Subaru’s Ash Sutton claimed victory in the opening British Touring Car Championship race at Snetterton after a strong move on Jack Goff, as early leader Colin Turkington spun out of contention whilst in front.
At the start of the race it was BMW’s Turkington who got off to the stronger start, getting the jump on fellow front-row man Goff to lead before the first turn.
Further back, Sutton slotted into third whilst BMW Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan got off to a strong start to move from eighth on the grid to sixth.
Turkington led the race for the first few laps, but on the fifth tour the Northern Irishman appeared to make an uncharacteristic mistake whilst leading and spun out at the Bomb Hole after getting a rear wheel of his car onto the grass on the exit of the corner.
That allowed Goff back into the lead with Sutton, on the harder tyre, in hot pursuit, whilst Turkington dropped down to 11th as a result of his mistake.
Sutton kept close to the leading Honda’s bumper, and heading onto the penultimate lap he was just half a second adrift. The Subaru driver then made a brave move into Hamilton and took the lead from Goff, going on to take his third win of the season to move into second overall in the driver’s championship standings.
Goff took the chequered flag in second with his best result of the season, whilst Honda’s Matt Neal took third, having stayed out of trouble during the eventful first race.
Fourth went to Jordan, despite race-long pressure from the Subaru of Jason Plato who took fifth, securing his fourth consecutive top ten finish.
Team HARD’s Jake Hill scored his best result of the season in sixth, ahead of the recovering Turkington in seventh, who still edged closer to the front of the drivers’ championship standings despite throwing away a potential win.
Speedworks Motorsport’s Tom Ingram was eighth, having lost out after fellow Toyota driver Rob Austin made an audacious move on lap six. Austin went for a late lunge at Agostini corner, making contact with Ingram and forcing the duo off the road whilst battle for fourth, with Austin later retiring from the race with front-left damage from the incident.
BMW’s Rob Collard and Power Maxed Racing’s Tom Chilton completed the top ten, with the former edging slightly closer to the front of the points as a result.
Championship leader Gordon Shedden salvaged a 13th place finish to remain at the head of the standings, despite being passed on the last lap by fellow Honda racer Matt Simpson.
AmD Tuning’s Ollie Jackson had been running inside the points in 14th but contact from the MG of Árón Taylor-Smith on lap eight dropped both drivers down the order and ultimately out of the points.
Subaru’s Josh Price was handed an early drive-through penalty for a jump start and then ultimately retired from the race with front-right damage on his car.
Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan suffered yet more bad luck after retiring from the race whilst running in sixth with a technical issue on his car, whilst Eurotech Racing’s Brett Smith retired from his début race with damage at the front of his car.
Race two takes place at 14:07 BST.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 116 | M | Ashley SUTTON |  |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 12 | 23:38.526 | 1:56.537 | 3 |
| 2 | 31 | Jack GOFF | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 12 | 2.332 | 1:56.365 | 1 | |
| 3 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 12 | 6.707 | 1:56.939 | 4 |
| 4 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 12 | 6.916 | 1:57.082 | 8 |
| 5 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 12 | 7.743 | 1:57.152 | 9 |
| 6 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
TAG Racing | Volkswagen CC | 12 | 12.145 | 1:57.374 | 11 | |
| 7 | 4 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 12 | 12.378 | 1:56.269 | 2 |
| 8 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 12 | 19.459 | 1:57.110 | 5 | |
| 9 | 5 | M | Rob COLLARD | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 12 | 22.446 | 1:58.749 | 10 |
| 10 | 2 | M | Tom CHILTON | |
Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 12 | 22.792 | 1:58.083 | 16 |
| 11 | 3 | Mat JACKSON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 12 | 27.396 | 1:58.081 | 13 | |
| 12 | 303 | M | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 12 | 29.331 | 1:58.132 | 24 |
| 13 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 12 | 30.158 | 1:57.725 | 21 |
| 14 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 12 | 30.784 | 1:58.042 | 22 | |
| 15 | 20 | M | James COLE | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 12 | 31.217 | 1:58.298 | 26 |
| 16 | 61 | Will BURNS | |
Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing | Volkswagen CC | 12 | 31.625 | 1:58.275 | 28 | |
| 17 | 18 | M | Senna PROCTOR | |
Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 12 | 31.954 | 1:58.319 | 27 |
| 18 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 12 | 32.385 | 1:58.065 | 17 | |
| 19 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 12 | 32.782 | 1:58.348 | 14 | |
| 20 | 10 | Ant WHORTON-EALES | |
AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 12 | 38.302 | 1:58.336 | 15 | |
| 21 | 7 | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 12 | 41.897 | 1:59.178 | 29 | |
| 22 | 30 | Martin DEPPER | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 12 | 42.350 | 1:58.782 | 30 | |
| 23 | 95 | Stewart LINES | |
Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 12 | 1:17.532 | 2:02.184 | 31 | |
| 24 | 17 | Dave NEWSHAM | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 11 | 1 Lap | 1:57.761 | 19 | |
| R | 40 | M | Árón TAYLOR-SMITH |  |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 9 | DNF | 1:58.194 | 25 |
| R | 28 | M | Josh PRICE | |
A-Plan Academy | Subaru Levorg GT | 8 | DNF | 1:56.992 | 18 |
| R | 11 | Rob AUSTIN | |
Handy Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 5 | DNF | 1:56.726 | 7 | |
| R | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 5 | DNF | 1:56.827 | 6 | |
| R | 12 | Mike EPPS | |
Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing | Volkswagen CC | 5 | DNF | 1:57.795 | 12 | |
| R | 66 | Josh COOK | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 5 | DNF | 1:57.726 | 20 | |
| R | 39 | Brett SMITH | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 0 | DNF | 0:00.000 | 23 |