Halfords Yuasa Racing’s Dan Cammish converted pole position into victory after a tight battle with Tom Ingram in the opening British Touring Car Championship race at Silverstone.
Despite starting further back on his grid slot, Cammish managed to hold off Ingram’s attack into Copse on the opening lap, but would seemingly lose out on the exit of Luffield on the fifth tour as the safety car was simultaneously called for an incident between Michael Crees’s Honda and James Gornall’s Audi.
While Ingram completed the move into Copse, Cammish was deemed to be ahead at the timing line and so the pair swapped back for the restart, after which the Honda racer held off pressure from the Toyota Corolla to eventually extended his lead to over a second at the flag.
Completing the podium was Motorbase Performance’s Rory Butcher, who put in a defensive masterclass in his Ford Focus ST to hold off reigning champion Colin Turkington after race-long pressure from the BMW 330i M Sport.
Turkington did have Tom Oliphant playing rear gunner and holding off championship leader Ash Sutton before the Brands Hatch winner suffered a left-rear suspension failure after cutting the inside kerb at Copse corner and forcing him to retire.
As Butcher defended from Turkington, Sutton was able to close in and applied to the pressure in a three-way fight for the podium, but ultimately Sutton would be forced to settle for fifth.
A further two seconds behind was Adam Morgan’s Merecedes-Benz A-Class ahead of Jake Hill’s MB Motorsport Honda Civic Type R, with the pair running in splendid isolation to bring home sixth and seventh respectively.
Cammish’s team-mate Matt Neal survived a tight skirmish in which he was tagged into a slide at Becketts, but held on to place eighth at the flag, with a comfortable gap to Stephen Jelley’s BMW 1 Series, while Thruxton race winner Josh Cook completed the top ten runners.
Next was Laser Tools Racing’s Aiden Moffat in the second Infiniti Q50 in 11th, while a tight battle for 12th saw Carl Boardley steal a position from Ollie Jackson by just 0.017s at the line.
In 14th was Senna Proctor’s Hyundai i30 Fastback N, while Tom Chilton’s BTC Racing Honda Civic Type R rounded out the points-paying positions in 15th.
The second race of the day at Silverstone for the British Touring Car Championship is scheduled to get underway at 14:47 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 | 25 | 25:43.206 | 57.750 | 1 |
| 2 | 80 | M | Tom INGRAM | |
Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with Ginsters | Toyota Corolla | 25 | 1.081 | 57.848 | 2 |
| 3 | 6 | I | Rory BUTCHER | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus ST | 25 | 4.468 | 58.004 | 3 |
| 4 | 1 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 25 | 4.815 | 57.972 | 4 |
| 5 | 116 | I | Ashley SUTTON | |
Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 25 | 5.049 | 57.845 | 7 |
| 6 | 32 | I | Adam MORGAN | |
Carlube Triple R Racing with Mac Tools | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 25 | 7.516 | 58.144 | 8 |
| 7 | 24 | I | Jake HILL | |
MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Honda Civic Type-R | 25 | 8.957 | 58.134 | 10 |
| 8 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 25 | 9.368 | 57.965 | 6 |
| 9 | 12 | I | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 25 | 10.856 | 58.135 | 14 |
| 10 | 66 | I | Josh COOK | |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 25 | 14.030 | 58.098 | 12 |
| 11 | 16 | I | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 25 | 17.706 | 58.390 | 15 |
| 12 | 41 | I | Carl BOARDLEY | |
Team HARD. | BMW 125i M Sport | 25 | 18.898 | 58.493 | 13 |
| 13 | 48 | I | Ollie JACKSON | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus ST | 25 | 18.915 | 58.464 | 11 |
| 14 | 18 | I | Senna PROCTOR | |
Excelr8 Motorsport | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 25 | 19.500 | 58.540 | 16 |
| 15 | 3 | I | Tom CHILTON | |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 25 | 19.713 | 58.199 | 9 |
| 16 | 22 | I | Chris SMILEY | |
Excelr8 Motorsport | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 25 | 20.870 | 58.436 | 21 |
| 17 | 4 | I | Sam OSBORNE | |
MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Honda Civic Type-R | 25 | 22.368 | 58.580 | 17 |
| 18 | 19 | I | Bobby THOMPSON | |
GKR TradePriceCars.com | Audi S3 | 25 | 22.812 | 58.560 | 19 |
| 19 | 8 | I | Tom ONSLOW-COLE | |
RCIB Insurance Racing with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | 25 | 23.639 | 58.468 | 20 |
| 20 | 32 | I | Jack BUTEL | |
Carlube Triple R Racing with Mac Tools | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 25 | 24.784 | 58.705 | 27 |
| 21 | 44 | I | Andy NEATE | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus ST | 25 | 25.131 | 58.497 | 23 |
| 22 | 180 | I | James GORNALL | |
GKR TradePriceCars.com | Audi S3 | 25 | 25.412 | 58.402 | 26 |
| 23 | 9 | I | Jade EDWARDS | |
Power Maxed Car Care Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 25 | 27.430 | 58.551 | 25 |
| 24 | 28 | I | Nicolas HAMILTON | |
ROKiT Racing with Team HARD. | Volkswagen CC | 25 | 29.812 | 58.700 | 24 |
| R | 15 | M | Tom OLIPHANT | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 12 | DNF | 58.128 | 5 |
| R | 777 | I | Michael CREES | |
The Clever Baggers with BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 4 | DNF | 59.047 | 22 |
| R | 31 | I | Jack GOFF | |
RCIB Insurance Racing with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | 2 | DNF | N/A | 18 |
