Honda pair lead the way in Brands Hatch test

Honda pair Matt Neal and Dan Cammish led the way as the majority of the BTCC field headed to Brands Hatch for a day of testing ahead of the season opener next weekend.

With only Eurotech’s Brett Smith and the Alfa Romeo of Rob Austin missing from the capacity grid, 30 cars took to the track for the test – although mixed weather conditions limited the amount of meaningful running that was available.

Early morning rain hampered proceedings when the track went green, with the best of the conditions coming shortly before lunch as the circuit dried out.

It was during an extra hour added onto the morning session that Honda came to the fore, with Neal setting the benchmark time of 48.408secs with less than 20 minutes to go before lunch.

Team-mate Cammish would also leave it late before posting his best time in the sister Civic Type-R and ended up less than a tenth of a second behind, with the older-spec car of Jack Goff – who completed a session high 86 laps – slotted into third.

Colin Turkington’s BMW took fourth, ahead of James Cole’s Ford Focus and the Pirtek-backed BMW of Andrew Jordan.

Despite the mixed conditions, the only incident of note during the morning was a trip into the Paddock Hill gravel for the MG of Rory Butcher, although the Scottish driver was able to recover to finish eighth for AmD.

Heavier rain during the afternoon would then prevent anyone from improving on their times from the morning, with seven drivers electing to sit out the session altogether.

Josh Cook’s Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra would emerge quickest – albeit more than 6.5secs off Neal’s morning best – with Cole and Butcher following behind in second and third.

A second red flag of the day would come after Tom Oliphant’s Ciceley Mercedes went off at Clearways, but without sustaining any damage.