BTCC: Rainford tops FP1 with BMW 1-2 breaking the Qualifying lap record

The first practice session was a spicy one with Charles Rainford taking the top spot at the end of the session.

The start of the session saw a lot of times chop and change before 3 time BTCC champion Gordon Shedden went off at Druids causing a red flag after being stuck in the gravel.

Once the session resumed we saw reigning champion Jake Hill led the timesheet ahead of Adam Morgan woth both of them going faster than the Qualifying lap record in the session with 10 minutes to go.

However, Hill wouldn't be able to hold on to that top spot as fellow BMW driver Charles Rainford went nearly a tenth and a half faster than the Laser Tools driver to end the session in 1st and leading a BMW one-two. Dan Cammish would jump into third splitting Hill and Morgan. All 4 drivers went faster than the lap record.

2022 BTCC Champion Tom Ingram would then move into a top 5 position by the end of the session ahead of Restart Racing's Chris Smiley who was the fastest of the Independent drivers. Mikey Doble would only be 2 hundredths behind Smiley in 7th.

Daniel Rowbottom, Josh Cook and Ash Sutton would round out the top 10 on the time sheets. The whole grid only seperated by 3 tenths of a second.

The second practice session will be this afternoon before qualifying for the second race weekend of the year gets underway.