Dan Cammish takes race one win as polesitter Rory Butcher suffers puncture

Halfords Yuasa Racing’s Dan Cammish benefitted from a front-left tyre puncture for polesitter Rory Butcher to win the opening British Touring Car Championship race at Brands Hatch. 

Butcher had looked set to convert pole position into a maiden win for the new-for-2020 Ford Focus ST, fending off pressure from Cammish in the first half of the race, but the puncture after a late safety car restart left him plummeting down the order.

It was the 2019 runner-up who inherited the lead as the Scot’s tyre deflated on the exit of Paddock Hill Bend on the penultimate lap, while his title rival Colin Turkington jumped up to second behind.

Giving some consolation for Motorbase Performance at their home race was Ollie Jackson, who took his second-ever BTCC podium in third position to follow up on his best qualifying result yesterday.

As the lights went out, Turkington used his rear-wheel drive traction to leapfrog Jake Hill for fourth position, while a brush between Cammish and Jackson allowed the Northern Irishman to jump the second Motorbase Ford and take third.

Ahead, Cammish looked to have superior pace in the opening half of the race but would drop back at the start of the final third to cool his brakes to avoid a repeat of the 2019 season finale.

On the 12th tour, the safety car was then called as Cammish’s team-mate Matt Neal tangled with Aiden Moffat as the pair battled for 18th position.

Moffat had been battling with Chris Smiley’s Hyundai, leaving him wide on the entry to Hawthorns, and the pair tangled as Neal looked down the inside before the spinning Infiniti collected him and put him in the barriers on the entry to Westfield.

That neutralised the race in what would be the only safety car period, leaving just a two lap dash to the flag to conclude the opening contest.

Initially Butcher enjoyed a strong restart but would suffer the same fate as he did in second practice with the front-left Goodyear tyre letting go.

Enjoying great pace in fourth position was Tom Ingram after a race-long battle with Jake Hill before eventually getting through on lap twelve before the latter fell down the running order.

He held off BTC Racing’s Tom Chilton in fifth, while Ash Sutton made steady progress throughout the race from his grid position of 14th to end the race in sixth.

Sutton finished ahead of former team-mate Senna Proctor in the best of the Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundais, while Tom Oliphant recovered well to finish eighth after contact with Josh Cook on the opening lap causing a grassy moment at Westfield.

The older BMW of Stephen Jelley placed ninth, while Hill eventually ended up completing the top ten, a disappointing result for the local racer considering the pace he enjoyed across practice and qualifying yesterday.

Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan was next in 11th, while Michael Crees managed 12th ahead of Trade Price Cars Racing duo of James Gornall and Bobby Thompson in 13th and 14th positions respectively.

The final points-paying position was occupied by Chris Smiley’s Hyundai, while Butcher eventually joined Matt Neal in the list of runners who failed to finish.

The second race of the day at a scorching Brands Hatch is scheduled to get underway at 13:30 BST.

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	18	30:54.268	1:31.994	2
2	1	M	Colin TURKINGTON		Team BMW	BMW 330i M Sport	18	0.812	1:32.179	5
3	48	I	Ollie JACKSON		Motorbase Performance	Ford Focus ST	18	1.994	1:32.357	3
4	80	M	Tom INGRAM		Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with Ginsters	Toyota Corolla	18	2.341	1:32.104	8
5	3	I	Tom CHILTON		BTC Racing	Honda Civic Type-R	18	2.820	1:32.077	10
6	116	I	Ashley SUTTON		Laser Tools Racing	Infiniti Q50	18	2.965	1:32.242	14
7	18	I	Senna PROCTOR		Excelr8 Motorsport	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	18	5.273	1:32.223	7
8	15	M	Tom OLIPHANT		Team BMW	BMW 330i M Sport	18	5.587	1:32.672	6
9	12	I	Stephen JELLEY		Team Parker Racing	BMW 125i M Sport	18	5.745	1:32.862	12
10	24	I	Jake HILL		MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square	Honda Civic Type-R	18	6.917	1:32.072	4
11	32	I	Adam MORGAN		Carlube Triple R Racing with Mac Tools	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	18	7.121	1:32.654	13
12	777	I	Michael CREES		The Clever Baggers with BTC Racing	Honda Civic Type-R	18	7.652	1:32.817	18
13	180	I	James GORNALL		GKR TradePriceCars.com	Audi S3	18	9.038	1:32.829	20
14	19	I	Bobby THOMPSON		GKR TradePriceCars.com	Audi S3	18	9.545	1:32.750	17
15	22	I	Chris SMILEY		Excelr8 Motorsport	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	18	10.434	1:33.246	15
16	41	I	Carl BOARDLEY		Team HARD.	BMW 125i M Sport	18	10.598	1:33.057	22
17	31	I	Jack GOFF		RCIB Insurance Racing with Fox Transport	Volkswagen CC	18	11.087	1:32.951	19
18	16	I	Aiden MOFFAT		Laser Tools Racing	Infiniti Q50	18	11.317	1:32.857	21
19	44	I	Andy NEATE		Motorbase Performance	Ford Focus ST	18	12.321	1:33.545	23
20	34	I	Ollie BROWN		RCIB Insurance Racing with Fox Transport	Volkswagen CC	18	13.595	1:34.176	24
21	66	I	Josh COOK		BTC Racing	Honda Civic Type-R	18	13.820	1:31.942	9
22	28	I	Nicolas HAMILTON		ROKiT Racing with Team HARD.	Volkswagen CC	18	19.974	1:34.091	25
23	32	I	Jack BUTEL		Carlube Triple R Racing with Mac Tools	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	18	20.161	1:34.192	26
24	4	I	Sam OSBORNE		MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square	Honda Civic Type-R	17	+ 1 LAP	1:32.754	16
R	6	I	Rory BUTCHER		Motorbase Performance	Ford Focus ST	15	DNF	1:31.996	1
R	25	M	Matt NEAL		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type-R	11	DNF	1:32.989	11