The turbo-diesel SEATs of Darren Turner and Jason Plato headed an incident-filled opening HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship practice session at Snetterton.

Turner set the pace with a blistering lap time of 1m11.512s – underneath both the race and qualifying records. Plato, fastest here in pre-event testing in his Leon TDI, was second with a time of 1m11.975s, the SEAT team-mates the only drivers to dip beneath the 1m12s-barrier.

Notably, Turner's ballast-free car was fastest through both speed traps - the second, across the start-finish line, by some 2mph - and both sectors. He said: "This is a point and squirt type of circuit which our car suits so we're aiming to make the most of it. On saying that, I'm surprised by the time I set as I felt the track conditions were some way off their best."

Turner’s form aside, the times behind were extremely close with less than a second from Plato down to 13th-fastest Matt Neal’s Vauxhall Vectra VXR which played a part in the session’s big incident.

Neal’s car took to the grass in an apparent mis-understanding with Alan Taylor’s Robertshaw Honda Integra exiting the rapid Bombhole corner. This led to his Vectra dropping fluid onto the track at the following high-speed Coram and, on a slippery track surface, the next driver on the scene, Mat Jackson, duly spun his BMW 320si into the barriers.

The BMW Dealer Team UK driver got out of the car OK, but his mechanics are now working flat-out to repair its battered near-side in time for second practice that starts at 12.25pm.

“I’ve never had a car swap ends on me like that… ever. There must have been something down,” Jackson told BTCC.net.

Neal’s team-mate Fabrizio Giovanardi, the reigning champion and current championship leader, also had bothers – his Vectra suffered what are believed to be fuel pick-up problems and he was unable to set a competitive lap time.

1. Darren Turner SEAT Sport UK SEAT Leon TDi 1min 11.512secs M
2. Jason Plato SEAT Sport UK SEAT Leon TDi 1min 11.975secs M
3. Gordon Shedden Team Halfords Honda Civic 1min 12.079secs
4. Tom Onslow-Cole VX Racing Vauxhall Vectra 1min 12.178secs M
5. Colin Turkington Team RAC BMW 320si 1min 12.244secsI
6. Tom Chilton Team Halfords Honda Civic 1min 12.299secs
7. Steven Kane Motorbase Performance BMW 320si 1min 12.315secs I
8. Adam Jones Team Aircool SEAT Leon 1min 12.559secs I
9. Mike Jordan John Guest Racing Honda Integra 1min 12.562secs I B
10. Rob Collard Motorbase Performance BMW 320si 1min 12.598secs I

11. Stephen Jelley Team RAC BMW 320si 1min 12.800secs I
12. Andrew Jordan John Guest Racing Honda Integra 1min 12.836secs I B
13. Matt Neal VX Racing Vauxhall Vectra 1min 12.881secs M
14. Mat Jackson BMW Dealer Team UK BMW 320si 1min 13.100secs I
15. Harry Vaulkhard Robertshaw Racing Chevrolet Lacetti 1min 13.425secs I
16. John George TH Motorsport Racing with JAG Honda Integra 1min 13.595secs I B
17. Michael Doyle InTune Racing Honda Civic Type-R 1min 14.030secs I B
18. Jason Hughes Kartworld Racing MG ZS 1min 14.169secs I B
19. Martyn Bell Arkas Racing with Sunshine.co.uk Vauxhall Astra 1min 14.918secs I B
20. Erkut Kizilirmak Arkas Racing with Sunshine.co.uk Vauxhall Astra 1min 18.613secs I B
21. Alan Taylor Robertshaw Racing Honda Integra 1min 23.687secs I B
22. Fabrizio Giovanardi VX Racing Vauxhall Vectra No time M

M denotes manufacturer entry, I denotes Independent runner.
B denotes BTC spec car, all others S2000