It was Alex MacDowall that set the fastest time of the first free practice session of the day at the wet Croft Circuit in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.

It was Matt Neal that set the early pace but as the drivers got accustomed to the weather and track conditions it was Alex MacDowall that took the initiative to set a time of 1:33.644. His time was good enough to put his Silverline Chevrolet at the top of the time-sheets ahead of the BMW of Rob Collard.

Dick Bennett’s, team principal at West Surrey Racing, had been praying for rain and it seems that all his dreams have come true as the wet track enabled Rob Collard to set a time just 0.145s off the pace of the Chevrolet Cruze.

Behind Collard was Chilton in the first of the three Team Aon Ford Focus’ in third followed by Neal who was the 4th driver to set a sub 1:34 lap time.

Plato ended the session with the 5th fastest time of the day ahead of Tom Boardman, Gordon Shedden, Nick Foster and Mat Jackson rounding out the top ten positions.

It was a great session for Rob Austin who ended the first of the free practice’s in 12th proving that the team have made a host of improvements to the car this season.

The second of the free practice sessions will be at 1155 today and you can follow our LIVE commentary via twitter @BTCCCrazyLive or via our designated commentary page by clicking here.

For the full results of the session click here.

Photo Credit: Pete Mainey (www.psmmotorsportimages.co.uk)

James Mappin is the editor-in-chief covering the British Touring Car Championship. You can contact him at james@btcccrazy.co.uk, on twitter @BTCCCrazy or on his personal twitter account @jamesmappin.