Aron Smith fastest in shortened second Thruxton practice
Team BMR’s Aron Smith set the pace in a truncated second free practice session at Thruxton, which was red flagged after an off for Welch Motorsport’s Dan Welch.
Smith hadn’t featured at the sharp end of the standings in the first 15 minutes, before the session was halted due to Welch suffering a suspension failure and hitting the tyres in the final sector.
But after a 20 minute break to allow for barrier repairs, Smith was the biggest improver in the 15 minutes which remained, setting a 1.17.325 to pip Honda Racing Team’s Matt Neal by 0.170.
The Triple Eight Racing pair of Jack Goff and Andrew Jordan improved from the morning session to take third and fourth, with West Surrey Racing’s Andy Priaulx continuing his good form from first practice in fifth.
Colin Turkington, Gordon Shedden, Adam Morgan, Josh Cook and Jeff Smith completed the top 10, while Team BMR’s Jason Plato only completed one installation lap in his repaired Volkswagen CC following his crash in the morning.
Elsewhere, Welch’s team-mate Andy Wilmot’s car was pushed back to the awning early in the session, while Tony Gilham Racing’s Kieran Gallagher pitted with a puncture.
AmD Tuning’s Mike Bushell and Eurotech Racing’s Jeff Smith were both warned for exceeding track limits, while Infiniti’s Martin Donnelly continued his BTCC debut with an off in the final sector and ended up 26th.
There is now a longer-than-normal gap until qualifying at 16.05 BST, with no driver yet to get anywhere near Andrew Jordan’s lap record of 1.16.192 from last season.
