The opening race at Brands Hatch delivered its fair share of action as Alex Ley took the first victory of the day around the Indy circuit during the final weekend of the TCR UK season.
Starting third on the grid, Ley managed to sneak into the lead of the race once early leader Chris Smiley was wrong-footed by a backmarker.
“One of the other cars was coming out of the pitlane and they came across the circuit. It put me in a vulnerable position out of druids and the other cars got past,” calmly explained Smiley.
Ley had a similarly matter-of-fact tone about the whole affair saying “I went for a move around the outside and there was a bit of contact but it’s racing at the end of the day.”
The reason for Smiley’s calm was perhaps because the move wouldn’t matter anyway as after holding off third-place man Callum Newsham for several laps, Smiley would retire with power steering issues as a result of a suspected electrical gremlin.
After being set free, Newsham would comfortably come across the line in second with Adam Shepherd following him home in third after starting from eighth on the grid. However, Shepherd needed more points to keep his championship hopes alive, and with Carl Boardley finishing right behind, Shepherd’s bid was over.
Boardley in fourth had a relatively calm race however as it turned out this was by strategy rather than coincidence.
“I got a reasonable start,” said Boardley. “We set the car up so that it would stay good to the end but then Adam got a bit racy so I was like ‘Through you come’ and let’s see what we’ve got pace-wise.
“But when you know what to do before you go out, it’s one of them. I didn’t want the championship to go to the second race if we could make it happen in Race One.”
The Audi RS3 of Joe Marshall completed the race in fifth and Jenson Brickley brought the brightly-coloured Cupra Leon home in sixth.
Brickley was actually on pole for the race but a technical fault caused him to start from the pitlane. He set multiple fastest laps during the race as he battled through the pack and finished just over a second off the podium.
Completing the top ten were Jac Constable, Bruce Winfield, Oliver Cottam, and Brad Hutchison meaning that this will be the top four on the grid for the final reverse grid race of the year.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 76 |  |
Alex LEY | Area Motorsport with Daniel James | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 28 | 25:04.794 | 49.017 | 3 | |
| 2 | 16 | |
Callum NEWSHAM | JH Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 28 | 3.113 | 48.976 | 2 | |
| 3 | 117 | |
Adam SHEPHERD | Area Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 28 | 8.398 | 49.368 | 7 | |
| 4 | 41 | |
Carl BOARDLEY | CBM with Hart GT | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 28 | 8.652 | 49.251 | 5 | |
| 5 | 99 | |
Joe MARSHALL | Rob Boston Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 28 | 9.175 | 49.195 | 6 | |
| 6 | 246 | |
Jenson BRICKLEY | Jenson Brickley Racing | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 28 | 9.406 | 48.785 | 1 | |
| 7 | 11 | |
Jac CONSTABLE | Rob Boston Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 28 | 9.891 | 49.220 | 8 | |
| 8 | 37 | |
Bruce WINFIELD | Area Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 28 | 10.617 | 49.274 | 11 | |
| 9 | 98 | |
Oliver COTTAM | Paul Sheard Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 28 | 12.271 | 49.049 | 9 | |
| 10 | 17 | |
Bradley HUTCHISON | BOND IT with MPHR | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 28 | 15.222 | 49.465 | 14 | |
| 11 | 115 | |
Luke SARGEANT | Area Motorsport | Hyundai Elantra N TCR | 28 | 22.966 | 49.614 | 13 | |
| 12 | 72 | |
Rick KERRY | Team AFM Racing | CUPRA TCR | 28 | 25.318 | 49.902 | 17 | |
| 13 | 31 | |
Matthew WILSON | JWB Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 28 | 25.575 | 49.809 | 16 | |
| 14 | 14 | |
Andy WILMOT | Rob Boston Racing | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 27 | + 1 LAP | 49.228 | 12 | |
| 15 | 19 | |
Jeffrey ALDEN | Matrix Motorsport with DW Racing | Opel Astra TCR | 26 | + 2 LAPS | 50.966 | 21 | |
| R | 1 | |
Chris SMILEY | Restart Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FL5 TCR | 23 | DNF | 49.134 | 4 | |
| R | 50 | |
Darelle WILSON | DW Racing | Vauxhall Astra TCR | 23 | DNF | 50.192 | 15 | |
| R | 27 | |
Scott SUMPTON | Restart Racing | Honda Civic Type-R FK7 TCR | 10 | DNF | 49.402 | 10 | |
| R | 28 | |
George JAXON | JWB Motorsport with Trade Nation | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 9 | DNF | 51.571 | 19 | |
| R | 77 | |
Mark SMITH | Richmond Fire Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 8 | DNF | 51.069 | 20 | |
| NS | 223 | |
Garry TOWNSEND | Townsend Motorsport | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | – | DNS | N/A | 18 |