Andy Priaulx claimed a first win since returning to the British Touring Car Championship, heading team-mates Sam Tordoff and Rob Collard for a West Surrey Racing 1-2-3.
The result, Priaulx’s second win in the championship and first in nearly 13 years, was West Surrey Racing’s first podium lockout in the BTCC.
It was Priaulx who got the better start as the race got underway, but polesitter Tordoff held his lead into Clervaux as Collard swept by Gordon Shedden into third.
The front three began to pull away in the early stages, with Shedden having to defend from the fast-starting Audi of Rob Austin, who had jumped Colin Turkington and Matt Neal off the line.
The decisive moment in the race came on lap six, when Tordoff made a small error on the exit of the chicane to allow Priaulx to close up, with the three-time World Champion completing a move up the inside into Tower bend.
And although Tordoff stayed with the Guernseyman for the remainder of the race, he was unable to retaliate as Priaulx brought his BMW home for a first victory in the series since Knockhill 2002.
Collard had threatened the leading pair for much of the race, but began to drop towards the end of the race with the soft tyres and came home a distant but welcome third, with Shedden putting in a sensible drive to claim fourth.
Fifth went to his team-mate Neal, who finished just in front of Andrew Jordan. Turkington had been set for fifth, but an issue on the final lap dropped him behind the duo, and forced him to fend off Tom Ingram to hold onto seventh, while Adam Morgan and Jack Goff completed the top ten.
Erstwhile championship leader Jason Plato was forced to join after the start of the race, and was make any progress, while newcomers Max Coates and Lewis Hamilton finished 21st and 25th respectively.
Race Two gets underway at 14:39 BST.
Points scoring result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 111 | C | Andy PRIAULX |  |
Team IHG Rewards Club | BMW 125i M Sport | 15 | 21:32.210 | 1:24.718 | 2 |
| 2 | 7 | C | Sam TORDOFF | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 15 | 0.764 | 1:24.590 | 1 |
| 3 | 6 | C | Rob COLLARD | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 15 | 5.77 | 1:25.033 | 4 |
| 4 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | 10.031 | 1:24.983 | 3 |
| 5 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | 21.25 | 1:25.774 | 6 |
| 6 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | |
MG 888 Racing | MG 6GT | 15 | 21.73 | 1:25.731 | 10 |
| 7 | 1 | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMR | Volkswagen CC | 15 | 23.344 | 1:24.992 | 5 | |
| 8 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 15 | 23.617 | 1:25.494 | 13 | |
| 9 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
WIX Racing | Mercedes Benz A-Class | 15 | 29.403 | 1:25.762 | 9 | |
| 10 | 31 | M | Jack GOFF | |
MG 888 Racing | MG 6GT | 15 | 34.136 | 1:25.813 | 8 |
| 11 | 40 | Árón SMITH |  |
Team BMR | Volkswagen CC | 15 | 34.191 | 1:25.656 | 11 | |
| 12 | 66 | Josh COOK | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 15 | 34.587 | 1:25.827 | 19 | |
| 13 | 101 | Rob AUSTIN | |
Exocet AlcoSense | Audi A4 | 15 | 34.801 | 1:25.115 | 7 | |
| 14 | 30 | Martin DEPPER | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic | 15 | 38.44 | 1:25.859 | 14 | |
| 15 | 17 | Dave NEWSHAM | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 15 | 39.287 | 1:26.141 | 20 |