The four-time title winner took his NAPA-liveried Alliance Racing Ford Focus ST around the East Midlands circuit 0.098 seconds clear of team-mate Dan Cammish in an afternoon session that was effectively ended by a thunderstorm an hour before the chequered flag.
The morning session was dry, but featured generally slower laptimes. Drizzle prevented much meaningful running early in the afternoon before the track dried out for a period of fast laps before the deluge.
