Halfords Yuasa Racing’s Dan Cammish fended off late pressure from a charging Ash Sutton to win in the opening British Touring Car Championship race of the 2020 season finale at Brands Hatch.
Starting from fourth on the grid, the 2019 runner-up got off to a storming start, braving it around the outside of front row starter Rory Butcher at Paddock Hill Bend to take third, before challenging Sutton for second position.
At the start of the fourth tour, Cammish lunged to the inside of Sutton at Paddock Hill Bend, with the latter running wide and allowing the Honda to complete the move down the inside into Druids.
His attention then turned to taking the lead from polesitter Tom Ingram, nearly losing out to Sutton after an attempt at Clearways before a safety car interrupted play due to contact between Glynn Geddie and Sam Osborne at Druids on lap seven.
Once the race restarted on lap 12, Ingram was immediately forced to defend from Cammish before a dramatic move for the lead two laps later saw Cammish sideways on the grass on the entry to Druids as the pair went side-by-side before the Honda racer completed the manoeuvre.
As Cammish pulled away out front, Sutton’s Infiniti Q50 seemingly came alive in the latter stages, passing Ingram’s Toyota Corolla on the exit of Graham Hill Bend on the 22nd tour and passing down the inside to complete the move into Surtees.
The 2017 champion would then claim a crucial point for fastest lap as he chased Cammish for the lead, finishing second on the road and regaining the lead of the championship from erstwhile leader Colin Turkington by two points as the latter languished down in ninth position.
Outside of the podium positions, the Motorbase Performance duo of Rory Butcher and Ollie Jackson brought home fourth and fifth respectively on home soil for the Kent-based squad, while MB Motorsport’s Jake Hill maintained his grid position to the flag by coming home sixth.
Triple champion Matt Neal was next in seventh, ahead of fellow FK8 Honda Civic Type R runner Josh Cook, who passed the Team BMW pair of Turkington and Tom Oliphant to manage eighth position as the BMW duo rounded out the top ten positions in ninth and tenth.
In 11th position was Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan on the swansong weekend for the venerable Mercedes-Benz A-Class, ahead of Tom Chilton in the second of the BTC Racing Honda Civics.
Excler8 Motorsport’s Chris Smiley came home 13th in his Hyundai, while Aiden Moffat and Paul Rivett completed the points-paying positions.
The second British Touring Car Championship race of the day at Brands Hatch Indy is scheduled to get underway at 12:35 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 | 27 | 26:45.259 | 55.307 | 4 |
| 2 | 116 | I | Ashley SUTTON | |
Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 27 | 0.813 | 55.069 | 3 |
| 3 | 80 | M | Tom INGRAM | |
Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with Ginsters | Toyota Corolla | 27 | 3.160 | 55.538 | 1 |
| 4 | 6 | I | Rory BUTCHER | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus ST | 27 | 6.538 | 55.575 | 2 |
| 5 | 48 | I | Ollie JACKSON | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus ST | 27 | 7.952 | 55.656 | 5 |
| 6 | 24 | I | Jake HILL | |
MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Honda Civic Type-R | 27 | 9.273 | 55.587 | 6 |
| 7 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 27 | 10.164 | 55.593 | 7 |
| 8 | 66 | I | Josh COOK | |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 27 | 13.519 | 55.835 | 10 |
| 9 | 1 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 27 | 18.283 | 55.977 | 8 |
| 10 | 15 | M | Tom OLIPHANT | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 27 | 19.339 | 55.912 | 12 |
| 11 | 32 | I | Adam MORGAN | |
Carlube Triple R Racing with Mac Tools | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 27 | 21.167 | 56.230 | 17 |
| 12 | 3 | I | Tom CHILTON | |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 27 | 21.621 | 55.992 | 16 |
| 13 | 22 | I | Chris SMILEY | |
Excelr8 Motorsport | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 27 | 23.221 | 56.087 | 15 |
| 14 | 16 | I | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 27 | 23.649 | 55.870 | 13 |
| 15 | 222 | I | Paul RIVETT | |
GKR TradePriceCars.com | Audi S3 | 27 | 31.348 | 56.459 | 9 |
| 16 | 12 | I | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 27 | 31.760 | 56.370 | 11 |
| 17 | 31 | I | Jack GOFF | |
RCIB Insurance Racing with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | 27 | 32.939 | 56.542 | 14 |
| 18 | 44 | I | Andy NEATE | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus ST | 27 | 36.294 | 56.612 | 20 |
| 19 | 18 | I | Senna PROCTOR | |
Excelr8 Motorsport | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 27 | 38.121 | 56.675 | 27 |
| 20 | 777 | I | Michael CREES | |
The Clever Baggers with BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 27 | 39.758 | 57.029 | 22 |
| 21 | 49 | I | Brad PHILPOT | |
Power Maxed Car Care Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 27 | 42.563 | 57.081 | 25 |
| 22 | 23 | I | Ethan HAMMERTON | |
GKR TradePriceCars.com | Audi S3 | 27 | 45.018 | 56.936 | 23 |
| 23 | 32 | I | Jack BUTEL | |
Carlube Triple R Racing with Mac Tools | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 27 | 45.798 | 57.084 | 26 |
| 24 | 41 | I | Carl BOARDLEY | |
Team HARD. | BMW 125i M Sport | 18 | 59.266 | 57.287 | 18 |
| R | 28 | I | Nicolas HAMILTON | |
ROKiT Racing with Team HARD. | Volkswagen CC | 6 | DNF | 58.412 | 19 |
| R | 4 | I | Sam OSBORNE | |
MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Honda Civic Type-R | 6 | DNF | 57.083 | 21 |
| R | 88 | I | Glynn GEDDIE | |
RCIB Insurance Racing with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | 0 | DNF | 57.062 | 24 |
