After his teammates locked out the front row yesterday Dan Cammish won the first race of the 2023 BTCC season in the NAPA Racing UK Ford Focus after a sensational drive from fifth to take the top spot.
Cammish was following Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport driver Jake Hill in the BMW for the majority of the race. A few practice runs later Cammish pulled the move off by switching back at Redgate and flying around the outside through the Craner Curves into the Old Hairpin.
Hill had a noteworthy start making contact with both the front row starters of Dan Rowbottom and Ash Sutton. Hill making side on contact with Rowbottom and then Sutton as he moved to defend the inside and made contact with the nose of Hill. Sutton subsequently pitted and retired due to suspected overheating.
Due to these start line incidents Hill has received a three-place grid penalty for race two. resulting in him starting P5 for the second race of the day.
Completing the podium is reigning champion Tom Ingram in the EXCELR8 Hyundai. Ingram, who started from sixth, made a great start that left him in third and was closing on the front two from lap 12 of the eventual 21-lap race due to two safety car periods.
The first safety car intervention came for a stopped Tom Chilton on lap one, who later got his EXCELR8 Hyundai back underway. The second for his team-mate Nick Halstead who had found himself in the gravel at the Old Hairpin on lap three with the race getting back underway on lap eight.
In fourth at the finish was Andrew Watson in the CarStore Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra who, like yesterday, had the performance of the session. After the opening skirmishes, Watson found himself taking sixth early on and was hounding Ricky Collard in the Toyota Gazoo Racing car from the second restart before passing on lap ten.
Watson would later close up to the pole sitter Rowbottom and fly past into the final chicane. Fifth is where Rowbottom would remain after having a slow start off the line and then struggling with the pace of the people around him.
Collard came home next in sixth, who after his exchanges with Watson originally lost his sixth place to Adam Morgan in the Team BMW car but managed to retain the position and finish the race with gaps both in front and behind him.
Morgan would finish in seventh, only 0.150 seconds ahead of George Gamble in the Toyota Gazoo Racing car after holding on towards the end of the race.
Gamble was only 0.226 seconds ahead of Josh Cook in the One Motorsport with Starline Racing Honda. Cook had a recovery drive after finding the gravel at Redgate at the second restart leaving him in 21st.
Power Maxed Racing’s Árón Taylor-Smith was also in the pack that was headed by Morgan again finishing closely being only 0.408 seconds behind Cook.
Notably Colin Turkington in the Team BMW car also had an incident finding the gravel at the Old Hairpin on lap one. This resulted in an initial drop to 15th before making his way back to 12th. Turkington was fighting with teammate Stephen Jelley for that position, with Jelley eventually came to a halt at the exit of the last chicane, before recovering to 22nd.
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 | 29:16.715 | 1:16.089 | 5 |
| 2 | 24 | M | |
Jake HILL | Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 21 | 2.114 | 1:16.105 | 3 |
| 3 | 1 | M | |
Tom INGRAM | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 21 | 2.207 | 1:16.167 | 6 |
| 4 | 11 | I | |
Andrew WATSON | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 21 | 2.614 | 1:16.460 | 9 |
| 5 | 32 | M | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 21 | 6.350 | 1:16.380 | 1 |
| 6 | 37 | M | |
Ricky COLLARD | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 21 | 9.057 | 1:17.138 | 10 |
| 7 | 33 | M | |
Adam MORGAN | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 21 | 13.907 | 1:17.043 | 8 |
| 8 | 42 | M | |
George GAMBLE | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 21 | 14.057 | 1:17.266 | 17 |
| 9 | 66 | I | |
Josh COOK | One Motorsport with Starline Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 21 | 14.283 | 1:16.672 | 7 |
| 10 | 40 | I |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 21 | 14.691 | 1:16.814 | 16 |
| 11 | 6 | M | |
Rory BUTCHER | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 21 | 15.307 | 1:17.255 | 13 |
| 12 | 4 | M | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 21 | 15.997 | 1:17.178 | 4 |
| 13 | 16 | I | |
Aiden MOFFAT | One Motorsport with Starline Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 21 | 17.774 | 1:17.428 | 18 |
| 14 | 17 | I | |
Dexter PATTERSON | Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD. | CUPRA Leon | 21 | 21.655 | 1:17.478 | 20 |
| 15 | 3 | M | |
Tom CHILTON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 21 | 22.238 | 1:16.994 | 14 |
| 16 | 19 | I | |
Bobby THOMPSON | Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils | CUPRA Leon | 21 | 23.285 | 1:17.788 | 22 |
| 17 | 77 | M | |
Sam OSBORNE | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 21 | 23.990 | 1:17.376 | 19 |
| 18 | 70 | I | |
Will POWELL | One Motorsport with Starline Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 21 | 24.523 | 1:17.653 | 24 |
| 19 | 123 | I | |
Daniel LLOYD | Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils | CUPRA Leon | 21 | 24.823 | 1:17.078 | 12 |
| 20 | 88 | I | |
Mikey DOBLE | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 21 | 31.804 | 1:18.268 | 21 |
| 21 | 28 | I | |
Nicolas HAMILTON | Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown | CUPRA Leon | 21 | 37.492 | 1:18.763 | 25 |
| 22 | 12 | M | |
Stephen JELLEY | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 21 | 45.255 | 1:17.200 | 15 |
| 23 | 96 | I | |
Jack BUTEL | Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown | CUPRA Leon | 21 | 46.757 | 1:17.587 | 23 |
| 24 | 14 | M | |
Ronan PEARSON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 20 | + 1 LAP | 1:17.187 | 11 |
| 25 | 22 | M | |
Nick HALSTEAD | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 3 | DNF | 1:20.553 | 26 |
| 26 | 116 | M | |
Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 1 | DNF | N/A | 2 |
| 27 | 99 | I | |
Jade EDWARDS | Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD. | CUPRA Leon | 0 | DNF | N/A | 27 |