Colin Turkington took his third British Touring Car Championship victory of the season in the opening race of the day at Oulton Park, beating home teammate Rob Collard and Jason Plato.
The result means that Turkington and Gordon Shedden – who finished fourth – now sit at the top of the championship standings, after previous leader Andrew Jordan endured a frustrating opening race.
In an unusually quiet affair for the series, the majority of finishing positions were determined after the opening lap as Turkington and Collard romped away at the front, the latter utilising a fast-start to jump Plato and Shedden, while Rob Austin was also able to move up into fifth in his Audi.
There was some drama on the opening tour, as Warren Scott and Hunter Abbott collided at Hislops and spun, while Chris Stockton slowed in his Chevrolet Cruze on track and was forced to retire. Aiden Moffat also retired his Cruze on the first lap after his best qualifying performance, with Ollie Jackson exiting the race on the second lap.
Although Collard briefly applied pressure to his teammate at the front, the gaps slowly increased from the middle of the race, as the West Surrey Racing pair were able to control their pace, with Jason Plato relegated to a watching brief in third.
WIX Racing’s Adam Morgan did his best to keep the Oulton Park crowd entertained, first passing Jack Clarke on the run to Old Hall, before getting by James Cole into Lodge, as he progressed to 18th after his qualifying off.
Having set the fastest lap of the race, Turkington eventually cantered to the flag, coming home 2.692s ahead of Collard, with a further six seconds covering Plato, Shedden and Austin.
MG’s Sam Tordoff and Airwaves Racing’s Mat Jackson had lonely but useful runs to sixth and seventh, with eBay Motors’ Nick Foster, Speedworks Motorsport’s Tom Ingram and Quantel BiFold’s Marc Hynes completing the top ten, the latter taking his best result in the series so far.
But for Andrew Jordan and Matt Neal, the opening race served a blow to their title ambitions as they languished in the lower reaches of the points. Neal retained his 14th place gridslot, overtaking Jordan off the line but relinquishing a place to Alain Menu. Neal looked increasingly frustrated with his standing, and after two looks into Shell Oils at getting past, he made his move on the final lap into Old Hall to salvage a further point for 13th, with Jordan taking the final points spot.
Race Two gets underway at 14:29 BST.
Top ten result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP | GD |
| 1 | 5 | I | Colin TURKINGTON |  |
eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 12 | 20:49.803 | 1:43.363 | 1 |
| 2 | 10 | I | Rob COLLARD | |
eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 12 | 2.692 | 1:43.367 | 4 |
| 3 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save | MG6 | 12 | 5.429 | 1:43.590 | 2 |
| 4 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Tourer | 12 | 7.628 | 1:43.485 | 3 |
| 5 | 101 | I | Rob AUSTIN | |
Exocet Racing | Audi A4 | 12 | 8.357 | 1:43.825 | 6 |
| 6 | 88 | M | Sam TORDOFF | |
MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save | MG6 | 12 | 12.275 | 1:43.939 | 5 |
| 7 | 6 | I | Mat JACKSON | |
Airwaves Racing | Ford Focus ST | 12 | 13.378 | 1:44.027 | 7 |
| 8 | 18 | I | Nick FOSTER | |
eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 12 | 18.194 | 1:44.358 | 10 |
| 9 | 80 | I | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 12 | 19.471 | 1:44.481 | 9 |
| 10 | 888 | M | Marc HYNES | |
Quantel Bifold Racing | MG6 | 12 | 19.81 | 1:44.575 | 8 |