Subaru’s Colin Turkington took victory in the opening British Touring Car Championship race at Brands Hatch GP, as team-mate Jason Plato dropped out of the title hunt.
Turkington was untouchable in the 16-lap race, taking his fourth victory of the season, and posting the fastest lap of the race, to close the gap to the championship lead to just 20 points and remain an outside bet for the crown heading into race two.
Second place went to Handy Motorsport’s Rob Austin, who made the most of his front-row grid position to score a third podium of the year and hold off both Subaru’s Jason Plato and MG’s Josh Cook.
The final podium position ultimately went to Cook, who pipped Plato on the final lap, leaving Plato to finish in fourth. The result for the former champion marks the end of his mathematical chance of taking the title.
Honda’s Gordon Shedden was fifth, having gained a position away from the lights and then dispatching WSR’s Jack Goff a lap later, whilst WIX Racing’s Adam Morgan took sixth.
The second Honda of Matt Neal was seventh, and by finishing ahead of points leader Sam Tordoff he closes the gap to ten points, with Shedden ahead just six points adrift in the title race.
The second Ciceley-run Mercedes of Aiden Moffat took the chequered flag in eighth, ahead of MG’s Ashley Sutton in ninth.
Sutton got past the BMW of Tordoff late in the race to take ninth, leaving the fully-ballasted Tordoff to complete the top ten and retain his championship lead heading into the penultimate race of the season.
The biggest casualty in the race was Motorbase Performance’s Jordan, who retired at Druids on the second lap of the race. The incident was caused by a tight bunch heading into Turn 2, with Neal tagging the back of Power Maxed Racing’s Hunter Abbott, who had been running in ninth at the time.
When Jordan arrived, he had nowhere to go but into the stricken Chevrolet of Abbott, ending both driver’s races. Jordan remains mathematically in title contention, as he is 37 points adrift with 42 still up for grabs, but from the back of the grid for race two his challenge is effectively over.
WSR’s Rob Collard also got caught up in the incident, but was able to continue after losing a handful of positions. He eventually finished in 12th, and remains in title contention, albeit 19 points adrift of his team-mate.
Of note, Tom Ingram came through from the back of the grid to take points for 14th position, whilst both BKR Volkswagens of Árón Smith and Mark Howard picked up punctures during the race.
Heading into race two, Tordoff leads the points on 284, ahead of Shedden (278), Neal (274), Collard (265), Turkington (264), Jackson (262) and Jordan (247).
The penultimate race of the season takes place at 14:22 BST.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 4 | M | Colin TURKINGTON |  |
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 16 | 25:56.267 | 1:31.372 | 1 |
| 2 | 11 | Rob AUSTIN | |
Handy Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 16 | 4.570 | 1:31.751 | 2 | |
| 3 | 66 | M | Josh COOK | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 16 | 5.314 | 1:31.752 | 5 |
| 4 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 16 | 5.903 | 1:31.789 | 3 |
| 5 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 10.750 | 1:32.035 | 7 |
| 6 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
WIX Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 16 | 11.130 | 1:32.106 | 8 | |
| 7 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 11.620 | 1:32.224 | 11 |
| 8 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 16 | 17.894 | 1:32.689 | 9 | |
| 9 | 116 | M | Ashley SUTTON | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 16 | 18.077 | 1:32.183 | 15 |
| 10 | 600 | C | Sam TORDOFF | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 16 | 19.564 | 1:32.564 | 10 |
| 11 | 7 | Mat JACKSON | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus | 16 | 20.195 | 1:32.749 | 19 | |
| 12 | 100 | C | Rob COLLARD | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 16 | 21.177 | 1:32.525 | 12 |
| 13 | 31 | C | Jack GOFF | |
Team IHG Rewards Club | BMW 125i M Sport | 16 | 25.068 | 1:32.815 | 6 |
| 14 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 16 | 29.982 | 1:33.190 | 31 | |
| 15 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
RCIB Insurance Racing | Toyota Avensis | 16 | 31.106 | 1:33.109 | 20 | |
| 16 | 12 | Mike EPPS | |
RCIB Insurance Racing | Toyota Avensis | 16 | 31.180 | 1:33.096 | 14 | |
| 17 | 30 | Martin DEPPER | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 31.329 | 1:32.971 | 18 | |
| 18 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmD Tuning | Audi S3 | 16 | 31.600 | 1:32.741 | 16 | |
| 19 | 55 | Jeff SMITH | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 33.005 | 1:32.743 | 29 | |
| 20 | 303 | Matt SIMPSON | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 33.731 | 1:33.222 | 17 | |
| 21 | 14 | Alex MARTIN | |
Dextra Racing with Team Parker | Ford Focus | 16 | 35.181 | 1:33.071 | 24 | |
| 22 | 17 | Dan WELCH | |
Goodestone Racing | Proton Persona | 16 | 40.330 | 1:33.552 | 27 | |
| 23 | 20 | M | James COLE | |
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 16 | 40.845 | 1:33.218 | 21 |
| 24 | 84 | Kelvin FLETCHER | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 16 | 54.660 | 1:33.471 | 25 | |
| 25 | 95 | Stewart LINES | |
Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 16 | 1:00.182 | 1:34.956 | 30 | |
| R | 38 | Mark HOWARD | |
BKR | Volkswagen CC | 15 | 1 Lap | 1:34.502 | 28 | |
| R | 40 | Árón SMITH |  |
BKR | Volkswagen CC | 12 | 4 Laps | 1:32.713 | 23 | |
| R | 39 | M | Warren SCOTT | |
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 12 | 4 Laps | 1:33.159 | 22 |
| R | 34 | Tony GILHAM | |
TLC Racing | Toyota Avensis | 2 | 14 Laps | 1:50.040 | 26 | |
| R | 53 | Hunter ABBOTT | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 1 | 15 Laps | 1:44.008 | 4 | |
| R | 77 | Andrew JORDAN | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus | 1 | 15 Laps | 1:44.798 | 13 |