Alain Menu tops stop-start free practice at Snetterton

Team BMR’s Alain Menu led team-mate Jack Goff in a stop-start first free practice at Snetterton, in a session twice affected by red flags on a drying track.

The Swiss set his best time of 1.59.701 inside the final ten minutes, and when Eurotech Racing’s Andrew Jordan went off at Riches with five minutes to go, the session was brought to a premature end.

Jordan’s Honda Civic sustained rear-end damage in the accident, with the reigning champion appearing shaken up by the impact with a tyre barrier, as he was attended to by the medical team.

It was the second stoppage in the 40-minute session, which was halted after 13 minutes when Robb Holland stopped out on track in his Rotek Racing Audi S3, before any representative times had been set.

Behind the Team BMR pair, Speedworks Motorsport’s Tom Ingram was third, with Jordan and Honda Racing Team’s Gordon Shedden next up.

James Cole, Dave Newsham, Rob Austin, Warren Scott and Matt Neal completed the top 10, but the times were of little real significance, and were some three seconds slower than the dry weather pace set by Triple Eight’s Sam Tordoff last year.

After the first delay of some eight minutes, Newsham set the early pace in his AmD Tuning Ford Focus, setting a series of fastest laps to get down to a 2.01.250.

Goff then jumped to the top in his new Volkswagen CC with nine minutes to go, setting a time of 2.00.244, before Menu pipped him.

United Autosports’ Glynn Geddie was another driver to run into trouble, as the bonnet worked loose on his Toyota Avensis, and flew up and covered his windscreen.

Six drivers didn’t set a timed lap in the session, including Jason Plato and Colin Turkington.