Subaru’s Ash Sutton held off a race-long challenge from BMW’s Colin Turkington to take victory in the opening British Touring Car Championship race at Croft, with Motorbase’s Mat Jackson completing the podium.
Sutton claimed a lights-to-flag victory in the race at a cloudy and dry Croft, despite late-race pressure from the BMW of Turkington, who was just 0.671 seconds behind at the flag.
The Northern Irishman was glued to the rear bumper of Sutton in the closing laps of the race, but was unable to find a way past as Sutton put in a calculated defensive drive.
Jackson claimed his and Motorbase’s first podium finish of the season in third, providing small consolation for the team after team-mate Luke Davenport’s massive accident on Saturday.
BMW’s Rob Collard took fourth at the final corner of the final lap, passing Honda’s Gordon Shedden for the position on the run up to the finish line.
That left the fully-ballasted Scot to take fifth, minimising the damage to his points lead by second-placed Collard.
BMW Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan finished in sixth, having started the race in 12th position. The 2013 champion made up steady ground during the race, in particular benefitting when the Subaru of Josh Price was involved in an incident at the hairpin on lap eleven.
Price had been running in fifth at the time, having passed Collard for the position a couple of laps earlier, when he was seemingly spun at the exit of the hairpin. His Subaru team-mate James Cole had nowhere to go and ran into Price, causing slight damage to both cars.
MG’s Josh Cook took the chequered flag in seventh, having lost four places on lap eight, ahead of Speedworks Motorsport’s Tom Ingram, who scored his first top ten finish since Thruxton.
Power Maxed Racing’s Tom Chilton and Subaru’s Jason Plato completed the top ten, the latter having put in a recovery drive after making a mistake at Sunny In on the opening lap, dropping him to 25th.
AmD Tuning’s Ollie Jackson had originally finished the race in 11th position but he was later given a post-race 10.4 second penalty for gaining an unfair advantage earlier in the race, dropping him to 13th position.
The second factory Honda of Matt Neal had a disastrous race, retiring on lap two with damage to the left-rear corner of his Civic.
Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan also retired from the race, stopping on lap ten with some front-end damage to his Mercedes.
Race two takes place at 14:44 BST.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 116 | M | Ashley SUTTON |  |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 15 | 21:52.260 | 1:27.654 | 1 |
| 2 | 4 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 15 | 0.671 | 1:28.037 | 2 |
| 3 | 3 | Mat JACKSON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 15 | 8.653 | 1:29.485 | 3 | |
| 4 | 5 | M | Rob COLLARD | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 15 | 11.307 | 1:29.060 | 11 |
| 5 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | 11.858 | 1:29.766 | 4 |
| 6 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 15 | 12.984 | 1:28.229 | 12 |
| 7 | 66 | Josh COOK | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 15 | 18.764 | 1:29.623 | 5 | |
| 8 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 15 | 19.585 | 1:29.719 | 13 | |
| 9 | 2 | M | Tom CHILTON | |
Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 15 | 19.995 | 1:29.700 | 10 |
| 10 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 15 | 35.408 | 1:30.171 | 6 |
| 11 | 11 | Rob AUSTIN | |
Handy Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 15 | 44.563 | 1:30.360 | 17 | |
| 12 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
TAG Racing | Volkswagen CC | 15 | 45.961 | 1:31.812 | 16 | |
| 13 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON* | |
AmDtuning.com with CobraExhausts | Audi S3 | 15 | 46.138 | 1:30.542 | 19 | |
| 14 | 18 | M | Senna PROCTOR | |
Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 15 | 46.265 | 1:31.727 | 15 |
| 15 | 7 | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 15 | 46.425 | 1:31.523 | 14 | |
| 16 | 10 | Ant WHORTON-EALES | |
AmDtuning.com with CobraExhausts | Audi S3 | 15 | 47.589 | 1:31.695 | 24 | |
| 17 | 61 | Will BURNS | |
Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing | Volkswagen CC | 15 | 49.776 | 1:30.566 | 18 | |
| 18 | 30 | Martin DEPPER | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 15 | 50.297 | 1:30.956 | 25 | |
| 19 | 95 | Dennis STRANDBERG |  |
Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 15 | 51.460 | 1:32.167 | 22 | |
| 20 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 15 | 51.694 | 1:31.966 | 27 | |
| 21 | 31 | Jack GOFF | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | 53.783 | 1:33.630 | 26 | |
| 22 | 12 | Mike EPPS | |
Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing | Volkswagen CC | 15 | 54.217 | 1:33.685 | 20 | |
| 23 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 15 | 56.736 | 1:37.815 | 29 | |
| 24 | 17 | David NEWSHAM | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 13 | 2 Laps | 1:30.360 | 28 | |
| R | 20 | M | James COLE | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 11 | 4 Laps | 1:35.830 | 9 |
| R | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 10 | 5 Laps | 1:30.021 | 23 | |
| R | 28 | M | Josh PRICE | |
BMR Racing Academy | Subaru Levorg GT | 10 | 5 Laps | 2:16.374 | 8 |
| R | 303 | M | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 5 | 10 Laps | 1:57.567 | 21 |
| R | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 2 | 13 Laps | 1:31.843 | 7 |
| NS | 300 | Luke DAVENPORT | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | – | DNS | 00.000 | – | |
| NS | 55 | Jeff SMITH | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | – | DNS | 00.000 | – | |
| NS | 40 | M | Árón TAYLOR-SMITH |  |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | – | DNS | 00.000 | – |