Jake Hill benefits from first lap clash to take victory in race one

Jake Hill claimed victory in the opening British Touring Car Championship race at Brands Hatch, after a clash between Josh Cook, Ash Sutton and Tom Ingram on the opening lap opened the road to the BMW driver.

At the start, pole-sitter Colin Turkington pulled into a clear lead in his BMW, but behind him there was almost immediate drama.

EXCELR8 Motorsport’s Ingram didn’t make the quickest of starts, resulting in NAPA Racing UK’s Sutton getting inside on the run to Paddock Hill Bend.

Ingram was thus on the outside on the run up to Druids, with Speedworks Motorsport’s Cook trying to follow Sutton through past Ingram.

However, approaching the second turn, Sutton appeared to brake early, with Cook losing control of his car and carrying too much speed into the corner.

Cook claimed that as soon as he hit the brakes “the rear just locked”, expressing uncertainty as to whether he had picked up an early puncture.

The result saw Cook turn Sutton across the front of Ingram, the latter ending up beached in the gravel, as Cook then spun on the tarmac and was collected by BMW’s Adam Morgan and Toyota’s Rob Huff.

Ingram continued, but with his progress baulked he was down to ninth as the safety car was called to recover Sutton’s car, his slim aspirations now finally extinguished.

After four laps behind the safety car, racing resumed on lap six, and a charging Ingram was on a mission, immediately dispatching NAPA’s Sam Osborne for eighth. Further around the lap, that became seventh as he followed Daryl DeLeon past Aiden Moffat at Hawthorns Bend, and a lap later Ingram passed DeLeon’s CUPRA with aplomb into Paddock Hill Bend for sixth.

On the same lap Ingram, who by now had secured the fastest lap of the race and another crucial point, eased past NAPA’s Dan Cammish into Westfield Bend for fifth, and he was up to fourth on the next lap by passing Power Maxed Racing’s Árón Taylor-Smith.

After catching passing the other Power Maxed Vauxhall of Mikey Doble three laps later, Ingram came up against his greatest challenge to pass BMW’s Turkington for second.

Turkington led the opening six laps, but allowed stable-mate Hill into the lead by moving aside on the sixth lap, adopting the role of ‘rear gunner’ for his WSR colleague.

The Northern Irishman then played the role of team player expertly, withstanding lap after lap of pressure from Ingram towards the end of the race, before using his hybrid on the penultimate lap to pull clear of the chasing Hyundai.

Hill thus took his eighth win of the year ahead of Turkington, assuming a small five-point lead in the standings ahead of race two.

Ingram completed the podium, a second behind Turkington at the chequered flag.

Doble held fourth for Power Maxed, ahead of NAPA’s Cammish in fifth, who had taken the place from Taylor-Smith three laps from the end.

Taylor-Smith was sixth, with Daryl DeLeon taking his best-ever BTCC result in seventh.

NAPA’s Daniel Rowbottom, EXCELR8’s Tom Chilton and Toyota’s Andrew Watson completed the top ten, with all three drivers benefitting when Speedworks’ Aiden Moffat retired after ten laps with a front-left puncture whilst running in eighth.

Race two is scheduled to get underway at 14:45 BST.

Race result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	24	M		Jake HILL	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	BMW 330e M Sport	18	30:59.950	1:31.029	6
2	20	M		Colin TURKINGTON	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	18	1.105	1:30.911	1
3	80	M		Tom INGRAM	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	18	2.142	1:30.641	2
4	88	M		Mikey DOBLE	Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	18	3.375	1:30.803	7
5	27	M		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	18	9.906	1:31.022	10
6	40	M		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	18	10.861	1:31.067	5
7	18	M		Daryl DELEON	Duckhams Racing with Bartercard	CUPRA Leon	18	11.891	1:31.285	8
8	32	M		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	18	14.558	1:31.539	12
9	3	M		Tom CHILTON	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	18	15.390	1:31.334	15
10	11	M		Andrew WATSON	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	18	18.942	1:31.997	14
11	45	M		Dan ZELOS	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	18	19.925	1:31.574	16
12	77	M		Sam OSBORNE	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	18	20.815	1:31.876	18
13	222	M		Chris SMILEY	Restart Racing	CUPRA Leon	18	23.562	1:31.979	17
14	22	M		Nick HALSTEAD	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	18	51.694	1:33.352	20
15	29	M		Scott SUMPTON	Restart Racing	CUPRA Leon	17	+ 1 LAP	1:31.967	19
R	16	M		Aiden MOFFAT	LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	10	DNF	1:31.429	11
R	1	M		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	0	DNF	N/A	3
R	66	M		Josh COOK	LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	0	DNF	N/A	4
R	33	M		Adam MORGAN	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	0	DNF	N/A	9
R	12	M		Rob HUFF	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	0	DNF	N/A	13