BTC Racing’s Josh Cook was victorious in a slippery opening British Touring Car Championship race of the weekend at Brands Hatch, with the leading BMW’s struggling in the slightly wet conditions.
Rain before the start meant that almost all of the field elected to start the race on wet-weather rubber, but Toyota’s Rory Butcher, starting from ninth, elected to go for all-around slicks – which was nearly a disaster when he almost went into the barriers on the warm-up lap.
At the start, Turkington held the lead from WSR stable-mate Jake Hill, whilst Cook made a fast start to jump to fourth.
The Honda driver then held that place for half a dozen laps, before springing a move on Team BMW’s Stephen Jelley for third at the start of lap seven. At the same time, Hill was pressuring pole-sitter Colin Turkington for the lead, but the Northern Irishman staved off the attack before pulling clear in the following laps.
Cook continued to close in on Hill, who appeared to have a mid-race slump to fall back from challenging for the lead, and on lap 12 he took a tight line at Clearways to set himself up for a move on Hill at Paddock Hill Bend on the following lap, moving into second.
It only took Cook four laps to close down Turkington’s two-second lead and make a move for the lead at the first corner, with the BMWs clearly struggling on wet tyres as cook relished in the conditions.
Excelr8 Motorsport’s Tom Ingram was caught up in some early race battles with the Ciceley Motorsport BMWs, before settling into fourth, which became third on lap 19 when he followed Hill past Turkington at Clearways.
Hill then ran wide through the gravel at Paddock Hill Bend three laps later, gifting Ingram second to allow him to extend his championship lead.
The podium was completed by NAPA Racing UK’s Dan Cammish, who was battling in the lower half of the top ten early in the race before gaining pace as the race came to a close.
Hill slipped to fourth on the penultimate lap, and fifth would have gone to Butcher, but the Scot went wide at Clearways on the last lap and dropped two places.
That meant Turkington could claim fifth, ahead of Ciceley’s Adam Morgan in sixth.
Butcher took the chequered flag in seventh – up from his grid position – ahead of Team Dynamics’ Gordon Shedden in eighth.
The top ten was completed by NAPA Racing’s Ash Sutton, who made up nine places with strong race pace, and the second Dynamics Honda of Daniel Rowbottom.
All 29 drivers finished the race, with only rookie Will Powell not on the lead lap after the Team HARD driver started from the pitlane.
Race two is scheduled to get underway at 14:10 BST.
Race results
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP | GD |
| 1 | 66 | I |  |
Josh COOK | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 24 | 21:44.124 | 52.218 | 5 |
| 2 | 80 | M | |
Tom INGRAM | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 24 | 0.802 | 52.413 | 6 |
| 3 | 9 | M | |
Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 24 | 4.209 | 52.330 | 8 |
| 4 | 24 | M | |
Jake HILL | ROKiT MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 24 | 5.037 | 52.109 | 2 |
| 5 | 50 | M | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 24 | 7.691 | 53.027 | 1 |
| 6 | 33 | I | |
Adam MORGAN | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 24 | 10.120 | 52.882 | 4 |
| 7 | 6 | M | |
Rory BUTCHER | Toyota GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 24 | 10.848 | 49.515 | 9 |
| 8 | 52 | M | |
Gordon SHEDDEN | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type R | 24 | 11.670 | 52.983 | 11 |
| 9 | 1 | M | |
Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 24 | 12.509 | 52.654 | 18 |
| 10 | 32 | M | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type R | 24 | 14.385 | 52.831 | 10 |
| 11 | 97 | I | |
Ash HAND | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 24 | 15.034 | 52.803 | 13 |
| 12 | 777 | I | |
Michael CREES | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 24 | 15.344 | 52.729 | 17 |
| 13 | 3 | M | |
Tom CHILTON | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 24 | 15.459 | 52.605 | 12 |
| 14 | 42 | I | |
George GAMBLE | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 24 | 16.222 | 52.600 | 7 |
| 15 | 123 | M | |
Daniel LLOYD | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 24 | 17.661 | 52.531 | 16 |
| 16 | 19 | I | |
Bobby THOMPSON | Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero | CUPRA Leon | 24 | 19.664 | 52.932 | 19 |
| 17 | 11 | I | |
Jason PLATO | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 24 | 20.553 | 52.740 | 22 |
| 18 | 99 | I | |
Jade EDWARDS | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 24 | 28.181 | 52.725 | 25 |
| 19 | 96 | M | |
Jack BUTEL | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 24 | 28.884 | 52.685 | 27 |
| 20 | 12 | M | |
Stephen JELLEY | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 24 | 29.631 | 53.659 | 3 |
| 21 | 40 | I |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing | CUPRA Leon | 24 | 34.740 | 52.985 | 24 |
| 22 | 16 | I | |
Aiden MOFFAT | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 24 | 35.759 | 53.860 | 20 |
| 23 | 48 | M | |
Ollie JACKSON | Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan | Ford Focus ST | 24 | 35.985 | 54.026 | 23 |
| 24 | 77 | M | |
Sam OSBORNE | Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan | Ford Focus ST | 24 | 36.219 | 53.230 | 21 |
| 25 | 17 | I | |
Dexter PATTERSON | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 24 | 36.748 | 53.734 | 15 |
| 26 | 21 | M | |
Ricky COLLARD | Toyota GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 24 | 40.999 | 53.615 | 14 |
| 27 | 28 | I | |
Nicolas HAMILTON | Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing | CUPRA Leon | 24 | 47.763 | 53.879 | 26 |
| 28 | 62 | I | |
Rick PARFITT JR | Uptonsteel with Euro Car Parts Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 24 | 48.505 | 53.789 | 28 |
| 29 | 20 | I | |
Will POWELL | Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero | CUPRA Leon | 23 | 1 Lap | 52.344 | 29 |