Colin Turkington canters to race one win at Brands Hatch

Team BMW’s Colin Turkington eased to victory in the opening British Touring Car Championship race at a hot and sunny Brands Hatch, with Josh Cook and Ash Sutton completing the podium.

Turkington converted his pole position into a lights-to-flag victory, being one of five drivers to run the soft tyre in the first race of the day.

Whilst the four-time champion held the lead at the start, team-mate Adam Morgan, who started alongside him on the front row of the grid, did not fare as well.

Morgan was second initially, but on the second lap he fell behind NAPA Racing UK’s Sutton on the run down the Cooper Straight. Morgan’s strife continued in the following laps, as NAPA’s Dan Cammish and Speedworks Motorsport’s Cook passed him on consecutive laps, leaving him fifth by the end of lap four.

Morgan lost three more places on lap five, and was defending from EXCELR8 Motorsport’s Ronan Pearson on lap seven when he made a late move to defend into Druids, resulting in contact between the pair which saw them brush the barriers on the inside.

Both drivers could continue, but Morgan dropped to 18^th and Pearson had to pit before returning to the race two laps down.

Further drama struck on lap eight as Cammish, on the soft tyre, slowed with a front-left puncture, making a pitstop for new rubber and dropping two laps down.

That promoted Sutton into second, with Cook just over half a second back. As the race progressed, Cook on the soft rubber began to pile the pressure onto the four-time champion ahead, and he passed Sutton for second on lap 15.

By this stage, Turkington was almost six seconds clear at the front and went on to score a comfortable first win of the season, ahead of Cook.

Sutton completed the podium, keeping him just two points shy of the summit of the drivers’ championship standings.

Toyota’s Andrew Watson was originally fourth, benefitting from the soft tyre and charging from seventh on the grid.

Having got past NAPA’s Daniel Rowbottom early on, Watson was later re-passed by the Ford driver and the duo enjoyed a fierce battle for fifth, benefitting from the demise of Morgan and Cammish.

The Northern Irishman then got by Rowbottom for good on lap 13 with a clean move into Paddock Hill bend to seal fourth place.

However, the Toyota driver was later handed a six-second penalty for contact with EXCELR8’s Tom Ingram, dropping him to eighth.

Laser Tools Racing’s Jake Hill, on the soft tyre, was fourth in the revised result, passing Rowbottom into Paddock seven laps from the finish, leaving Rowbottom to take fifth.

EXCELR8 duo Tom Chilton and Tom Ingram were sixth and seventh respectively, Chilton having actually dropped a place at the start before fighting back and passing team-mate Ingram on lap nine. After his penalty, Watson was eighth.

The top ten was completed by Speedworks’ Aiden Moffat, making up six places, and Power Maxed Racing’s Árón Taylor-Smith.

Taylor-Smith got by Toyota’s Rob Huff for the place on the penultimate lap, with Huff potentially dropping back to ensure he can run the soft tyre with full hybrid boost in the second race of the day.

Huff was thus 11^th, ahead of NAPA’s Sam Osborne, PMR’s Mikey Doble, Restart Racing’s Chris Smiley and BMW’s Morgan.

Unlimited Motorsport’s Daryl DeLeon was the only non-classified driver, after pitting with a differential issue, having earlier also had soem smoke emanating from his CUPRA for a period in an unrelated issue.

Race two is scheduled to get underway at 14:30 BST.

Revised race results*

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	20	M		Colin TURKINGTON	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	24	19:43.459	48.380	1
2	66	M		Josh COOK	LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	24	6.826	48.417	5
3	1	M		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	24	8.722	48.765	4
4	24	M		Jake HILL	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	BMW 330e M Sport	24	14.924	49.095	12
5	32	M		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	24	15.386	48.888	6
6	3	M		Tom CHILTON	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	24	19.342	48.960	10
7	80	M		Tom INGRAM	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	24	19.474	49.206	8
8	11	M		Andrew WATSON*	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	24	19.763*	48.769	7
9	16	M		Aiden MOFFAT	LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	24	20.669	49.330	15
10	40	I		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	24	27.024	49.226	14
11	12	M		Rob HUFF	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	24	27.632	49.176	11
12	77	M		Sam OSBORNE	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	24	27.999	49.325	17
13	88	I		Mikey DOBLE	Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	24	28.835	49.252	13
14	222	I		Chris SMILEY	Restart Racing	CUPRA Leon	24	30.546	49.322	16
15	33	M		Adam MORGAN	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	24	30.902	49.178	2
16	29	I		Scott SUMPTON	Restart Racing	CUPRA Leon	24	34.770	49.462	18
17	22	M		Nick HALSTEAD	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	24	39.532	49.965	20
18	27	M		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	22	+ 2 LAPS	48.476	3
19	14	M		Ronan PEARSON	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	22	+ 2 LAPS	49.212	9
NC	18	I		Daryl DELEON	Duckhams Racing with Bartercard	CUPRA Leon	20	NCF	49.641	19