Andy Priaulx tops FP1 with last lap dash
Andy Priaulx topped the opening session of the weekend, narrowly beating Team BMR’s Jason Plato and Honda Racing Team’s Matt Neal.
The first half of the session only saw a handful of flying laps being set, with the majority of the field coming in after just one lap to make adjustments to their cars.
The first flying laps came in the tenth minute, with the Team BMR duo of Aron Smith and Colin Turkington jumping to the top of the timesheets. The pair were separated by less than one tenth of a second, with Smith ahead with a 1:57.314.
Jason Plato then jumped to the top of the standings with a time of 1:57.040, a time he would later improve to a 1:56.703. The two-time champion looked set to take the fastest lap of the session, before Andy Priaulx beat Plato’s best in the final seconds, posting a time of 1:56.648.
The top ten fastest drivers were separated by just half a second, with Matt Neal, Aron Smith and Jack Goff rounding out the top five, meaning one of each manufacturer were present in the top five times.
Mat Jackson, who was holding third until the final few minutes, put in the sixth fastest time on Motorbase Performance’s return to the series, ahead of championship leader Gordon Shedden in seventh. Colin Turkington, Andrew Jordan and Rob Collard.
James Cole set the 24th best time in the second Motorbase car, while Robb Holland was 26th in the Handy Motorsport Toyota Avensis on his return to the series and last minute Team Parker Racing substitute Barry Horne was at the foot of the timing screens.
