Dan Rowbottom snatched the fastest time away from Tom Ingram as the British Touring Car Championship prepared for battle for its latest round at Oulton Park.
The Midlander was on form in both sessions, whisking his NAPA Racing-liveried Alliance Ford Focus ST to second fastest time in FP1, and then edging out Ingram by 0.110 seconds with five minutes remaining in the lunchtime session.
It appears to put Rowbottom in a good position on a circuit where the hybrid reduction for the top seven runners in the championship is expected to have a bigger effect than at most other venues, owing to the characteristics of the Cheshire parkland venue.
He is down in 11th in the points, and as such is entitled to the full 15 seconds per lap of power boost for qualifying.
Rowbottom told Autosport that there has been a big impact with the arrival at the Alliance squad of veteran tin-top technician Paul Ridgway as his engineer.
“Obviously we’ve had a few changes on the operational side for this weekend and the car is feeling great,” he said. “We’ve got a few little issues but nothing we can’t sort out.”
Of Ridgway, whose most recent BTCC role was with the Speedworks Toyota squad until the end of the 2023 season, and who also works with the Lynk & Co operation in the TCR World Tour, Rowbottom added: “He’ll be with me for the rest of the season, and hopefully beyond that as long as he doesn’t think I’m a complete bell end!
“I’m feeling good. When you feel you’ve got the car, you just have the confidence to push.
