Callum Newsham kept his TCR UK title chances alive with a last-gasp victory in the opening race at Silverstone, stealing victory from Adam Shepherd with a last-corner move.
Newsham had earlier qualified his Hyundai on pole position from Shepherd, but when the lights went out a slow start saw the CUPRA driver assume the lead.
Newsham, however, kept Shepherd honest throughout the race, with third-placed Bradley Hutchison also closely following in his CUPRA for the opening laps.
The leading Hyundai and CUPRA soon broke free at the front, however, and it looked like Shepherd was finally going to get a first win since the summer, before the final corner.
Newsham had a slight look under braking for Club, but it was a mistake from Shepherd which gave him the lead, going too deep into the corner and allowing Newsham to cut back on the inside, as he then made the short sprint to the chequered flag to claim victory.
Shepherd’s mistake was small, allowing him to finish second, whilst third-placed Hutchison was a distant 16 seconds adrift.
Reigning champion Carl Boardley took fourth, having made a good start to assume the place away from the line, although series rookie Ryan Bensley kept him honest in the closing minutes.
Bensley was an impressive fifth on his début in the Lynk & Co, whilst JH Racing’s Alistair Camp took sixth on his return to the series in which he was a race winner last year.
Darron Lewis was seventh, whilst Luke Sargeant brought the field’s only Audi home in eighth.
Steve Laidlaw had been running in an impressive seventh in the new CUPRA Leon VZ TCR, having had to start from the back due to a penalty for a change of car, but he retired from the race on lap 12 with an issue.
His son Sam came through to take ninth in the first finish for the new CUPRA, with JW Bird Motorsport’s Matthew Wilson completing the top ten.
The championship fight remains open going into Sunday’s final two races of the season, with Boardley leading on 557 points ahead of Hutchison (516) and Newsham (510).
Race two is scheduled to get underway at 13:35 BST on Sunday.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 16 |  |
Callum NEWSHAM | JH Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 18 | 20:18.963 | 1:07.041 | 1 | |
| 2 | 117 | |
Adam SHEPHERD | Area Motorsport with Shepherd Motors | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 18 | 0.590 | 1:06.838 | 2 | |
| 3 | 17 | |
Bradley HUTCHISON | BOND IT with MPHR | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 18 | 16.099 | 1:07.960 | 4 | |
| 4 | 1 | |
Carl BOARDLEY | CBM with Hart GT | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 18 | 19.009 | 1:07.987 | 6 | |
| 5 | 111 | |
Ryan BENSLEY | Motion Motorsport | Lynk & Co 03 TCR | 18 | 19.293 | 1:07.450 | 5 | |
| 6 | 45 | |
Alistair CAMP | JH Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 18 | 24.024 | 1:07.355 | 3 | |
| 7 | 285 | |
Darron LEWIS | DLR with JH Racing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 18 | 24.645 | 1:07.745 | 7 | |
| 8 | 115 | |
Luke SARGEANT | RS Vehicle Sales | Audi RS3 LMS TCR II | 18 | 29.675 | 1:08.160 | 8 | |
| 9 | 101 | |
Sam LAIDLAW | Area Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 18 | 32.050 | 1:08.310 | 16 | |
| 10 | 31 | |
Matthew WILSON | JW Bird Motorsport | CUPRA Leon Competición TCR | 18 | 33.649 | 1:08.431 | 9 | |
| 11 | 15 | |
Andrew DYER | ARK Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 18 | 44.503 | 1:08.525 | 10 | |
| 12 | 81 | |
Stewart LINES | Maximum Motorsport with Capture Motorsport | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 18 | 50.653 | 1:08.566 | 12 | |
| 13 | 12 | |
Cedrich BLOCH | Simon Green Motorsport with Sport77 | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 17 | + 1 LAP | 1:10.438 | 14 | |
| 14 | 77 | |
Mark SMITH | Richmond Fire Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 17 | + 1 LAP | 1:11.709 | 13 | |
| R | 22 | |
Rick KERRY | EDF Motorsport | CUPRA TCR | 16 | DNF | 1:10.463 | 11 | |
| R | 100 | |
Steve LAIDLAW | Area Motorsport | CUPRA Leon VZ TCR | 11 | DNF | 1:07.949 | 15 |