Colin Turkington tops tyre test as Aiden Moffat shines
Championship leader Colin Turkington topped the times at the end of a full day’s running in the official Dunlop tyre test at Snetterton, just ahead of the impressive Aiden Moffat.
Turkington completed 98 laps across the day in his BMW 125i, setting a best time of 1.57.048 in the afternoon, which would have been good enough to qualify on the front row at the weekend.
With weight and tyre details not published, testing times can be notoriously difficult to interpret. But second was nevertheless a hugely impressive showing from 17-year-old Moffat in his Chevrolet Cruze, who has largely run towards the tail of the field in 2014.
Moffat completed 53 laps and set a best time of 1.57.349 in the afternoon, which would have put him sixth on the grid on Saturday, and was more than 1.4 seconds faster than his qualifying time from that session.
Speedworks Motorsport’s Tom Ingram was third overall after topping the morning’s running, ahead of Team BMR’s Alain Menu and Ciceley Racing’s Adam Morgan.
Aron Smith, Mat Jackson, Gordon Shedden, Fabrizio Giovanardi and Matt Neal completed the top 10, while Jake Hill had his first run in BTCC machinery since the final round of 2013 at Brands Hatch.
The BRDC Rising Star tested the AmD Tuning Ford Focus in the afternoon session, completing 19 laps and setting a best time of 1.59.461.
This was nearly 0.3 faster than regular driver Dave Newsham managed in the afternoon, but was also around 0.3 slower than the former Clio Cup champion’s time from the morning.
A total of 19 drivers took part in the day’s running, with Rob Austin Racing’s Hunter Abbott racking up the most laps, 106, in 17th overall.
Sitting out the test were Triple Eight, Eurotech Racing, Rotek Racing, United Autosports, JWT Performance and BTC Racing, while Turkington was the only West Surrey Racing driver to run, ahead of setting off on his honeymoon.
Also running a slightly reduced programme were Motorbase Performance, who ran Jackson and Giovanardi, but not Jack Clarke.
The times shown below are the combined best laps from both halves of the session.
