BTC Racing’s Josh Cook took a commanding victory in the opening race of the 2019 British Touring Car Championship, leading home Jake Hill and Tom Chilton who also made an inspired call to gamble on slicks in mixed conditions.
Cook, who was the first to opt for slicks starting 10th on the grid, initially dropped back to 15th but was set the fastest lap on the sixth tour before making rapid progress against the wet-shod runners.
Polesitter Ash Sutton was defenceless on the exit of Clarke Curve as Cook’s superior traction carried him past before he then set about building a lead of around 10 seconds over Trade Price Cars Racing’s Jake Hill, who replicated his podium in the second round last season with another inspired call to run slicks and bank on a drying circuit.
Motorbase Performance’s Tom Chilton completed the podium ahead of the two Mercedes of Adam Morgan and Aiden Moffat, who both made significant progress from outside the top 20 to finish fourth and fifth respectively.
In a remarkably similar fashion to the second race at Brands Hatch Indy last season, the leading runners chose the seemingly ‘safe’ option of wets to start the race, before those at the back of the grid came good towards the end of the race.
Team HARD’s Bobby Thompson and Team Parker Racing’s Stephen Jelley were prime examples of this, progressing from 19th and 30th and ending up sixth and seventh come the end of the race.
In fact, the leading wet-shod runner was Matt Neal in eighth position, who leapfrogged Sutton in the closing stages, with AmD Tuning’s Rory Butcher rounding out the top ten.
Next was Michael Crees who finished 11th in an impressive series debut, with Team HARD returnee Jack Goff just behind him after making late moves.
Tom Ingram was 13th in his new Toyota Corolla, while Le Mans winner Mark Blundell also benefitted from the adverse conditions to score points on his debut in 14th.
The last point-scoring position was occupied by Andrew Jordan in 15th, who had briefly jumped his BMW team-mates at the start and challenged Sutton for the lead before the momentum swung to the slick-shod runners.
Front-row starter Jason Plato immediately received a drive-through penalty in the race as the front end of his Vauxhall Astra crossed the white line of his starting position.
He would later pit for slicks as a gamble to make progress, but went a lap down in doing so and finished 25th.
Sam Tordoff, who started in the top ten, would pull off at Graham Bill Bend with an issue early in the race.
Meanwhile Chris Smiley also had an incident at the same corner, after making contact with Dan Cammish on the exit, which pitched him into the barriers but did not necessitate a safety car.
The second race of the 2019 British Touring Car Championship is scheduled to get underway later today [7 April] at 14:15 BST.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 66 | I | Josh COOK |  |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 24 | 21:26.907 | 50.808 | 10 |
| 2 | 24 | I | Jake HILL | |
TradePriceCars.com | Audi S3 | 24 | 2.723 | 50.787 | 15 |
| 3 | 3 | I | Tom CHILTON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 24 | 3.850 | 50.892 | 13 |
| 4 | 16 | I | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 24 | 12.761 | 51.013 | 23 |
| 5 | 33 | I | Adam MORGAN | |
Mac Tools with Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 24 | 13.173 | 50.516 | 22 |
| 6 | 19 | I | Bobby THOMPSON | |
GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct | Volkswagen CC | 24 | 13.263 | 50.290 | 19 |
| 7 | 12 | I | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 24 | 34.256 | 51.231 | 30 |
| 8 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 24 | 42.490 | 53.841 | 6 |
| 9 | 116 | M | Ashley SUTTON | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg | 24 | 43.252 | 53.976 | 1 |
| 10 | 6 | I | Rory BUTCHER | |
Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid / RCIB Insurance | Honda Civic Type R | 24 | 43.507 | 53.777 | 11 |
| 11 | 31 | I | Jack GOFF | |
RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | 24 | 45.600 | 53.684 | 18 |
| 12 | 777 | I | Michael CREES | |
GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct | Volkswagen CC | 24 | 47.672 | 52.760 | 24 |
| 13 | 80 | M | Tom INGRAM | |
Team Toyota GB with Ginsters | Toyota Corolla | 24 | 47.761 | 54.016 | 8 |
| 14 | 8 | I | Mark BLUNDELL | |
TradePriceCars.com | Audi S3 | 24 | 48.437 | 51.612 | 28 |
| 15 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 330i M Sport | 24 | 50.044 | 53.932 | 4 |
| 16 | 27 | M | Dan CAMMISH | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 24 | 50.337 | 53.710 | 7 |
| 17 | 18 | M | Senna PROCTOR | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg | 24 | 51.967 | 53.926 | 17 |
| 18 | 303 | I | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 24 | 53.571 | 53.625 | 14 |
| 19 | 1 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 23 | 1 Lap | 53.588 | 3 |
| 20 | 28 | I | Nicolas HAMILTON | |
ROKiT Racing with Motorbase | Ford Focus RS | 23 | 1 Lap | 54.008 | 20 |
| 21 | 9 | M | Rob COLLARD | |
Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 23 | 1 Lap | 53.705 | 16 |
| 22 | 15 | M | Tom OLIPHANT | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 23 | 1 Lap | 53.881 | 5 |
| 23 | 32 | I | Daniel ROWBOTTOM | |
Cataclean Racing with Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 23 | 1 Lap | 53.667 | 21 |
| 24 | 4 | I | Sam OSBORNE | |
Exceler8 Motorsport | MG6 | 23 | 1 Lap | 54.928 | 26 |
| 25 | 11 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 23 | 1 Lap | 50.661 | 2 |
| NC | 41 | I | Carl BOARDLEY | |
RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | 20 | NCF | 51.719 | 29 |
| R | 37 | I | Rob SMITH | |
Exceler8 Motorsport | MG6 | 17 | DNF | 53.150 | 25 |
| R | 48 | I | Ollie JACKSON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 15 | DNF | 50.752 | 27 |
| R | 22 | I | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 14 | DNF | 53.970 | 12 |
| R | 600 | I | Sam TORDOFF | |
Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid / RCIB Insurance | Honda Civic Type R | 2 | DNF | 54.768 | 9 |