Jason Plato commanded the first British Touring Car Championship race of the day at Snetterton, heading Colin Turkington home with Matt Neal completing the podium.
While there was plenty of action throughout the field, Plato was serene at the front as he led from lights-to-flag, finishing 1.924s ahead of Turkington, who was at least able to keep the MG driver honest.
Surprisingly, as the race got underway Plato maintained his lead ahead of the usually fast-starting BMW of Turkington, but while the field were safely able to negotiate Riches, Sam Tordoff found himself in trouble on the exit of the corner as he came of worst in an incident involving Neal and Alain Menu. Further down the order, Nick Foster appeared to be tapped into a spin by AmD Tuning’s Dave Newsham and limped back to the pits.
As the leading duo broke away at the front, Menu found himself in third after the opening lap incident with Neal and Tordoff, while Tom Ingram managed to work his way between the two champions after a good start. That lasted until lap three however, as Neal pounced on the Speedworks Toyota and set his sights on catching Menu.
It took just two more laps for the three-time champion to move into third, but it took a forceful move at Murrays from the Honda driver which put Menu on the back foot. With BMR Restart teammate Aron Smith having made his way past Ingram on the same lap, he cruised alongside Menu along the pit straight and the pair almost came to blows with the Swiss having to take avoiding action dangerously close to the pit wall. Their battle continued down to Montreal, but as they focused on each other Adam Morgan nipped up the inside of the pair of them into the hairpin.
After that frantic period in the race, things started to settle down, as Menu gradually eked out a lead over his teammate. Rob Austin, in his team’s 100th race, attempted to pass Glynn Geddie but the pair collided and the United Autosports driver dropped from 12th to 15th.
Back at the front, Plato was able to canter to the flag, setting a best time of 1:58.120s – just shy of Tordoff’s race lap record from 2013 – with Turkington claiming more valuable points to build his championship lead. Neal’s third place was his fifth podium of the season, but his first in nine races came as he had to hold off Morgan, who showed great pace to secure his best finish of the season.
Menu and Smith came home line astern in fifth and sixth, ahead of Gordon Shedden, who performed better than he had on Saturday but still lost ground to Turkington in the championship. Mat Jackson finished in eighth and Jack Goff and Rob Collard completed the top ten, but only after Tom Ingram was forced to retire from the race on the final lap as his wheel flew off.
That had repercussions for the final points paying position, as Ingram’s retirement allowed Rotek Racing’s Robb Holland to score his first point of the season and his team’s first in the championship. The American was forced to work hard for his position, but after a great start, a determined drive saw him keep the recovering Andrew Jordan at bay for the final three laps.
Race Two starts at 14:35 BST.
Top ten result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO |  |
MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save | MG6 | 12 | 23:50.060 | 1:58.120 | 1 |
| 2 | 5 | I | Colin TURKINGTON | |
eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 12 | 1.924 | 1:58.530 | 2 |
| 3 | 4 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Tourer | 12 | 14.185 | 1:59.210 | 4 |
| 4 | 33 | I | Adam MORGAN | |
WIX Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 12 | 15.194 | 1:58.874 | 8 |
| 5 | 9 | I | Alain MENU |  |
CHROME Edition Restart Racing | Volkswagen CC | 12 | 17.686 | 1:59.419 | 5 |
| 6 | 40 | I | Árón SMITH |  |
CHROME Edition Restart Racing | Volkswagen CC | 12 | 18.954 | 1:58.767 | 7 |
| 7 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Tourer | 12 | 19.59 | 1:58.839 | 11 |
| 8 | 6 | I | Mat JACKSON | |
Airwaves Racing | Ford Focus ST | 12 | 21.042 | 1:58.789 | 9 |
| 9 | 10 | I | Rob COLLARD | |
eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 12 | 21.337 | 1:59.226 | 19 |
| 10 | 31 | I | Jack GOFF | |
CHROME Edition Restart Racing | Volkswagen CC | 12 | 23.038 | 1:58.665 | 10 |