Dan Cammish won the final race of the day at Donington Park from pole position to make it two from three in the NAPA Racing UK Ford at the opening round of the BTCC season. Cammish pulled away despite two safety cars to keep the distance to anyone in the pack.
Race one started with two NAPA Racing cars on the front row and race three began the exact same way. Tom Ingram in the EXCELR8 Hyundai followed Cammish home, just over three seconds adrift. After launching from fourth to gain two positions at the start – including diving past Colin Turkington at the Old Hairpin on the opening lap – Ingram would not trade a position throughout the rest of the race.
Completing the podium was Ash Sutton in his NAPA Racing UK Ford, battling through the field from 15th on the grid. After the second safety car Sutton moved through the field from seventh to fourth in three laps, in that time passing Tom Chilton, Stephen Jelley and Bobby Thompson.
That safety car was caused by NAPA Racing’s Sam Osborne and Team BMW’s Adam Morgan coming together on the first restart resulting in Osborne having a broken rear suspension impeding the pit exit. The first race intervention was for EXCELR8’s Nick Halstead being in the gravel at Redgate after Laser Tools Racing’s Jake Hill tipped Power Maxed Racing’s Mikey Doble into the Hyundai driver.
In fourth at the chequered flag was Hill in his BMW. Hill, like Sutton, passed eventual fifth placed Turkington in his Team BMW car with one lap to go with Hill completing the move in the final chicane.
Turkington was in third with two laps to go and attempted a move around the outside of Ingram into redgate which the eventual podium holder shrugged off. This turned out to be a do-or-die moment for Turkington as he subsequently got passed by Sutton and Hill later that lap.
Coming home in sixth was Team HARD’s Bobby Thompson who, after starting the reverse grid race from third, ended his weekend with a second top ten result. One Motorsport’s Josh Cook was the eventual seventh placed finisher after having to come through the field starting from 19th.
Race two winner Tom Chilton in his EXCELR8 Hyundai managed to hold of the fast charging Árón Taylor-Smith in the Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall for eighth. Chilton did move forward in the race but with Taylor-Smith coming from a 20th place start his pace needed attention for the eventual 0.2 second gap.
Taylor-Smith would pass Dan Rowbottom who finished in tenth after passing him into the final chicane with a lap to go. Rowbottom had a frustrating day considering he was the pole sitter after Saturday’s qualifying session in the NAPA Racing UK Ford. Rowbottom started the race on the front row but lost off the line to the rear wheel driven Turkington and Ingram.
The results mean that Cammish leaves the opening round leading the championship ahead of Ingram and Hill. Sutton is notably lower than expected leaving the opening round ninth in the standings after having to retire after leading the opening race.
Race results
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP | GD |
| 1 | 27 | M |  |
Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 21 | 29:30.236 | 1:16.765 | 1 |
| 2 | 1 | M | |
Tom INGRAM | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 21 | 3.044 | 1:16.659 | 4 |
| 3 | 116 | M | |
Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 21 | 3.771 | 1:16.781 | 15 |
| 4 | 24 | M | |
Jake HILL | Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 21 | 3.884 | 1:16.627 | 16 |
| 5 | 4 | M | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 21 | 4.683 | 1:16.888 | 5 |
| 6 | 19 | I | |
Bobby THOMPSON | Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils | CUPRA Leon | 21 | 12.615 | 1:17.556 | 3 |
| 7 | 66 | I | |
Josh COOK | One Motorsport with Starline Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 21 | 14.883 | 1:17.677 | 19 |
| 8 | 3 | M | |
Tom CHILTON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 21 | 15.964 | 1:17.759 | 12 |
| 9 | 40 | I |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 21 | 16.192 | 1:17.593 | 20 |
| 10 | 32 | M | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 21 | 17.196 | 1:17.828 | 2 |
| 11 | 6 | M | |
Rory BUTCHER | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 21 | 17.309 | 1:17.480 | 14 |
| 12 | 11 | I | |
Andrew WATSON | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 21 | 18.080 | 1:17.754 | 21 |
| 13 | 42 | M | |
George GAMBLE | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 21 | 20.757 | 1:17.698 | 24 |
| 14 | 37 | M | |
Ricky COLLARD | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 21 | 24.005 | 1:18.097 | 26 |
| 15 | 16 | I | |
Aiden MOFFAT | One Motorsport with Starline Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 21 | 25.906 | 1:17.992 | 17 |
| 16 | 17 | I | |
Dexter PATTERSON | Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD. | CUPRA Leon | 21 | 26.183 | 1:18.033 | 18 |
| 17 | 96 | I | |
Jack BUTEL | Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown | CUPRA Leon | 21 | 26.473 | 1:18.031 | 25 |
| 18 | 123 | I | |
Daniel LLOYD | Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils | CUPRA Leon | 21 | 28.684 | 1:18.197 | 13 |
| 19 | 14 | M | |
Ronan PEARSON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 21 | 29.396 | 1:17.930 | 27 |
| 20 | 12 | M | |
Stephen JELLEY | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 21 | 34.562 | 1:17.946 | 9 |
| 21 | 28 | I | |
Nicolas HAMILTON | Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown | CUPRA Leon | 21 | 48.236 | 1:19.025 | 7 |
| 22 | 33 | M | |
Adam MORGAN | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 20 | + 1 LAP | 1:17.630 | 11 |
| R | 88 | I | |
Mikey DOBLE | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 16 | DNF | 1:17.986 | 8 |
| R | 99 | I | |
Jade EDWARDS | Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD. | CUPRA Leon | 15 | DNF | 1:18.821 | 23 |
| R | 70 | I | |
Will POWELL | One Motorsport with Starline Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 6 | DNF | 1:23.402 | 22 |
| R | 77 | M | |
Sam OSBORNE | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 4 | DNF | 1:51.547 | 10 |
| R | 22 | M | |
Nick HALSTEAD | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 0 | DNF | N/A | 6 |