Ciceley Motorsport’s Tom Oliphant has topped the times in the opening Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship Free Practice session at Silverstone, edging out the Team HARD-run VW of Mike Bushell by just 0.042s.

“I’m really pleased with that,” said Oliphant. “It might only be free practice, but to top the timesheets for the first time in my BTCC career is a brilliant feeling.

“It’s another new circuit for me in front-wheel drive machinery, but the Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes was superb and I got into a good rhythm from the off. We’ve got a great base to build on for the weekend ahead.”

The DUO Motorsport with HMS Racing Alfa of Rob Austin rounded off a different look to the top three as the main title contenders seemingly settled gently into the penultimate race weekend of the season.

The 40-minute session was relatively free of any incidents with most of the quicker lap times being set early on.

Andrew Jordan’s Pirtek-backed BMW was the first of the leading protagonists to show its credentials with the 2013 champion ending up fourth overall at the finish.

The WIX Racing with Eurotech duo of Brett Smith and Jack Goff were evenly matched as the Honda Civic Type R pair set the fifth and sixth fastest times respectively.

Manufacturer-backed machines from Honda, Subaru and Vauxhall were next in the order with Dan Cammish, Jason Plato and Josh Cook clocking solid efforts in the opening exchanges, whilst Aiden Moffat confirmed the prowess of the Mercedes A-Class by completing the top ten positions.

Championship leader Colin Turkington could only manage 19th for Team BMW, although his main challengers were not that far ahead of him with Speedworks Motorsport’s Tom Ingram in 12th and Adrian Flux Subaru Racing’s Ash Sutton in 17th.

The main event of the day comes later of course, following the second and final Free Practice session, when qualifying commences at 15:15. You can keep up to date with the latest news right here and via the BTCC’s social media feeds, whilst qualifying will be streamed live and exclusively at www.itv.com/btcc.

2018 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Free Practice 1 – Silverstone

1 Tom OLIPHANT (GBR) Ciceley Motorsport 58.474s
2 Mike BUSHELL (GBR) Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing +0.042s
3 Rob AUSTIN (GBR) DUO Motorsport with HMS Racing +0.110s
4 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) BMW Pirtek Racing +0.112s
5 Brett SMITH (GBR) WIX Racing with Eurotech +0.153s
6 Jack GOFF (GBR) WIX Racing with Eurotech +0.197s
7 Dan CAMMISH (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +0.224s
8 Jason PLATO (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +0.225s
9 Josh COOK (GBR) Power Maxed TAG Racing +0.226s
10 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +0.269s
11 Chris SMILEY (GBR) BTC Norlin Racing +0.272s
12 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +0.276s
13 Matt SIMPSON (GBR) Simpson Racing +0.282s
14 Tom CHILTON (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher +0.287s
15 Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +0.310s
16 Ricky COLLARD (GBR) Team BMW +0.318s
17 Ashley SUTTON (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +0.373s
18 Dan LLOYD (GBR) BTC Norlin Racing +0.387s
19 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +0.401s
20 Sam TORDOFF (GBR) Team GardX Racing with Motorbase +0.408s
21 Adam MORGAN (GBR) Mac Tools with Ciceley Motorsport +0.496s
22 Senna PROCTOR (GBR) Power Maxed TAG Racing +0.517s
23 Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team Parker Racing +0.553s
24 Rory BUTCHER (GBR) AmD with AutoAid/RCIB Insurance Racing +0.603s
25 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) AmD with Cobra Exhausts +0.631s
26 Bobby THOMPSON (GBR) Team HARD with Trade Price Cars +0.766s
27 James COLE (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher +0.955s
28 Sam SMELT (GBR) AmD with Cobra Exhausts +1.055s
29 Ollie PIDGLEY (GBR) Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing +1.131s
30 Ethan HAMMERTON (GBR) Team HARD with Trade Price Cars +1.285s
31 Josh CAYGILL (GBR) AmD with AutoAid/RCIB Insurance Racing +1.340s