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British Touring Car Championship
Thruxton - Free Practice - 3/5/14

By MJP Media | 3 May 2014

Andrew Jordan tops the time sheets in free practice whilst Aron Smith struggles in early practice at Thruxton, Britain's fastest circuit.

Andrew Jordan was fastest in both free practice sessions

Thruxton sees the latest instalment in the sensational 2014 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship without Robb Holland as his Rotek Racing Audi was so badly damaged at Donington Park. It seemed likely that James Cole would also miss out for United Autosports, however Speedworks Motorsport had a spare Toyota Avensis shell which United Autosports were able acquire in time for this weekend.

Jason Plato and Andrew Jordan jointly lead the championship coming into this weekend which brings an unusual regulation into play today. Because they effectively take up the first two positions in the championship, the success ballast that goes with being first and second cannot be easily applied, so they will both run ballast as if they were second in the championship at 36Kg. No car will therefore run the maximum 45Kg in today's sessions.

Colin Turkington in the eBay Motors BMW 125i M Sport

At the start of the first free practice session it was a real test for the drivers. Thruxton is a unique circuit and the teams have a special tyre for the weekend from Dunlop. This year sees a new tyre compound and the drivers were therefore presented with a totally new tyre scenario to contend with. Sam Tordoff was the quickest early on in his MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save MG6, however after 15 minutes of the session, Gordon Shedden in his Honda Yuasa Racing Civic Tourer was able to knock almost half a second off his time with a 1:17.314. Chris Stockton then crashed causing damage to his Power Maxed Racing Chevrolet Cruze leaving debris on the track at Brooklands corner. Alain Menu was running third fastest at this point with Matt Neal 4th and Rob Austin 5th.

As the session progressed, Colin Turkington momentarily topped the time sheets in his eBay Motors BMW 125i M Sport to be immediately replaced again by Shedden on the next lap. Rob Austin became the first driver of the day to receive a warning flag for exceeding track limits on his 10th fling lap under the new regulations. Defending champion Andrew Jordan then went fastest by almost half a second in his Pirtek Racing Honda Civic with a 1:16.818 ahead of Shedden, Turkington and Alain Menu. With 6 minutes of the session remaining, Rob Collard caused a very short red flag period with a crash at Allards, however the car was able to reverse out and return to the pits under its own power. This left 2 minutes of the session remaining however there was an immediate red flag situation on the out-lap involving Aron Smith which ended the session with Andrew Jordan ahead of Gordon Shedden, Colin Turkington, Alain Menu and Mat Jackson.

Gordon Shedden was 2nd fastest in both sessions

The news at the start of the second free practice session was that Aron Smith would not be out after his earlier crash, but hoped to make qualifying later in the afternoon. Following on from this morning, Andrew Jordan was immediately quickest with a time of 1:16.314 - almost 2 seconds ahead of Honda driver Matt Neal. As the session approached the halfway stage, Adam Morgan in the WIX Racing Mercedes Benz A-Class moved up to third, however this was short lived as Gordon Shedden went into second place leaving Morgan in 4th behind 3 Hondas. Alain Menu was in 5th with Tom Ingram 6th. The first move by a rear wheel drive car was Nick Foster in the eBay Motors BMW moving into 4th, but still 1.5 seconds behind Andrew Jordan.

As the session wound to a close we saw more cars heading for a qualifying set up with Tom Ingram and Glynn Geddie in the Toyotas temporarily occupying 4th and 5th with Hondas occupying all 3 top spots whilst Adam Morgan went 5th and then 4th before being Sam Tordoff in the MG6 pushed him back down to 5th. As we head to the qualifying session, the Hondas are the cars to beat. It will be fast and furious and we will bring you all of the news here.

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