Tom Ingram lays down early marker at Knockhill
Tom Ingram topped the opening British Touring Car Championship free practice session at Knockhill, leading home Dan Rowbottom and Jake Hill.
Kicking off what promises to be an action-packed weekend in Scotland, the championship leader laid down a marker to the rest of the field as he hustled his EXCELR8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 to a best time of 51.087.
Ingram’s time was two tenths of a second quicker than the Alliance Racing Ford Focus of Rowbottom, while reigning champion Hill – who returns to action after missing Croft on medical grounds – completed the top three.
Aron Taylor-Smith utilised the chassis of the Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla to finish in fourth, narrowly ahead of four-time champion Ash Sutton.
Home heroes Gordon Shedden and Aiden Moffat gave the local fans plenty to cheer about as they finished sixth and seventh.
Completing the top ten was Dan Cammish, Adam Morgan and Independent front-runner Chris Smiley.
Rightfully, much of the attention during the day’s opening session was fixed on Power Maxed Racing. One week on from the disastrous fire that destroyed their headquarters, cars and more, the team hit the track with two Cupras.
Mikey Doble and Nick Halstead were granted special dispensation by series organisers TOCA to conduct a shakedown at the circuit on Friday afternoon and both drivers continued to bed themselves into their new cars during practice, finishing 18th and 22nd respectively.
Just one red flag period neutralised the session after the Un-Limited Motorsport Cupra Leon of Nicolas Hamilton needed recovering at the final hairpin following an off.
Free Practice 2 at Knockhill is scheduled to commence at 12:05, followed by qualifying at 15:00.
