Ash Sutton claimed victory in the opening TCR UK race at Oulton Park, in a race which was restarted after a big crash for Robert Gilmour and Carl Swift at the first start.
At the first start Ollie Taylor moved into second past Dan Lloyd at Old Hall corner, whilst Sutton set about opening up a 1.2 second lead over the first lap.
However, the race only lasted for just over a lap before a huge shunt between DPE Motorsport’s Robert Gilmour and Maximum Motorsport’s Carl Swift at Island Bend, with both cars pitched at high-speed into the barriers. The Alfa Romeo suffered extensive damage, whilst Swift’s CUPRA ended up perched on the barriers, bringing out the red flags.
The restart, after a 30-minute delay, again saw Sutton scamper into the lead, whilst behind him DPE Motorsport’s Derek Palmer got into second at the first corner.
However, Palmer, along with Taylor, would be handed 10-second time penalties for being out of position at the start, effectively ruling them out of the podium battle.
Nevertheless, Palmer continued to defend his second place throughout the race, picking up another five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits, to hold the position across the finish line.
UPDATE – Palmer would later have his penalty for being out of place at the start rescinded, giving him fourth in the amended result.
Sutton claimed his first win by an impressive 16-second advantage – easily the biggest winning margin in TCR UK to-date – to immediately move into 15th in the points standings.
“I just needed to get my head down at the start, get a gap, and then manage it from there,”said Sutton. “Then it pretty much ran to script.
“We had a mint start off the line, better than the first one, and it meant that we could then knuckle down, work on it and maintain it.”
Lloyd was effectively classified in second, having stayed close to Palmer throughout, whilst his WestCoast Racing team-mate Andreas Bäckman was third after the penalties were applied.
Essex & Kent Motorsport’s Lewis Kent claimed fifth, whilst Jessica Bäckman was sixth in the third WestCoast Racing Volkswagen after a steady race.
Maximum Motorsport’s Stewart Lines was the leading CUPRA in seventh, ahead of the penalised Taylor in eighth.
Tim Docker brought his Maximum Motorsport Volkswagen home in ninth in his first TCR UK race, almost 48 seconds off the lead.
Race two follows at 16:25 BST on Saturday afternoon and will be streamed live on YouTube.
Amended race result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 88 | Ashley SUTTON |  |
Verizon Connect Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 9 | 15:43.316 | 1:43.556 | 1 |
| 2 | 23 | Dan LLOYD | |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 9 | 16.289 | 1:45.074 | 2 |
| 3 | 19 | Andreas BÄCKMAN |  |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 9 | 18.643 | 1:45.651 | 4 |
| 4 | 61 | Derek PALMER | |
DPE Motorsport | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 9 | 20.952 | 1:45.268 | 5 |
| 5 | 38 | Lewis KENT | |
Essex & Kent Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 9 | 20.959 | 1:45.564 | 8 |
| 6 | 26 | Jessica BÄCKMAN | |
WestCoast Racing | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 9 | 23.489 | 1:46.045 | 7 |
| 7 | 95 | Stewart LINES | |
Maximum Motorsport | CUPRA TCR V3 DSG | 9 | 23.708 | 1:45.985 | 6 |
| 8 | 32 | Oliver TAYLOR | |
Pyro Motorsport | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 9 | 27.857 | 1:45.173 | 3 |
| 9 | 27 | Tim DOCKER | |
Maximum Motorsport | Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR | 9 | 47.848 | 1:48.800 | 11 |
| R | 76 | Robert GILMOUR | |
DPE Motorsport | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 0 | DNF | N/A | 9 |
| R | 45 | Carl SWIFT | |
Endurance Financial Racing | CUPRA TCR V3 DSG | 0 | DNF | N/A | 10 |