Simpson sets blistering pace in second practice

Matt Simpson has announced himself as the driver to beat ahead of British Touring Car Championship qualifying this afternoon after setting a blistering time during second practice at Oulton Park.

The Honda Civic Type-R driver had already featured well within the top-ten during the morning's opening 40-minute session. However, Simpson shaved almost 0.8s from his earlier effort to comfortably lead the times with a 1 minute 25.798s lap.

That made Simpson the only driver to dip under the 1 minute 26 barrier, with FP2's long-term leader Brett Smith eventually having to settle for second position, almost 0.4s behind the leading Honda Civic Type-R.

FP1's pacesetter Rob Austin set an almost identical time to the effort he produced in the morning running to remain a strong threat for pole position in third aboard the sole Alfa Romeo Giulietta.

Team BMW's Colin Turkington made a late charge up the timesheets after setting a time good enough for fourth, ahead of his West Surrey Racing BMW stablemate Andrew Jordan in fifth.

Staggeringly, just 0.1s covered the times set from Jordan in fifth, right down to Speedworks Motorsport's Tom Ingram in twelfth position.

Leading factory Honda effort Dan Cammish was the next man behind the 2013 BTCC champion in sixth position ahead of Motorbase Performance duo Tom Chilton and Sam Tordoff in seventh and eighth.

Jack Goff and Matt Neal ensured half of the top-ten order was populated by Honda machinery in ninth and tenth.

Reigning champion Ashley Sutton enjoyed a slightly more competitive FP2 run and subsequently set the eleventh fastest time aboard his Subaru Levorg.