Richardson Racing’s Luke Browning set the pace in a drizzly opening F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford EcoBoost practice session of the weekend at Brands Hatch (GP).

Browning – a race-winner in the inclement conditions at the Kent circuit back in April – clocked a best time of 1:43.566s around the 2.4-mile GP configuration to edge out Arden Motorsport’s Alex Connor by 0.353 seconds.

That late improvement demoted Double R Racing’s Sebastian Alvarez – the highest-placed among the championship contenders – with the Mexican rounding out a top three split by just over half a second.

Erstwhile session leader Bart Horsten (Arden) was fourth ahead of joint points leader Zane Maloney (Carlin), then came the Fosters – Tommy ahead of Louis – in sixth and seventh.

Josh Skelton led JHR Developments’ two-car effort in seventh with team mate Carter Williams just behind; the top ten is rounded out by Fortec Motorsport’s Mariano Martinez.

Roberto Faria, fresh from announcing a new deal to remain in the Ford EcoBoost-powered category with Fortec for 2020, was eleventh quickest, the field completed by Reema Juffali (Double R) and Abbie Munro (Arden).

The second practice session of the title-deciding weekend gets underway at 14:35 BST.

Provisional Result – Free Practice 1