Tom Ingram leads first practice at Rockingham Speedway

Speedworks Motorsport driver Tom Ingram topped the time sheets in the first practice session at the Rockingham Motor Speedway, setting the best time of 1:22.995 just before the half-way point in his Toyota Avensis.

The independents’ points leader was nine-tenths away from the qualifying lap record set by Mat Jackson two years ago in the 40-minute practice, in a session where the bulk of the times had settled by the mid-point.

Ingram’s closest rival was Ciceley Racing’s Adam Morgan, who was just under two-tenths of a second behind in his Mercedes-Benz A-Class, with championship contender Ash Sutton third fastest in his Team BMR Subaru Levorg GT.

Jack Goff was the last car within half a second of Ingram’s time, with the Swindon-engined Honda driver leading the two AmD Tuning Audi S3s of Ant Whorton-Eales and Ollie Jackson.

Dave Newsham was seventh fastest in the BTC Racing Chevrolet Cruze, with Triple Eight MG driver Josh Cook eighth ahead of Jason Plato’s Subaru, with Handy Motorsport’s Rob Austin completing the top ten.

The fastest of the West Surrey Racing BMW drivers was Colin Turkington in 13th, with team-mates Andrew Jordan and Rob Collard 23rd and 31st.

Of the Team Dynamics Honda drivers, the best-placed was Matt Neal in 16th, with team-mate Gordon Shedden down in 22nd.

The second 40-minute free practice session is scheduled for 12:00 BST.