Because the dismal British spring local weather introduced rain sweeping in from the North Sea throughout East Anglia, Thompson fairly actually made a splash on his BTCC return – and his debut in a rear-wheel-drive tin-top – by topping the second session in his West Surrey Racing BMW 330e M Sport.
However Thompson’s FP2 time was 0.209 seconds shy of the FP1 effort of Hill, who was prime of the pile in that opening 35 minutes of operating by a gargantuan 0.461s from the Allied Racing-run NAPA Ford Focus ST of Dan Cammish.
Thompson was heading in the right direction for second in FP1, earlier than last-lap enhancements from the Fords of Cammish and reigning champion team-mate Ash Sutton cut up him from WSR BMW stablemate Hill.
Hill was third in FP2, in between the Focuses of Cammish (second once more) and Sutton (fourth), with the identical main quartet throughout each classes, albeit in a special order,
“I’m very pleased,” stated Hill, who struggled final day trip at Manufacturers Hatch and had a spin at Oggies in FP2. “It’s a a lot nicer automobile than it was at Manufacturers. I can play with it, I can have enjoyable with it, I’m simply having fun with it.
“We’ve received an honest ‘moist’ automobile beneath us – it’s working nicely, and we’ve simply received to make it depend.”
Thompson ended FP2 0.382s away from Cammish, on his first BTCC outing since October 2023.
Other than a one-day take a look at at Manufacturers early final month, the Essex racer’s solely time within the BMW was on the group’s shakedown on the MIRA proving floor on Thursday.
Jake Hill, MB Motorsport
Photograph by: JEP / Motorsport Images
“If it’s one situation on observe all day, that’s good for me,” stated Thompson. “Selfishly, I simply need it to remain like this for the remainder of the day.
“I didn’t wish to take an excessive amount of threat, and it feels scrappy at my finish – I’m sideways all over the place however I haven’t spun but!”
Maintaining the theme of the main contenders being on the sharp finish in each classes, four-time champion Colin Turkington was fifth in each in WSR’s main Crew BMW machine, albeit behind the sister vehicles of Hill and Thompson.
Rob Huff, whose final BTCC outing at his residence circuit got here a number of years earlier than it was prolonged from its outdated 1.9-mile size, was additionally within the prime seven in each classes and completed up sixth general in the most effective of the Speedworks Motorsport-run Toyota Corolla GR Sports activities.
Tom Ingram’s FP1 time was adequate for seventh general in his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N, whereas sixth spot in FP2 for Mikey Doble put the Energy Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra driver in eighth throughout the 2 classes.
The highest 10 was rounded out by Tom Chilton (Excelr8 Hyundai) and Adam Morgan, whose WSR BMW pranged into the obstacles at Flip 3 throughout FP1 however received out for the start of FP2.
Of the main championship contenders, the FP2 order implies that Hill, Turkington and Ingram will all run within the first group within the opening part of qualifying, as will Thompson, whereas Sutton will go within the second group – together with Cammish and the entire of the remainder of the four-car Allied squad.