Photo: PSP Images

Tom Ingram heads opening practice at Donington Park

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Tom Ingram posted the quickest time of the opening practice session of the new BTCC season at Donington Park as the new hybrid era burst into life.

The EXCELR8 Motorsport driver dipped below the qualifying lap record at the wheel of his Hyundai i30 Fastback N with a time of 1:08.792s making him the only driver to break the 1:09s marker in the session.

That left Ingram three-tenths of a second clear of the Ford of Dan Cammish, with his NAPA Racing team-mate Ash Sutton only 0.009s behind in third spot as he maintained the solid form shown in the final pre-season test at Thruxton.

Adam Morgan was the leading BMW driver in fourth spot, with Dan Lloyd putting his Hyundai into fifth and Jake Hill rounding out the top six.

Although there were a few minor issues with drivers coming to a halt on out laps, the only major drama in the session befell Josh Cook’s BTC Racing Honda, which is now undergoing repairs in the garage after clattering the tyre stack at the final chicane.

Cook would end up down in 17th place as a result, with the likes of Colin Turkington (11th) and Jason Plato (12th) also outside the top ten.

Rick Parfitt’s Infiniti, which hadn’t been able to turn a lap in pre-season testing, would be able to run throughout the session, albeit propping up the times in 28th spot.