Charles Rainford under lap record pace in opening Brands Hatch practice
Charles Rainford topped the times in the opening British Touring Car Championship practice at Brands Hatch, dipping under the current qualifying lap record in the process.
The West Surrey Racing driver set a best time of 47.335s around the Indy circuit, leading a BMW 1-2 with reigning champion Jake Hill a little over a tenth of a second behind the Porsche Carrera Cup GB graduate.
Donington Park pole sitter Dan Cammish led the line for Alliance Racing in third place while the EXCELR8 Hyundai duo of Adam Morgan and Tom Ingram completed the top five.
Leading Independent runners Chris Smiley and Mikey Doble enjoyed a solid start to the weekend by finishing sixth and seventh respectively, with less than a tenth of a second splitting them.
Rounding out the top ten was Alliance Racing’s Dan Rowbottom, One Motorsport’s Josh Cook and championship leader Ash Sutton.
Three-time champion Gordon Shedden endured a less than ideal start to his weekend as his Speedworks Motorsport Toyota found the gravel trap at Druids early in the session.
Free Practice 2 is scheduled to begin at 12:15, ahead of qualifying at 15:10.
