Bobby Thompson edges second practice at Oulton Park

Bobby Thompson showed that his pace in opening practice was no flash in the pan after topping second practice ahead of the latest rounds of the BTCC season at Oulton Park.

Having gone third quickest earlier in the morning, Thompson left it until his final lap in the 35-minute session to put his Team HARD Cupra on top of the times with a lap that prevented Tom Ingram from completing a practice clean sweep.

Ingram had headed the pack in the first session and put his Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 Hyundai on top of the times again second time around until Thompson managed to go just 0.017s quicker with that final run.

The defending champion therefore had to settle for second spot, with Aron Taylor-Smith giving the top three and unfamiliar look as he went third quickest in the lead Power Maxed Racing Astra.

Dan Cammish and Andrew Watson followed close behind, with points leader Ash Sutton in the unaccustomed position of P6 in his Focus – a quarter of a second off the pace.

Anther surprise came in seventh as Jack Butel ensured two Cupras would be in the top ten, with Josh Cook, George Gamble and Jake Hill rounding out the top ten.

Amongst the expected front-runners not to feature near the front was Colin Turkington back in 23rd, albeit with a lap only 0.878s off the pace.