Vauxhall Motorsport's Yvan Muller ended the morning test sessions at the top of the times at Thruxton. The Frenchman set a time of 1:17.177 in the second of the mornings sessions, 0.146 seconds ahead of team-mate James Thompson. Neal, Reid and Priaulx made up the top five, whilst Gavin Pyper headed the Production class in the Team Dynamics backed Alfa Romeo 156 ahead of James Kaye and Spencer Marsh.

There were no major incidents in the free practice sessions, however in the first of the two, Graham Saunders returned to the pits with some damage to the right hand side of the car which prevented him from going out again in the second session, with the cars radiator needing to be replaced. Throttle problems hampered Rob Collard's attempts to set a time in the first, but the team were able to overcome their difficulties in time for the second session. Peter Cate suffered an oil leak in the first session, but again, was able to make it back out for the second. The first session also saw the first outing of the season for the second Synchro Motorsport Honda Accord, piloted by Dave Allan.

In the second session, Colin Turkington attacked the final chicane slightly too hard and ended up hitting the barrier lightly, but was unable to get the Team Atomic Kitten MG ZS going again and sat out the rest of the session. For many of the teams and drivers, this was the first opportunity to gather data for the fast Thruxton circuit, ahead of this afternoons qualifying. Few surprises at the front, with Muller and Thompson quickest, however Egg Sport driver Paul O'Neill has felt the effects of the 42kgs that he carries as a result of winning the feature race last time out at Oulton, which is taking its toll on the sweeping curves.