Aron Taylor-Smith heads Power Maxed Racing 1-2 in final practice

Aron Taylor-Smith headed a Power Maxed Racing 1-2 in the final British Touring Car Championship practice session of the season, pipping team-mate Mikey Doble to top spot by a little over a tenth of a second.

Safe in the knowledge that the Independents’ and Jack Sears Trophy titles are already wrapped up, the Vauxhall Astra duo were the toast of the field around the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit as they blasted to first and second late on.

Reigning champion Ash Sutton emerged as the closest challenger to the top two as he maintained his front-running form from earlier in the day to clinch third ahead of his team-mate Dan Rowbottom and joint points leader Tom Ingram.

Aiden Moffat emerged as the lead Speedworks Motorsport Toyota as he hustled his Corolla to sixth ahead of stable-mate Rob Huff while Tom Chilton, Adam Morgan and Colin Turkington completed the top ten.

Championship protagonist Jake Hill finished further down the order in 13th while Josh Cook was 15th, the latter suffering water pump issues in the closing stages of the session.

Qualifying 1 – Group 1: Aron Taylor-Smith, Ash Sutton, Tom Ingram, Rob Huff, Adam Morgan, Andrew Watson, Jake Hill, Josh Cook, Sam Osborne, Dan Zelos

Qualifying 1 – Group 2: Mikey Doble, Dan Rowbottom, Aiden Moffat, Tom Chilton, Colin Turkington, Dan Cammish, Daryl Deleon, Chris Smiley, Scott Sumpton, Nick Halstead