Two hours later than planned, EXCELR8 Motorsport’s Tom Ingram claimed victory in the opening British Touring Car Championship race of the season at Donington Park, which saw more than half of the laps completed behind the safety car.
The race had been significantly delayed due to overnight and morning rain at Donington Park, resulting in numerous track inspections as officials waited for conditions to improve, in particular at the Old Hairpin.
More than two hours later than originally scheduled the race got underway on a damp circuit, all drivers using wet tyres, with Ingram defending from Team BMW’s Colin Turkington into the first corner.
Turkington then lost out to Laser Tools Racing’s Hill on the run through the Craner Curves, and ultimately to Sutton, who had dropped to fourth at the start, on the run up to McLeans.
Further back there was contact between NAPA Racing UK’s Sam Osborne and Power Maxed Racing’s Árón Taylor-Smith at the Craner Curves.
That pitched Osborne off the circuit, sending him heavily into the tyre barriers and requiring the safety car to neutralise the race.
As the barrier repairs took place, the laps ticked by behind the safety car, with the issue compounded by a marshal reportedly picking up an injury during the repair process.
After 14 laps behind the safety car, racing resumed for a six-lap sprint to the finish, which Ingram was able to control to record a 28th victory in the BTCC by a margin of more than two seconds.
NAPA Racing UK’s Sutton got by Hill on lap eight into the chicane to secure the runner-up spot, with Hill completing the podium, as Turkington was unable to recover any ground on warmer tyres later in the race and took the chequered flag in fourth.
EXCELR8’s Ronan Pearson had a consistent race to fifth, ahead of the leading Toyota of Speedworks’ Josh Cook in sixth.
Cook had fought past Toyota’s Andrew Watson for sixth at the Old Hairpin on the first lap of the restart, and ultimately the latter would slip down the order as the race drew to its conclusion.
Taylor-Smith brought his Vauxhall home in seventh, ahead of the charging BMW of Adam Morgan in eighth. However, Morgan was later penalised for moving before the five-second board was shown at the start, having ten seconds added to his time and dropping him to 14th.
NAPA’s Dan Cammish, Speedworks’ Aiden Moffat and Toyota’s Andrew Watson completed the top ten, both charging through the field from the penultimate row of the grid.
Scot Moffat had nipped past stable-mate Watson for the then final top ten place going into the chicane on the final lap, leaving Watson to take an initial 11th, which became tenth after Morgan’s penalty.
It proved to be another challenging session for Toyota’s Rob Huff. The Speedworks driver had worked his way up to 14th by the second lap of the restart, but on lap 18 NAPA’s Daniel Rowbottom got into the back of PMR’s Mikey Doble at the Old Hairpin, in turn biffing Huff into the gravel.
Huff dropped to last, whilst Rowbottom suffered a loose bonnet, for which he had to pit to be secured down.
Although Rowbottom rejoined, his bonnet came loose a second time and he failed to finish the race.
Race two is now scheduled to take place at 15:50 BST on the revised timetable.
Revised race results
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP | GD |
| 1 | 80 | M |  |
Tom INGRAM | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 21 | 32:23.071 | 1:15.177 | 1 |
| 2 | 1 | M | |
Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 21 | 2.485 | 1:15.642 | 2 |
| 3 | 24 | M | |
Jake HILL | Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 21 | 4.239 | 1:15.492 | 4 |
| 4 | 20 | M | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 21 | 8.148 | 1:16.066 | 3 |
| 5 | 14 | M | |
Ronan PEARSON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 21 | 9.153 | 1:16.518 | 5 |
| 6 | 66 | M | |
Josh COOK | LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 21 | 11.511 | 1:16.771 | 8 |
| 7 | 40 | I |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 21 | 13.249 | 1:17.085 | 7 |
| 8 | 27 | M | |
Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 21 | 14.382 | 1:16.315 | 17 |
| 9 | 16 | M | |
Aiden MOFFAT | LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 21 | 19.036 | 1:17.457 | 18 |
| 10 | 11 | M | |
Andrew WATSON | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 21 | 19.488 | 1:17.689 | 6 |
| 11 | 3 | M | |
Tom CHILTON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 21 | 20.750 | 1:17.163 | 13 |
| 12 | 88 | I | |
Mikey DOBLE | Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 21 | 23.198 | 1:17.646 | 10 |
| 13 | 18 | I |  |
Daryl DELEON | Duckhams Racing with Bartercard | CUPRA Leon | 21 | 23.666 | 1:18.392 | 9 |
| 14 | 33 | M | |
Adam MORGAN | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 21 | 23.876* | 1:16.845 | 16 |
| 15 | 222 | I | |
Chris SMILEY | Restart Racing | CUPRA Leon | 21 | 24.629 | 1:18.484 | 12 |
| 16 | 22 | M | |
Nick HALSTEAD | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 21 | 26.388 | 1:18.426 | 19 |
| 17 | 29 | I | |
Scott SUMPTON | Restart Racing | CUPRA Leon | 21 | 27.047 | 1:18.499 | 15 |
| 18 | 12 | M | |
Rob HUFF | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 21 | 27.259 | 1:17.201 | 20 |
| 19 | 32 | M | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 20 | + 1 LAP | 1:17.404 | 14 |
| R | 77 | M | |
Sam OSBORNE | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 0 | DNF | N/A | 11 |