Rory Butcher edges early bragging rights at Silverstone

Rory Butcher secured the early bragging rights at Silverstone after topping the times in first practice for the eighth round of the 2021 season.

The Scot saved his best lap for the closing stages as he edged ahead of the Hyundai of Chris Smiley, which had been the car to beat for a large part of the 40 minute session.

Butcher’s best time in the Toyota Corolla saw him go 0.010s quicker than Smiley, but he will now hope the remainder of the weekend goes better than at Croft last time out – where he topped FP1 but then managed just a single points finish.

Aiden Moffat was third quickest in the first of the rear-wheel drive cars having edged out team-mate Ash Sutton, with Tom Ingram and Josh Cook rounding out the top six as the best of the close group of drivers currently chasing points leader Sutton in the standings.

Dan Rowbottom, Sam Smelt, Jack Goff and Gordon Shedden rounded out the top ten.

Having taken race wins at Croft last weekend, Jake Hill and Colin Turkington were down the order in 24th and 25th place with the additional ballast on their cars, which left them just behind Andrew Jordan at the wheel of the TOCA Hybrid car.

Jordan – who will contest the full weekend but will not be eligible for results – ended up with the 22nd best time although his 15 laps was the fewest of any driver.