Rob Collard, Adam Morgan, Colin Turkington, Will Bratt and Lea Wood.
Neither Honda Racing Team’s Matt Neal nor Tordoff’s team-mate Jason Plato set a timed lap, while a number of other front-running drivers didn’t set a representative time, including champion Gordon Shedden and independents champion Andrew Jordan.
Tom Onslow-Cole, Aron Smith, Mat Jackson and James Kaye also didn’t post a time.
Wood was the fasted Jack Sears Trophy runner in his JWT Performance Vauxhall Vectra, finishing in 10th overall.
The session started under cloudy skies with a little rain in the air, and the rain increased in intensity in the final 10 minutes. The sun then came out minutes after the chequered flag fell.
Joe Girling was the only driver not to appear in the session, his Finesse Motorsport Chevrolet Cruze suffering from a gearbox issue. The team are hopeful of fixing it for second practice.
The second session takes place at 12:40 BST.
