Restart Racing’s Daniel Lloyd claimed victory in the opening British Touring Car Championship race of the weekend at Silverstone, which ended behind the safety car following a late-race fire for Nicolas Hamilton.
When the lights went out, first-time pole sitter Daryl Deleon matained the lead into the first corner.
Toyota’s Gordon Shedden passed the WSR BMW for the lead out of the last corner, continuing to battle into turn one on the next lap as DeLeon ran wide. Lloyd then followed past at Becketts as both he and DeLeon locked up, before taking the lead as he passed Shedden into Brooklands further around the lap.
NAPA Racing UK’s Ash Sutton was looking to gain points back on championship leader Tom Ingram as he battled up to ninth in the early laps, with the two championship hopefuls battling hard on lap four into Brooklands.
Laser Tools Racing’s Jake Hill passed Shedden for second into the first corner on lap five, as BMW stable-mate Aiden Moffat overtook NAPA’s Daniel Rowbottom for fifth into Becketts on the seventh lap.
Pole-sitter DeLeon continued to struggle, falling behind Team Vertu’s Ingram into Becketts on lap eight, quickly followed by Sutton on the following lap.
Ingram then passed NAPA’s Rowbottom into the first corner on lap 11 after failing to get through into Brooklands on the previous lap.
Team Vertu team-mates Tom Chilton and Adam Morgan had made progress through the pack and battled hard with each other late in the race for 11th place.
Sutton passed NAPA team-mate Rowbottom for eighth into Brooklands on lap 13. The focus then turned to a three car battle for fourth as Moffat applied pressure to the other Team Vertu Hyundai of Senna Proctor, followed by Toyota’s Josh Cook. Moffat had been looking to pass Proctor, but was then passed by Cook on lap 16 into Becketts corner as the Toyota had a good exit from turn one.
Power Maxed Racing’s Mikey Doble had to make a late-race pitstop due to damage sustained in battling with Chilton and Daryl Deleon at the final corner, dropping him out of 12th place and what was second place in the Independents class.
Sven laps from the finish, however, the safety car was called out due to Hamilton stopping by the side of the track with a significant engine bay fire in his CUPRA. Racing didn’t resume thereafter due to the difficulty in bringing the fire under control, giving Lloyd an easy run-in to claim his first BTCC victory since the 2022 season finale.
Lloyd, who had led the race since lap two, took the overall and independents race wins with WSR’s Hill in second, and Scotsman Shedden completing the podium.
Proctor battled hard to finish fourth, with Cook and Moffat behind in fifth and sixth respectively.
Championship leader Tom Ingram was seventh, directly ahead of championship rival Sutton in eighth, whilst Rowbottom and Morgan completed the top ten.
DeLeon finished 13th, suffering a late puncture, being passed by NAPA’s Dan Cammish for 12th under the late safety car as Cammish gained nine places from his 21st starting position.
Chris Smiley and Dexter Patterson completed the independents podium in 15th and 17th overall respectively. Lloyd has now taken the lead of the Independent drivers’ championship, with a four-point lead over Smiley.
NAPA’s Sam Osborne received a ten-second time penalty for track limits, dropping him from 13th to 19th at the chequered flag, whilst Chilton later pitted with a rear left puncture and was 20th.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 123 | I |  |
Daniel LLOYD | Restart Racing | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 25 | 27:10.741 | 57.287 | 4 |
| 2 | 1 | M | |
Jake HILL | Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | BMW 330i M Sport | 25 | 0.519 | 57.412 | 3 |
| 3 | 52 | M | |
Gordon SHEDDEN | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 25 | 1.367 | 57.623 | 2 |
| 4 | 18 | M | |
Senna PROCTOR | Team Vertu | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 25 | 1.701 | 57.456 | 6 |
| 5 | 66 | M | |
Josh COOK | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 25 | 2.389 | 57.644 | 5 |
| 6 | 16 | M | |
Aiden MOFFAT | LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR | BMW 330i M Sport | 25 | 2.672 | 57.539 | 8 |
| 7 | 80 | M | |
Tom INGRAM | Team Vertu | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 25 | 3.787 | 57.712 | 14 |
| 8 | 116 | M | |
Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 25 | 6.249 | 57.638 | 12 |
| 9 | 32 | M | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 25 | 6.972 | 57.632 | 7 |
| 10 | 33 | M | |
Adam MORGAN | Team Vertu | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 25 | 7.472 | 57.697 | 13 |
| 11 | 40 | M |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 25 | 10.046 | 58.164 | 10 |
| 12 | 27 | M | |
Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 25 | 11.043 | 58.093 | 21 |
| 13 | 2 | M |  |
Daryl DELEON | WSR | BMW 330i M Sport | 25 | 17.555 | 57.892 | 1 |
| 14 | 99 | M | |
Charles RAINFORD | LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR | BMW 330i M Sport | 25 | 19.395 | 57.839 | 9 |
| 15 | 22 | I | |
Chris SMILEY | Restart Racing | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 25 | 19.933 | 58.340 | 15 |
| 16 | 19 | M | |
Max BUXTON | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 25 | 20.772 | 58.297 | 16 |
| 17 | 17 | I | |
Dexter PATTERSON | ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport | CUPRA Leon | 25 | 21.045 | 58.549 | 18 |
| 18 | 50 | I | |
Nick HALSTEAD | Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing | CUPRA Leon | 25 | 21.871 | 58.737 | 22 |
| 19 | 77 | M | |
Sam OSBORNE | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 25 | 23.112 | 57.792 | 20 |
| 20 | 3 | M | |
Tom CHILTON | Team Vertu | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 24 | + 1 LAP | 57.847 | 19 |
| 21 | 88 | I | |
Mikey DOBLE | Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing | CUPRA Leon | 22 | + 3 LAPS | 57.723 | 11 |
| R | 28 | I | |
Nicolas HAMILTON | Powder Monkey Brewing Co with Esidock | CUPRA Leon | 16 | DNF | 58.550 | 17 |