Simpson tops truncated opening Snetterton practice

Honda driver Matt Simpson sets the pace during a wet-dry opening British Touring Car Championship practice session at Snetterton, ahead of Team HARD's Mike Bushell.

Following a massive downpour prior to first practice, the opening 40-minute session proved a topsy-turvy affair with the benchmark constantly being lowered as the track conditions improved.

With the conditions appearing treacherous to begin with, a number of cars suffered minor offs during the opening minutes, which also resulted in Josh Cook running into the back of his Power Maxed Racing team mate Senna Proctor.

However, as the session reached its crescendo, the Eurotech run Honda Civic Type-R wrestled the top-spot away from the session's long-term leader Bushell as the chequered flag fell.

Simspon's final effort of a 1 minute 56.783s lap was enough to claim the honours ahead of BTC Norlin Racing Chris Smiley, who also improved late on to leap into second ahead of Bushell's Volkswagen CC.

Mercedes driver Tom Oliphant was fourth quickest ahead of the leading BMW driver Andrew Jordan in fifth.

AmD Tuning.com's Ollie Jackson set the sixth fastest time aboard his Audi S3, ahead of Mac Tools Racing's Adam Morgan in seventh.

Rory Butcher was the lead the MG driver in eighth position, while championship leader Colin Turkington kick-started his weekend in ninth, as Power Maxed Racing's Senna Proctor completed the top-ten order in tenth.