Colin Turkington took the victory in the final British Touring Car Championship race of the day at Brands Hatch, heading WSR stable-mate Jake Hill in a BMW 1-2.
Excelr8 Motorsport’s Tom Chilton had earlier secured the pole position for the partially-reversed race, after the top 12 from race two were randomly selected to be reversed.
Chilton lead the opening six laps of the race, although four of those were held behind the safety car after BTC Racing’s Jason Plato locked up at Druids on the first lap and speared straight on into the barriers.
At the restart on lap six, it soon became clear that the leading Hyundai lacked the pace to hold on to the lead, and at the end of lap seven, with hybrid boost available, Turkington got a better run along the start straight and passed Chilton around the outside into Paddock Hill bend.
Thereafter, Turkington, with near-full boost available after finishing race two in tenth, was able to open up a comfortable margin over the chasing pack, although he did lose his leading margin near the end of the race thanks to a late-race safety car intervention.
That intervention was because Chilton, who had already slipped further down the order and pitted to try slicks, had skated off the circuit at Clearways and beached his i30 in the gravel trap, requiring recovery before racing could continue.
The race restarted with five laps to go and Turkington opened up his advantage to over a second to claim his first win of the season, ahead of MB Motorsport’s Hill.
Hill had launched himself from sixth on the grid up to fourth at the start, but his immediate progress was baulked by Turkington ahead.
The BMW driver passed Team HARD’s Bobby Thompson, who started alongside Chilton on the front row, for third on the ninth lap with a good exit from Clearways, before gaining another place to second with Chilton’s demise.
However, Hill couldn’t close down Turkington and had to settle for his second visit to the podium this season.
Thompson completed the podium, earning his first-ever visit to the rostrum and only the second podium for the CUPRA Leon.
Excelr8’s Tom Ingram was fourth, unable to find a way past Thompson late in the race, ahead of Toyota’s Rory Butcher in fifth.
NAPA Racing’s Ash Sutton took sixth, following Butcher past George Gamble on lap 15 to claim the position, with Ciceley Motorsport’s Gamble having to settle for seventh – his fourth top ten finish out of six BTCC starts to-date.
BTC Racing’s earlier double winner Josh Cook was eighth, making up four places from his grid position, whilst the top ten was completed by Excelr8’s Daniel Lloyd and NAPA Racing’s Dan Cammish.
After his crash in race two, Power Maxed Racing’s Michael Crees did not take the start due to a damaged rollcage.
Leaving Brands Hatch, Ingram sits atop the drivers’ standings with 92 points, followed by Cook (84), Sutton (71) and Hill and Turkington (both on 69).
The next event takes place at Thruxton in two weeks’ time.
Race results
POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP | GD |
1 | 50 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 27 | 26:45.566 | 54.071 | 3 | |
2 | 24 | M | Jake HILL | ROKiT MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 27 | 1.181 | 54.321 | 6 | |
3 | 19 | I | Bobby THOMPSON | Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero | CUPRA Leon | 27 | 5.198 | 54.656 | 2 | |
4 | 80 | M | Tom INGRAM | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 27 | 5.808 | 54.671 | 8 | |
5 | 6 | M | Rory BUTCHER | Toyota GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 27 | 6.186 | 54.683 | 10 | |
6 | 1 | M | Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 27 | 6.488 | 54.804 | 9 | |
7 | 42 | I | George GAMBLE | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 27 | 7.031 | 54.574 | 4 | |
8 | 66 | I | Josh COOK | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 27 | 8.256 | 54.658 | 12 | |
9 | 123 | M | Daniel LLOYD | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 27 | 9.062 | 54.927 | 5 | |
10 | 9 | M | Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 27 | 9.543 | 54.571 | 11 | |
11 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type R | 27 | 11.783 | 54.813 | 7 | |
12 | 48 | M | Ollie JACKSON | Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan | Ford Focus ST | 27 | 12.012 | 55.025 | 14 | |
13 | 12 | M | Stephen JELLEY | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 27 | 12.276 | 55.241 | 18 | |
14 | 33 | I | Adam MORGAN | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 27 | 12.336 | 54.427 | 28 | |
15 | 16 | I | Aiden MOFFAT | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 27 | 14.014 | 54.769 | 24 | |
16 | 40 | I | Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing | CUPRA Leon | 27 | 14.777 | 55.203 | 16 | |
17 | 99 | I | Jade EDWARDS | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 27 | 15.000 | 55.330 | 15 | |
18 | 77 | M | Sam OSBORNE | Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan | Ford Focus ST | 27 | 15.927 | 55.215 | 20 | |
19 | 96 | M | Jack BUTEL | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 27 | 16.152 | 55.328 | 19 | |
20 | 21 | M | Ricky COLLARD | Toyota GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 27 | 17.075 | 55.229 | 17 | |
21 | 97 | I | Ash HAND | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 27 | 17.940 | 55.003 | 25 | |
22 | 32 | M | Daniel ROWBOTTOM | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type R | 27 | 18.645 | 54.975 | 27 | |
23 | 17 | I | Dexter PATTERSON | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 27 | 21.977 | 55.020 | 26 | |
24 | 28 | I | Nicolas HAMILTON | Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing | CUPRA Leon | 27 | 25.229 | 55.447 | 21 | |
25 | 20 | I | Will POWELL | Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero | CUPRA Leon | 26 | 1 Lap | 55.735 | 23 | |
R | 3 | M | Tom CHILTON | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 15 | 12 Laps | 54.279 | 1 | |
R | 62 | I | Rick PARFITT JR | Uptonsteel with Euro Car Parts Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 13 | 14 Laps | 55.585 | 22 | |
R | 11 | I | Jason PLATO | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 0 | DNF | N/A | 13 | |
NS | 777 | I | Michael CREES | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | – | DNS | N/A | – |