Aron Smith tops first Donington Park practice
Team BMR’s Aron Smith set an impressive pace to top the first free practice session at Donington Park, with a time already under Gordon Shedden’s pole position lap from 2013.
Smith set two laps which were good enough to top the session in his Volkswagen CC, his time of 1.10.041 beating Honda Racing Team’s Shedden by 0.174s.
West Surrey Racing’s Colin Turkington was third ahead of Shedden’s team-mate Matt Neal, with Marc Hynes leading a trio of Triple Eight MG drivers in fifth, ahead of Jason Plato and Sam Tordoff.
The Team BMR pair of Jack Goff and Alain Menu, and Ciceley Racing’s Adam Morgan completed the top 10, while championship leader Andrew Jordan was 12th in his Eurotech Racing Honda Civic.
It was a largely uneventful session, bar a late spin at the final chicane for Menu, and a track limits warning flag for Tordoff.
Lea Wood only completed two late laps as his JWT Performance team changed a brake cylinder on his Toyota Avensis, while Welch Motorsport’s Dan Welch didn’t run, as his team continue to work on his Proton Gen-2.
Welch is making his first appearance of the season at Donington, after missing Brands Hatch due to a parts shortage for his gearbox.
The second free practice session gets under way at 12:30 BST.
