Photo: PSP Images

Daryl DeLeon kicks off Silverstone weekend at the top of the times

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Daryl DeLeon came flying out of the blocks in the opening British Touring Car Championship practice session of the weekend at Silverstone, topping the times ahead of Dan Cammish and Adam Morgan,

Kicking off the penultimate event of the season at the Home of British Motor Racing, the West Surrey Racing driver laid down his marker by dipping under the existing qualifying lap record by more than three tenths of a second.

Alliance Racing’s Cammish would finish the session as DeLeon’s closest challenger in second whilst EXCELR8 Motorsport’s Morgan completed the top three; less than a tenth of a second blanketed the top three.

This weekend will see tyre choice play a pivotal role around the 1.64-mile National layout with drivers receiving one set of soft compound tyres and two sets of medium compound tyres for race day.

Crucially they have been able to carry over three sets of carryover tyres from previous events, with freedom of compound choice in qualifying. That therefore has made practice even more critical ahead of this afternoon’s battle for pole position.

Behind the top three, Aiden Moffat enjoyed a strong session to finish fourth ahead of his BMW stablemate Charles Rainford. Hot on their heels were a trio of Hyundais in the shape of Senna Proctor, Daniel Lloyd and Tom Chilton.

Completing the top ten was Dan Rowbottom and championship protagonist Ash Sutton. His chief title rival, Tom Ingram, finished further back in 14th.

Free Practice 2 is scheduled to begin at the Northamptonshire venue at 12:05.