British Touring Car Championship veteran Adam Morgan led the way in free practice for the penultimate round of the 2025 season at Silverstone.
The red-headed Lancastrian completed two laps quicker than the best managed by anyone else to plant his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N Fastback clear of the opposition to the tune of 0.070 seconds.
Weather permitting, the signs are that the qualifying lap record on the Silverstone National Circuit will take a battering. That stands to Josh Cook with a 57.324s, but the reduced weight for this season – 55kg from the removal of the hybrid system – is having a big effect on the venue’s long straights.
Dan Rowbottom was the first to dip under that standard after just 15 minutes of FP1, and Morgan finally stamped in a 56.596s in the closing stages of FP2.
“We’re quite happy,” said Morgan. “Me and my engineer had a good chat before we came here about the set-up we wanted to try.
“Ever since the first push laps in FP1 the car’s been in the window. A few tweaks for FP2 and the car’s in a good place. There’s lots of things we need to get right but, touch wood, it’s looking good.”
While Morgan set that time on ‘good used softs’, he was also the fastest across the two sessions on medium tyres, with a 56.953s.
Daryl DeLeon, WSR BMW 330i M Sport
Photo by: JEP
Closest to Morgan was Daryl DeLeon, who wound his West Surrey Racing BMW 330i M Sport up to go top of the times in the middle of FP2 before his time was eclipsed by Morgan.
DeLeon has looked good all day, and topped the slower opening session by 0.036s from the Alliance Racing-run NAPA Ford Focus ST of Dan Cammish, with Morgan third.
Tom Chilton was third fastest in FP2 in his Excelr8 machine, while Dan Lloyd made it three Hyundais in the top four in his version run by Independent team Restart Racing.
Following this pair were the three remaining WSR BMWs, with reigning champion Jake Hill setting an identical time to Lloyd’s to head Aiden Moffat and Charles Rainford – the last-named was the second fastest of those on medium tyres.
Cammish failed to improve in FP2, but his best in the opening session remained good enough for eighth overall.
Next up were three of the Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla GR Sports, with Josh Cook joining Gordon Shedden and Aron Taylor-Smith in reverting to the M-Sport-built TOCA customer engine, while BTCC new boy Max Buxton sticks with the bespoke Neil Brown Engineering-tuned Toyota unit.
Nick Halstead, Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing
Photo by: JEP
Three-time champion Shedden set a time for ninth overall, ahead of Cook and Taylor-Smith.
Championship leader Tom Ingram put his Excelr8 Hyundai 12th in FP2, with main rival Ash Sutton 17th in his Alliance Ford. This means that Sutton will run in the first group in the initial phase of qualifying, with Ingram in the second.
BTCC Silverstone – Practice results
FP2
FP1
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