Halfords Yuasa Racing’s Dan Cammish managed to overcome polesitter Colin Turkington in the opening British Touring Car Championship race of 2020 at Donington Park.
The 2019 runner-up initially dropped back to third at the start as Turkington and Ash Sutton put their rear-wheel drive advantage to good use on the run down to turn one.
Sutton then pressurised Turkington for the lead, and seemed to have executed a switchback move out of the Old Hairpin on the run down to McLeans before the pair made contact, forcing them both wide.
Cammish capitalised and completed the move into Coppice while drama unfolded behind, with Turkington turning around Sutton’s Infinit Q50 and demoting him to the back of the grid.
Tom Ingram held fourth position until Motorbase Peformance’s Rory Butcher set about taking the podium spot from the Toyota racer, completing the move to give the new-for-2020 Ford Focus ST a podium on its debut competitive outing.
Ingram’s Toyota would then squabble with Cammish’s team-mate Matt Neal over fourth position, with the Corolla eventually prevailing ahead of the three-time BTCC champion, who completed the top five finishers.
Next was Tom Oliphant who enjoyed a strong race in sixth in his BMW 330i M Sport, while Sam Osborne enjoyed his best-ever series result in the MB Motorsport Honda Civic Type R FK2 in seventh position.
Another driver impressing as he debuted a new machine was Chris Smiley in eighth place in the Hyundai i30N, ahead of Stephen Jelley’s BMW 1 Series while BTC Racing’s Tom Chilton rounded out the top ten.
Bobby Thompson’s Trade Price Cars Audi was next just outside the top ten, with Adam Morgan’s Mercedes in 12th after dropping back after contact at the final chicane mid-race.
Josh Cook recovered well in the second BTC Racing Honda Civic, after he plummeted to the rear of the field following contact with Jake Hill on the opening lap, who would eventually retire himself.
Another solid recovery drive came from Ash Sutton, who benefitted from a late safety car due to Nic Hamilton’s incident at the final chicane to bunch the field back up and allow him to gain positions.
He would secure fastest lap by half a second on the final tour, finishing ahead of Laser Tools Racing team-mate Aiden Moffat who occupied the final points-scoring position.
The second race of the 2020 British Touring Car Championship is set to get underway at 13:30 BST at the Leicestershire circuit.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 27 | M | Dan CAMMISH |  |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 19 | 25:13.779 | 1:10.092 | 2 |
| 2 | 1 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 19 | 0.707 | 1:10.132 | 1 |
| 3 | 6 | I | Rory BUTCHER | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus ST | 19 | 1.144 | 1:09.980 | 6 |
| 4 | 80 | M | Tom INGRAM | |
Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with Ginsters | Toyota Corolla | 19 | 1.941 | 1:09.833 | 4 |
| 5 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 19 | 2.817 | 1:10.091 | 9 |
| 6 | 15 | M | Tom OLIPHANT | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 19 | 3.722 | 1:10.060 | 5 |
| 7 | 4 | I | Sam OSBORNE | |
MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Honda Civic Type-R | 19 | 4.855 | 1:10.429 | 12 |
| 8 | 22 | I | Chris SMILEY | |
Excelr8 Motorsport | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 19 | 5.492 | 1:10.419 | 14 |
| 9 | 12 | I | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 19 | 7.322 | 1:10.735 | 15 |
| 10 | 3 | I | Tom CHILTON | |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 19 | 7.623 | 1:10.781 | 16 |
| 11 | 19 | I | Bobby THOMPSON | |
GKR TradePriceCars.com | Audi S3 | 19 | 7.936 | 1:10.745 | 17 |
| 12 | 32 | I | Adam MORGAN | |
Carlube Triple R Racing with Mac Tools | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 19 | 8.249 | 1:10.575 | 10 |
| 13 | 66 | I | Josh COOK | |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 19 | 9.498 | 1:10.442 | 8 |
| 14 | 116 | I | Ashley SUTTON | |
Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 19 | 9.595 | 1:09.483 | 3 |
| 15 | 16 | I | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 19 | 11.457 | 1:10.799 | 20 |
| 16 | 777 | I | Michael CREES | |
The Clever Baggers with BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 19 | 13.075 | 1:11.019 | 18 |
| 17 | 48 | I | Ollie JACKSON | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus ST | 19 | 13.398 | 1:10.927 | 13 |
| 18 | 31 | I | Jack GOFF | |
RCIB Insurance Racing with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | 19 | 13.837 | 1:10.905 | 25 |
| 19 | 41 | I | Carl BOARDLEY | |
Team HARD. | BMW 125i M Sport | 19 | 14.266 | 1:11.222 | 22 |
| 20 | 44 | I | Andy NEATE | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus ST | 19 | 14.599 | 1:11.336 | 21 |
| 21 | 34 | I | Ollie BROWN | |
RCIB Insurance Racing with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | 19 | 15.050 | 1:11.430 | 23 |
| 22 | 32 | I | Jack BUTEL | |
Carlube Triple R Racing with Mac Tools | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 19 | 19.350 | 1:11.909 | 24 |
| 23 | 180 | I | James GORNALL | |
GKR TradePriceCars.com | Audi S3 | 17 | + 2 LAPS | 1:10.773 | 19 |
| R | 18 | I | Senna PROCTOR | |
Excelr8 Motorsport | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 10 | DNF | 1:10.781 | 11 |
| R | 28 | I | Nicolas HAMILTON | |
ROKiT Racing with Team HARD. | Volkswagen CC | 9 | DNF | 1:11.737 | 26 |
| R | 24 | I | Jake HILL | |
MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Honda Civic Type-R | 6 | DNF | 1:10.234 | 7 |