Ash Sutton may have had a nervous start but the championship leader’s speed was too much for the rest of the grid in the opening British Touring Car Championship race on the Donington Park Grand Prix circuit. The gap in the standings has thus opened to 44 points after the race.
Sutton did not have a great start initially dropping to third behind Tom Ingram and Ricky Collard. However, Sutton was simply too quick as the Ford had already taken back second place back after the exit of the Old Hairpin further around the opening tour.
One lap later Sutton would retake the lead throwing it down the inside at the Melbourne Loop and never looked back.
Ingram only just managed to hold on to second place managing the damage in the championship. The gap to Sutton grew to 7.178 seconds by the end of the race but the gap behind was only 0.049 seconds.
In third was the fast-charging Jake Hill. After starting ninth Hill came into his own come the second half of the race. The MB Motorsport driver was still seventh at the start of lap nine before slicing through the field a second a lap quicker in the later stages. The BMW driver picked off Josh Cook for sixth at the chicane on lap nine, Árón Taylor-Smith for fifth into McLeans a lap later and stable-mate Colin Turkington for fourth into Coppice on the lap after that.
Hill then completed four passes in four laps on lap 12 with a move on Ricky Collard at the chicane, before closing the gap to Ingram within a lap. Hill attempted to go around the outside of Ingram at the final corner but the Excelr8 driver shielded the BMW to retain second.
UPDATE: After the race the stewards considered the move to be unfair, saying Ingram “gained position on car 24 by not leaving a car’s width to the edge of the circuit” and penalised Ingram by half a second, dropping him to third and promoting Hill to second.
Toyota’s Collard finished fourth after a drastic setup placed him third on the grid for the start of the race. The launch was great at the start of the race but the pace of Sutton and Hill meant the Toyota Gazoo Racing UK driver fell to fourth.
Turkington was another driver to finish one place behind where they started thanks to the pace of Hill. The Team BMW driver was in behind Collard for the majority of the race only finishing 0.702 seconds behind.
Power Maxed Racing’s Árón Taylor-Smith started in fifth, but ultimately finished sixth. The Irishman dropped a position off the line but was quick to retake it in the Melbourne Loop.
Taylor-Smith would spend most of the race looking behind as One Motorsport’s Cook chased the Vauxhall down. Cook was unable to get past finishing 0.675 seconds behind. Once Hill got past on lap nine into the Fogarty Esses the race was solely focused on the Astra in front.
Dan Rowbottom made it two NAPA Racing UK Ford’s inside the top ten with a depleted three car display after Dan Cammish’s withdrawal. Rowbottom made some impressive moves passing Adam Morgan and Ronan Pearson on his way to eighth place.
Andrew Watson made it a second Power Maxed Racing car inside the top ten after making up three positions from the start. Watson was following the list of cars that followed teammate Taylor-Smith with none outside of a second behind the Irishman.
Rounding out the top ten was Tom Chilton. Making it both drivers who raced on the GP circuit the last time the championship raced there, along with Turkington, finishing inside the top 10. Chilton was in no mans land after a 6.656 second in front and 3.032 seconds behind.
All drivers finished the race, although Team HARD’s Jade Edwards was a lap down after coming into the pits early on.
Revised race results
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP | GD |
| 1 | 116 | M |  |
Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 14 | 24:26.799 | 1:43.189 | 1 |
| 2 | 24 | M | |
Jake HILL | Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 14 | 7.227 | 1:43.860 | 9 |
| 3 | 1 | M | |
Tom INGRAM | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 14 | 7.678 | 1:43.825 | 2 |
| 4 | 37 | M | |
Ricky COLLARD | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 14 | 8.934 | 1:43.942 | 3 |
| 5 | 4 | M | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 14 | 9.636 | 1:43.979 | 4 |
| 6 | 40 | I |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 14 | 11.987 | 1:44.052 | 5 |
| 7 | 66 | I | |
Josh COOK | One Motorsport with Starline Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 14 | 12.662 | 1:43.913 | 6 |
| 8 | 32 | M | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 14 | 13.229 | 1:44.604 | 10 |
| 9 | 11 | I | |
Andrew WATSON | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 14 | 14.010 | 1:44.469 | 12 |
| 10 | 3 | M | |
Tom CHILTON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 14 | 20.666 | 1:44.978 | 11 |
| 11 | 6 | M | |
Rory BUTCHER | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 14 | 23.698 | 1:44.753 | 14 |
| 12 | 33 | M | |
Adam MORGAN | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 14 | 25.616 | 1:45.190 | 7 |
| 13 | 42 | M | |
George GAMBLE | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 14 | 26.082 | 1:45.231 | 18 |
| 14 | 14 | M | |
Ronan PEARSON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 14 | 27.120 | 1:45.446 | 8 |
| 15 | 77 | M | |
Sam OSBORNE | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 14 | 28.058 | 1:45.217 | 15 |
| 16 | 88 | I | |
Mikey DOBLE | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 14 | 34.692 | 1:45.290 | 16 |
| 17 | 123 | I | |
Daniel LLOYD | Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils | CUPRA Leon | 14 | 35.120 | 1:45.259 | 17 |
| 18 | 16 | I | |
Aiden MOFFAT | One Motorsport with Starline Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 14 | 37.900 | 1:45.338 | 13 |
| 19 | 12 | M | |
Stephen JELLEY | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 14 | 38.057 | 1:44.771 | 20 |
| 20 | 777 | I | |
Michael CREES | Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils | CUPRA Leon | 14 | 39.120 | 1:44.795 | 19 |
| 21 | 17 | I | |
Dexter PATTERSON | Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD. | CUPRA Leon | 14 | 39.698 | 1:45.085 | 21 |
| 22 | 18 | I |  |
Daryl DELEON | Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD. | CUPRA Leon | 14 | 40.164 | 1:44.987 | 24 |
| 23 | 96 | I | |
Jack BUTEL | Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown | CUPRA Leon | 14 | 46.346 | 1:45.992 | 22 |
| 24 | 22 | M | |
Nick HALSTEAD | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 14 | 47.346 | 1:45.998 | 25 |
| 25 | 99 | I | |
Jade EDWARDS | One Motorsport with Starline Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 13 | + 1 LAP | 1:45.670 | 23 |