Alex MacDowall leads the way at Croft

Alex MacDowall topped the timesheets in the BTCC’s opening practice session from Croft on Saturday morning. The Chevrolet Cruze headed the times on a 1:33.644, with Matt Neal the top Honda in fourth place, 0.280 down on the Racing Silverline youngster.

The Honda’s had set the pace early in the session, but were soon overtaken by the ballast free MacDowall and also Rob Collard, who revelled in the wet conditions and continued to improve his pace throughout the practice to take the flag just 0.145 behind.

Behind MacDowall and Collard came Tom Chilton, ahead of Championship leader Neal, followed by Jason Plato in the second RML Cruze and Andrew Jordan’s Vauxhall.

Tom Boardman and Gordon Shedden were the final two drivers within a second of MacDowall, while Nick Foster and Oulton Park winner Mat Jackson rounded out the top ten.

In damp conditions at the North Yorkshire circuit, several drivers explored the circuit periphery, with James Nash the most notable casualty. Nash spun midway through the session, making contact with the barriers, ending Free Practice One in 14th.

Ahead of Nash was Rob Austin in 12th as the top NGTC specification machine, and also Tom Onslow-Cole in 13th on his return to Team Aon.

Onslow-Cole’s replacement in the VW Golf Shaun Hollamby ended the session in 20th, with John George bringing up the rear of the field in 24th, just over 6 seconds behind MacDowall.

The second free practice session gets underway at 12.00 GMT