James Cole has secured his maiden victory in the British Touring Car Championship in the opening race at Rockingham, ahead of Ash Sutton and Jack Goff.
Though Goff mounted a solo challenge – the closest he came was an unsuccessful move to the outside of Tarzan – Cole was able to extend his lead as the Honda Civic Type R struggled with grip at the end to take the victory.
“I don’t want to say ‘speechless’ again, but I am,” admitted Cole.
“That race couldn’t have gone any more perfectly. Amazing result, thank you to everyone at Subaru and Team BMR.
“I knew because of the hot temperatures it would suit us towards the end of the race and it was a matter of being patient.”
His Subaru team-mate Ash Sutton was able to capialise on a lack of front-end grip from Goff at the end of the race to claim second, and with it take a three-point lead in the standings over BMW’s Colin Turkington.
Goff valiantly held on to third despite under-steer in the slow corners at the end of the race, with Josh Cook collecting his best result for MG in 2017 with fourth.
Matt Neal emerged on top of a race-long dice for fifth with Turkington, who initially leap-frogged Sutton into third before being muscled backwards.
A low-key drive for Motorbase’s Mat Jackson netted him seventh at the chequered flag.
Adam Morgan fell back two places from his starting slot to eighth, with Josh Price victorious in the Jack Sears Trophy stakes in ninth.
Jason Plato initially struggled and fell back to the tail end of the points, but a resurgent drive netted him the final spot in top ten.
Tom Chilton was the highest-placed car on the hard tyre, taking eleventh in the Power Maxed Vauxhall Astra after fending off Andrew Jordan’s Pirtek BMW.
Dave Newsham and Ollie Jackson went under the radar en route to thirteen and fourteenth respectively, whilst Mike Epps capitalised on the chaos around him to secure the final point for Team.HARD in the Volkswagen CC.
It proved to be a difficult race for the vast majority of the championship contenders – Tom Ingram was forced to pit before the start of the race with suspected brake failure on his Toyota Avensis, whilst contact between Rob Collard and Gordon Shedden left the latter with a front-right puncture.
Race-winner James Cole will start the second race from pole position, albeit with maximum ballast and the harder ‘option’ compound tyres – which are expected to take longer to reach optimum temperature and could leave him vulnerable.
The second race of the weekend from Rockingham is due to get underway at 13:57.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 20 | M | James COLE |  |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 16 | 22:49.936 | 1:24.259 | 1 |
| 2 | 116 | M | Ashley SUTTON | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 16 | 2.571 | 1:24.158 | 4 |
| 3 | 31 | Jack GOFF | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 3.167 | 1:24.319 | 2 | |
| 4 | 66 | Josh COOK | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 16 | 3.308 | 1:24.132 | 8 | |
| 5 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 4.946 | 1:24.130 | 7 |
| 6 | 4 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 16 | 5.245 | 1:24.344 | 5 |
| 7 | 3 | Mat JACKSON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 16 | 7.937 | 1:24.300 | 11 | |
| 8 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 16 | 8.458 | 1:24.713 | 6 | |
| 9 | 28 | M | Josh PRICE | |
A-Plan Academy | Subaru Levorg GT | 16 | 8.698 | 1:24.786 | 12 |
| 10 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 16 | 10.157 | 1:24.799 | 10 |
| 11 | 2 | M | Tom CHILTON | |
Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 16 | 14.234 | 1:24.701 | 9 |
| 12 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 16 | 14.976 | 1:25.031 | 18 |
| 13 | 17 | Dave NEWSHAM | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 16 | 15.839 | 1:25.203 | 17 | |
| 14 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 16 | 22.248 | 1:25.148 | 14 | |
| 15 | 12 | Mike EPPS | |
Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing | Volkswagen CC | 16 | 23.693 | 1:25.232 | 15 | |
| 16 | 40 | M | Árón TAYLOR-SMITH |  |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 16 | 23.903 | 1:25.045 | 13 |
| 17 | 5 | M | Rob COLLARD | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 16 | 24.200 | 1:25.125 | 20 |
| 18 | 10 | Ant WHORTON-EALES | |
AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 16 | 24.870 | 1:25.096 | 19 | |
| 19 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 16 | 31.478 | 1:25.841 | 28 | |
| 20 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 16 | 32.048 | 1:25.742 | 25 | |
| 21 | 18 | M | Senna PROCTOR | |
Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 16 | 33.655 | 1:25.708 | 22 |
| 22 | 30 | Martin DEPPER | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 16 | 35.254 | 1:25.555 | 29 | |
| 23 | 61 | Will BURNS | |
Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing | Volkswagen CC | 16 | 35.506 | 1:25.971 | 30 | |
| 24 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
TAG Racing | Volkswagen CC | 16 | 37.687 | 1:25.640 | 32 | |
| 25 | 6 | Rory BUTCHER | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 16 | 39.334 | 1:26.227 | 21 | |
| 26 | 7 | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 16 | 40.884 | 1:25.632 | 24 | |
| 27 | 39 | Brett SMITH | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 43.747 | 1:26.482 | 26 | |
| 28 | 303 | M | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 44.264 | 1:25.991 | 27 |
| 29 | 95 | Stewart LINES | |
Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 16 | 51.271 | 1:26.467 | 31 | |
| 30 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | 1 Lap | 1:25.327 | 16 |
| 31 | 11 | Rob AUSTIN | |
Handy Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 15 | 1 Lap | 1:25.472 | 23 | |
| R | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 0 | DNF | N/A | 3 |