The bearded West Midlander languished in the midfield in the opening session in his Team Dynamics Civic Type R, but sprang to prominence later on to shade championship leader Josh Cook’s early-morning times-topper by 0.024 seconds.
Rowbottom, who took his first and so far only BTCC race win at the Cheshire venue last season, focused on short runs, and indeed his best in the second session was over two seconds up on his next fastest lap.
