Mike Bushell tops opening practice ahead of BTCC return

Mike Bushell topped the times for Power Maxed Racing in the opening practice session of the weekend at Oulton Park ahead of his return to action in the BTCC.

The 40 minute session would be affected by mixed weather conditions throughout, with a number of rain showers having an impact on the programmes that the various teams were working through.

Carl Boardley was the early pace-setter for Team HARD before the arrival of rain left drivers to head back into the pits for wet tyres and it looked for a time like his time would remain as the benchmark, only for the shower to pass as quickly as it had arrived.

As the clock ticked down, a dry line started to appear and allowed drivers to switch back to slick tyres, with Bushell setting a number of quick laps late on to end up nearly two seconds clear of anyone else. His best time however was well off the lap record set by Colin Turkington, with the weather set to have a role to play throughout the remainder of the day.

Behind Bushell, Michael Crees slotted into second place for BTC Racing having jumped ahead of Dan Cammish’s similar Honda Civic Type R, with Tom Ingram, Rory Butcher and Tom Chilton rounding out the top six.

Showing how changeable the conditions would be, the field was covered by nearly six seconds although there were no major dramas throughout the field.