Dave Newsham leads Speedworks 1-2 in first Brands practice

Dave Newsham led a Speedworks Motorsport one-two ahead in first practice at a damp but drying Brands Hatch.

Times tumbled throughout the 40-minute session and it was Newsham who set his best lap of 1.38.263 as the chequered flag fell, 0.494 ahead of team-mate Ollie Jackson.

Eight different drivers took turns at the top of the standings during the session, where the times were some eight seconds faster at the end of the 40 minutes than they were at the start.

Triple Eight MG’s Sam Tordoff was third ahead of Motorbase Performance’s Aron Smith and Tom Onslow-Cole, three other drivers who had spells in first.

Jake Hill was an impressive sixth in his first run in the Rob Austin Racing Audi A4, ahead of Mat Jackson, Matt Neal, Gordon Shedden and Adam Morgan. The Honda Racing pair of Neal and Shedden were two of the other two drivers who briefly led the session.

Of the other championship contenders, Jordan ended the session 14th after running first early on, with West Surrey Racing’s Colin Turkington 16th, and Triple Eight’s Jason Plato 24th, after completing just nine laps.

Just outside the top 10, Lea Wood was fastest of the Jack Sears Trophy runners in an excellent 11th overall in the JWT Performance Vauxhall Vectra. The returning Shaun Hollamby was 22nd in the AmD Tuning Volkswagen Golf, third in class behind Liam Griffin in 15th.

The session took place under bright, sunny skies, after a 23 minute delay to recover a stricken Formula Ford car from the previous session.

There was a brief red flag stoppage with 12 minutes to go after an off for Dynojet’s Frank Wrathall at Clearways, and the best times were set in the final eight minutes after the action restarted.

Missing the session was Jeff Smith, who is not racing this weekend in his Honda Civic. His Eurotech Racing team is focusing all its attention on Jordan’s championship challenge.

The second free practice session gets under way at 12:25 BST.