Andrew Jordan secured his first win at Thruxton in the British Touring Car Championship with a dominant display at the Hampshire circuit, leading home Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden.
The championship leader finished 1.283s ahead of Neal, but the figure shows no true indication of just how dominant he was, with the factory Honda duo of Neal and Shedden consolidating their podium places after early challenger Mat Jackson fell back.
Jordan got a decent start but was immediately hounded by the fast-starting Airwaves Racing Ford Focus of Jackson, who made his way around the outside of Neal into Cobb corner. Jackson had a run on the Pirtek Racing driver into the Club chicane, but a late breaking maneuver from Jordan saw him retain his lead.
It took him a couple of laps to bed his tyres in, but Jordan began to stretch his lead on lap five and Jackson began to fall into the clutches of Neal and Shedden, who both got past the Ford after Neal drove around the outside into Cobb, leaving the door open for his teammate. Fourth place nonetheless marked a good return for Jackson, who will be hopeful of repeating that result in race two.
After a traditional lightning start, Rob Collard crossed the line in fifth ahead of a train of cars who rounded out the top ten. Jason Plato harried the eBay Motors driver in his MG, but was just unable to pass Collard at the finish as he too had to be wary of a fiesty Alain Menu, who looked competitive throughout.
Colin Turkington made it two BMW’s in the top ten with eighth place, having a great battle with WIX Racing’s Adam Morgan around the back of the circuit towards the end of the race, while Sam Tordoff rounded out the top ten.
Jack Goff, Fabrizio Giovanardi and Tom Ingram were the next runners across the line, while there was another group battle for the minor points placings as Nick Foster claimed 14th ahead of Glynn Geddie, Marc Hynes, an ailing Rob Austin and Lea Wood. Aron Smith looked as though he might sneak a point or two having started at the back, but he ran wide and damaged his splitter with grass caught in the front end, rejoining and finishing in 22nd.
Top ten result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP | GD |
| 1 | 1 | I | Andrew JORDAN |  |
Pirtek Racing | Honda Civic | 16 | 16 laps | 1:17.687 | 3 |
| 2 | 4 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Tourer | 16 | 1.283 | 1:17.878 | 2 |
| 3 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Tourer | 16 | 2.76 | 1:18.059 | 4 |
| 4 | 6 | I | Mat JACKSON | |
Airwaves Racing | Ford Focus ST | 16 | 7.304 | 1:18.099 | 7 |
| 5 | 10 | I | Rob COLLARD | |
eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 16 | 10.467 | 1:18.425 | 30 |
| 6 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save | MG6 | 16 | 10.623 | 1:18.572 | 5 |
| 7 | 9 | I | Alain MENU |  |
CHROME Edition Restart Racing | Volkswagen Passat CC | 16 | 10.796 | 1:18.677 | 31 |
| 8 | 5 | I | Colin TURKINGTON | |
eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 16 | 11.309 | 1:18.338 | 1 |
| 9 | 33 | I | Adam MORGAN | |
WIX Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 16 | 11.496 | 1:18.469 | 14 |
| 10 | 88 | M | Sam TORDOFF | |
MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save | MG6 | 16 | 12.848 | 1:18.508 | 6 |