BMW Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan bounced back from a disastrous Donington Park round to take victory in the opening race of the British Touring Car Championship at Thruxton, capitalising on a slight error by polesitter Sam Tordoff.
Jordan, whose massive shunt in race one at Donington Park ruled him out of the remaining races, started third on the grid for the opening encounter and immediately jumped Dan Cammish with the benefit of the rear-wheel drive launch.
The 2013 champion then followed Tordoff, who appeared to be controlling the pace, until the 13th tour when he had to correct a small slide and lost momentum at Church corner, allowing Jordan to breeze around the outside into the final chicane.
Tordoff then fell back into the clutches of Cammish in the final few laps, fending him off on the final lap on the run to the chicane as Cammish tried to repeat Jordan’s move.
Reigning champion Colin Turkington ran a seemingly cautious race to come home fourth as the first runner with success ballast, with Tordoff’s team-mate Rory Butcher completing the top five.
Jason Plato’s Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra was two seconds back in sixth position with Matt Neal in seventh after a tight battle with Ash Sutton, who clipped the rear of Neal’s Honda on lap nine.
Rob Collard also found his way past championship leader Sutton’s Subaru, who struggled on maximum ballast to finish ninth, with Jake Hill rounding out the top ten in his Audi S3.
BTC Racing’s Josh Cook was 11th, with Donington winner Tom Ingram behind him after a relatively quiet race for the 2018 runner-up.
Stephen Jelley put in an impressive performance in his BMW 125i M Sport to come home 13th, ahead of Chris Smiley and Matt Simpson.
The third Team BMW machine of Tom Oliphant struggled in 23rd after receiving a drive-through penalty for a false start.
The second race of the day at Thruxton is scheduled to get underway at 14:35 BST.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN |  |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 330i M Sport | 16 | 20:42.432 | 1:16.634 | 3 |
| 2 | 600 | I | Sam TORDOFF | |
Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid / RCIB Insurance | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 1.339 | 1:16.703 | 1 |
| 3 | 27 | M | Dan CAMMISH | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 1.690 | 1:16.593 | 2 |
| 4 | 1 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 16 | 2.267 | 1:16.712 | 4 |
| 5 | 6 | I | Rory BUTCHER | |
Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid / RCIB Insurance | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 3.574 | 1:16.833 | 5 |
| 6 | 11 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 16 | 5.595 | 1:16.890 | 6 |
| 7 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 6.933 | 1:17.057 | 8 |
| 8 | 9 | M | Rob COLLARD | |
Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 16 | 8.308 | 1:17.166 | 9 |
| 9 | 116 | M | Ashley SUTTON | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg | 16 | 10.584 | 1:17.188 | 7 |
| 10 | 24 | I | Jake HILL | |
TradePriceCars.com | Audi S3 | 16 | 13.181 | 1:17.361 | 14 |
| 11 | 66 | I | Josh COOK | |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 13.672 | 1:17.112 | 11 |
| 12 | 80 | M | Tom INGRAM | |
Team Toyota GB with Ginsters | Toyota Corolla | 16 | 14.243 | 1:17.508 | 15 |
| 13 | 12 | I | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 16 | 18.387 | 1:17.560 | 13 |
| 14 | 22 | I | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 18.914 | 1:17.806 | 12 |
| 15 | 303 | I | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 20.981 | 1:17.738 | 17 |
| 16 | 48 | I | Ollie JACKSON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 16 | 21.324 | 1:17.784 | 19 |
| 17 | 33 | I | Adam MORGAN | |
Mac Tools with Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 16 | 21.842 | 1:17.884 | 18 |
| 18 | 3 | I | Tom CHILTON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 16 | 22.192 | 1:17.745 | 22 |
| 19 | 32 | I | Daniel ROWBOTTOM | |
Cataclean Racing with Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 16 | 22.732 | 1:17.383 | 21 |
| 20 | 16 | I | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 16 | 23.527 | 1:17.796 | 16 |
| 21 | 31 | I | Jack GOFF | |
RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | 16 | 24.302 | 1:17.678 | 23 |
| 22 | 18 | M | Senna PROCTOR | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg | 16 | 25.186 | 1:17.373 | 20 |
| 23 | 15 | M | Tom OLIPHANT | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 16 | 27.494 | 1:17.327 | 10 |
| 24 | 28 | I | Nicolas HAMILTON | |
ROKiT Racing with Motorbase | Ford Focus RS | 16 | 37.493 | 1:18.256 | 24 |
| 25 | 37 | I | Rob SMITH | |
Exceler8 Motorsport | MG6 | 16 | 41.175 | 1:18.595 | 26 |
| 26 | 777 | I | Michael CREES | |
GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct | Volkswagen CC | 16 | 45.665 | 1:18.797 | 27 |
| 27 | 8 | I | Mark BLUNDELL | |
TradePriceCars.com | Audi S3 | 16 | 51.906 | 1:19.151 | 30 |
| 28 | 4 | I | Sam OSBORNE | |
Exceler8 Motorsport | MG6 | 16 | 52.188 | 1:19.215 | 28 |
| 29 | 41 | I | Carl BOARDLEY | |
RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | 16 | 59.277 | 1:19.209 | 29 |
| 30 | 19 | I | Bobby THOMPSON | |
GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct | Volkswagen CC | 14 | + 2 LAPS | 1:18.192 | 25 |