As the dismal British spring climate brought rain sweeping in from the North Sea across East Anglia, Thompson quite literally 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.
But Thompson’s FP2 time was 0.209 seconds shy of the FP1 effort of Hill, who was top of the pile in that opening 35 minutes of running by a gargantuan 0.461s from the Allied Racing-run NAPA Ford Focus ST of Dan Cammish.
Thompson was on course for second in FP1, before last-lap improvements from the Fords of Cammish and reigning champion team-mate Ash Sutton split him from WSR BMW stablemate Hill.
Hill was third in FP2, in between the Focuses of Cammish (second again) and Sutton (fourth), with the same leading quartet across both sessions, albeit in a different order,
“I’m very happy,” said Hill, who struggled last time out at Brands Hatch and had a spin at Oggies in FP2. “It’s a much nicer car than it was at Brands. I can play with it, I can have fun with it, I’m just enjoying it.
“We’ve got a decent ‘wet’ car underneath us – it’s working well, and we’ve just got to make it count.”
Thompson ended FP2 0.382s clear of Cammish, on his first BTCC outing since October 2023.
Apart from a one-day test at Brands early last month, the Essex racer’s only time in the BMW was at the team’s shakedown at the MIRA proving ground on Thursday.
