Power Maxed Racing continued a strong start to the 2018 British Touring Car Championship with victory in the opening race at Donington Park, courtesy of first-time winner Josh Cook.
Cook was briefly bested by the BTC Norlin Honda of Chris Smiley at Redgate on the opening tour of the circuit, but re-claimed the advantage heading down the Craner Curves and from there was never headed.
The theme of ‘firsts’ continued as Dan Cammish took his maiden podium for Halfords Yuasa Racing – and the first for the new Honda Civic Type R FK8 on domestic shores – with Aiden Moffat’s Mercedes A-Class rounding out the podium.
Front-row starter Smiley waned in the opening third of the race and ultimately came home seventh after being passed by Sam Tordoff, Brett Smith, James Cole and Matt Neal in succession.
The latter three filled positions fourth through sixth respectively at the chequered flag, though Tordoff was forced to retire from third with a mechanical problem in the dying embers.
Senna Proctor put in an impressive drive in the ballast-laden second Vauxhall to move from 15th to eighth.
Tom Oliphant was next, with Colin Turkington recovering after being pitched into a spin by Proctor down the Craners to round out the top ten in the BMW 125i M Sport.
Team-mate Rob Collard was 11th ahead of reigning champion Ash Sutton, the quickest of the Team BMR-run Subarus with Jason Plato 25th via the grass and Price 26th.
Both Jack Goff and Tom Ingram struggled on both the hard tyre and heaviest quotas of success ballast to 13th and 14th respectively.
The Alfa Romeo Giulietta of Rob Austin rounded out the points paying positions in 15th.
The second race gets underway at 14:40.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 66 | M | Josh COOK |  |
Power Maxed TAG Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 16 | 19:02.642 | 1:10.311 | 1 |
| 2 | 27 | M | Dan CAMMISH | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 3.449 | 1:10.682 | 4 |
| 3 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 16 | 5.520 | 1:10.462 | 5 | |
| 4 | 39 | Brett SMITH | |
WIX Racing with Eurotech | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 6.105 | 1:10.475 | 9 | |
| 5 | 20 | James COLE | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 16 | 11.642 | 1:10.658 | 12 | |
| 6 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 13.489 | 1:10.586 | 17 |
| 7 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 16.971 | 1:11.013 | 2 | |
| 8 | 18 | M | Senna PROCTOR | |
Power Maxed TAG Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 16 | 17.176 | 1:10.880 | 15 |
| 9 | 15 | Tom OLIPHANT | |
Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 16 | 17.995 | 1:10.821 | 10 | |
| 10 | 2 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 16 | 18.464 | 1:10.477 | 11 |
| 11 | 5 | M | Rob COLLARD | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 16 | 18.844 | 1:10.536 | 25 |
| 12 | 1 | M | Ashley SUTTON | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 16 | 24.430 | 1:11.214 | 22 |
| 13 | 31 | Jack GOFF | |
WIX Racing with Eurotech | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 24.568 | 1:11.529 | 6 | |
| 14 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 16 | 25.090 | 1:11.538 | 16 | |
| 15 | 11 | Rob AUSTIN | |
DUO Motorsport with HMS Racing | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 16 | 25.466 | 1:11.421 | 20 | |
| 16 | 12 | Tom BOARDMAN | |
AmD with AutoAid / RCIB Insurance Racing | MG 6 | 16 | 25.896 | 1:10.990 | 29 | |
| 17 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing | Volkswagen CC | 16 | 32.319 | 1:11.201 | 31 | |
| 18 | 14 | James NASH | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 32.778 | 1:11.649 | 7 | |
| 19 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmD with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 16 | 33.948 | 1:11.265 | 27 | |
| 20 | 19 | Bobby THOMPSON | |
Team HARD. with Trade Price Cars | Volkswagen CC | 16 | 34.207 | 1:11.278 | 24 | |
| 21 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 16 | 34.209 | 1:10.775 | 30 |
| 22 | 6 | Rory BUTCHER | |
AmD with AutoAid / RCIB Insurance Racing | MG 6 | 16 | 34.382 | 1:11.166 | 19 | |
| 23 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
MAC Tools with Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 16 | 34.610 | 1:11.571 | 13 | |
| 24 | 44 | Michael CAINE | |
Team HARD. with Trade Price Cars | Volkswagen CC | 16 | 35.287 | 1:11.677 | 32 | |
| 25 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 16 | 36.096 | 1:11.155 | 21 |
| 26 | 28 | Josh PRICE | |
Autoglym Academy Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 16 | 36.791 | 1:11.522 | 26 | |
| 27 | 21 | Mike BUSHELL | |
Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing | Volkswagen CC | 16 | 44.410 | 1:10.858 | 28 | |
| 28 | 23 | Sam SMELT | |
AmD with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 16 | 45.900 | 1:11.597 | 18 | |
| 29 | 3 | Tom CHILTON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 16 | 55.721 | 1:10.174 | 8 | |
| 30 | 60 | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 15 | + 1 LAP | 1:11.685 | 23 | |
| 31 | 303 | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 14 | + 2 LAPS | 1:10.511 | 14 | |
| R | 600 | Sam TORDOFF | |
Team GardX Racing with Motorbase | Ford Focus RS | 10 | DNF | 1:10.338 | 3 |