Mat Jackson took a dominant win in the first British Touring Car Championship race at Silverstone, ahead of Triple Eight Racing’s Andrew Jordan and championship leader Gordon Shedden.
Motorbase driver Jackson led away from the start and was never challenged from behind as he cruised to victory by 2.138s ahead of Jordan, who had jumped Shedden on the second lap.
Despite losing that position, Shedden’s bid for a second BTCC crown was boosted by a late retirement for closest rival Jason Plato, who suffered a front-left tyre puncture on the penultimate lap and retired from the race.
Jackson left Shedden reeling off the line as the Honda driver was forced to defend from a fast-starting Sam Tordoff, who then dropped down the order after running wide onto the Wellington straight.
As Jackson raced clear in his Ford Focus, Jordan succeeded where Tordoff had failed a lap later as he snuck up the inside of Shedden through Becketts to snatch second.
And though Shedden, on harder tyres, came back towards the leading duo in the closing stages, the top three remained in formation as Jackson claimed a second win in as many race weekends – while also sealing pole position for the second race with a new lap record.
Dave Newsham just missed out on a podium in his Power Maxed Racing Chevrolet Cruze but nevertheless recorded his best finish of the season after a brusque move on Tordoff, who finished in tenth.
Colin Turkington was the best-placed of the Team BMR cars in sixth, just ahead of team-mate Aron Smith. A charging Rob Collard came home seventh in his West Surrey Racing BMW 125i, ahead of Matt Neal and Tom Ingram.
Race two gets underway at 14:32 BST.
Points scoring result
POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
1 | 4 | Mat JACKSON | Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus | 22 | 21:47.275 | 58.464 | 1 | ||
2 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | MG 888 Racing | MG 6GT | 22 | 2.138 | 58.587 | 4 | |
3 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 22 | 2.325 | 58.601 | 2 | |
4 | 17 | Dave NEWSHAM | Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 22 | 2.665 | 58.767 | 5 | ||
5 | 1 | Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMR RCIB Insurance | Volkswagen CC | 22 | 2.848 | 58.742 | 6 | ||
6 | 40 | Árón SMITH | Team BMR RCIB Insurance | Volkswagen CC | 22 | 3.095 | 58.563 | 8 | ||
7 | 6 | C | Rob COLLARD | Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 22 | 4.099 | 58.624 | 12 | |
8 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 22 | 4.355 | 58.713 | 11 | |
9 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 22 | 4.597 | 58.839 | 7 | ||
10 | 7 | C | Sam TORDOFF | Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 22 | 8.014 | 58.627 | 3 | |
11 | 101 | Rob AUSTIN | Exocet AlcoSense | Audi A4 | 22 | 10.143 | 58.913 | 14 | ||
12 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | WIX Racing | Mercedes Benz A-Class | 22 | 12.265 | 59.025 | 13 | ||
13 | 30 | Martin DEPPER | Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic | 22 | 13.312 | 59.046 | 21 | ||
14 | 66 | Josh COOK | Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 22 | 13.768 | 58.991 | 16 | ||
15 | 21 | Mike BUSHELL | AmD Tuning.com | Ford Focus | 22 | 15.184 | 58.890 | 15 |