Tom Ingram emerged victorious in the second British Touring Car Championship race at Brands Hatch, after making a last-lap pass with slight contact on race-long leader Tom Oliphant.
Oliphant, the victor in race one, was carrying the maximum 75 kg of success ballast in his BMW but made a good getaway at the start, leading comfortably through Turn 1 as behind him Daniel Rowbottom got past team-mate Gordon Shedden away from the line.
Shedden was then tapped into a slide by Ingram’s Hyundai, dropping the Scot to 13th, and the Honda drivers woes got worse at the same corner on the following lap when, whilst making a late defense from Stephen Jelley’s BMW, the two made contact at Turn 1.
Jelley was sent spinning into the barriers, whilst Shedden went through the gravel trap and dropped to last. A six-lap safety car period would then be required to clear away Jelley’s car.
Racing resumed on lap eight with oliphant leading Rowbottom and Jake Hill’s Ford Focus, a situation which would remain that way until Hill suffered from a front-left puncture on lap 16 and went straight on at Clearways and effectively out of the race.
Rowbottom, meanwhile, had remained glued to the rear of Oliphant’s car and on lap 18 tried to pass, only to then go wide and allow Ingram to take advantage on the exit of Graham Hill bend.
Ingram settled into second for the next eight laps until he tried to pass for the lead into Paddock Hill bend on the final lap, slight contact between the pair unsettling Oliphant’s car and allowing Ingram to claim the win.
Oliphant also dropped behind the Infiniti of Ash Sutton, leading the WSR driver to claim the final podium position.
Rowbottom dropped to fourth after Sutton passed him near the end of the race, ahead of BTC Racing’s Josh Cook in fifth, the Honda driver making steady progress from ninth on the grid.
Dan Lloyd also gained ground in the race and brought his PMR Vauxhall home in sixth, ahead of the Excelr8 Hyundai of Chris Smiley in seventh.
Like team-mate Lloyd, Plato was another driver to progress, coming from 13th on the grid to eighth at the chequered flag.
The top ten was completed by Aiden Moffat, the Laser Tools Racing driver acting as a cork in the bottle to the chasing pack behind him, and BTC Racing’s Senna Proctor.
Jack Goff brought his Team HARD CUPRA home in 11th, whilst Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan was 12th – but the independent BMW driver will start race three from pole position after Ingram selected to randomly reverse the maximum number of cars for the last race of the day.
Colin Turkington again failed to finish in the points, the BMW driver making little progress and taking 17th place, whilst Shedden also failed to recover much from his off and ended the race in 22nd.
Race three is scheduled to get underway at 17:30 BST.
Race results
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP | GD |
| 1 | 80 | I |  |
Tom INGRAM | Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 27 | 24:56.451 | 49.300 | 6 |
| 2 | 1 | I | |
Ashley SUTTON | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 27 | 0.489 | 49.320 | 5 |
| 3 | 15 | M | |
Tom OLIPHANT | Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 27 | 0.527 | 49.410 | 1 |
| 4 | 32 | I | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type-R | 27 | 0.972 | 49.312 | 3 |
| 5 | 66 | I | |
Josh COOK | BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 27 | 1.213 | 49.231 | 9 |
| 6 | 123 | I | |
Daniel LLOYD | Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 27 | 1.630 | 49.269 | 11 |
| 7 | 22 | I | |
Chris SMILEY | Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 27 | 1.957 | 49.400 | 7 |
| 8 | 11 | I | |
Jason PLATO | Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 27 | 2.194 | 49.261 | 13 |
| 9 | 16 | I | |
Aiden MOFFAT | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 27 | 8.394 | 49.567 | 8 |
| 10 | 18 | I | |
Senna PROCTOR | BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 27 | 8.794 | 49.328 | 12 |
| 11 | 31 | I | |
Jack GOFF | Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct | CUPRA Leon | 27 | 9.232 | 49.346 | 10 |
| 12 | 33 | I | |
Adam MORGAN | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330i M Sport | 27 | 10.066 | 49.394 | 17 |
| 13 | 3 | I | |
Tom CHILTON | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330i M Sport | 27 | 10.468 | 49.452 | 19 |
| 14 | 6 | M | |
Rory BUTCHER | Toyota Gazoo Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 27 | 11.212 | 49.548 | 15 |
| 15 | 40 | I |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Team HARD. with HUB Financial Solutions | CUPRA Leon | 27 | 11.599 | 49.346 | 18 |
| 16 | 48 | M | |
Ollie JACKSON | MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Ford Focus ST | 27 | 13.169 | 49.458 | 23 |
| 17 | 2 | M | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 27 | 13.590 | 49.368 | 20 |
| 18 | 23 | M | |
Sam SMELT | Toyota Gazoo Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 27 | 14.034 | 49.593 | 24 |
| 19 | 4 | M | |
Sam OSBORNE | Racing with Wera & Photon Group | Ford Focus ST | 27 | 14.909 | 49.488 | 21 |
| 20 | 41 | I | |
Carl BOARDLEY | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 27 | 15.251 | 49.608 | 16 |
| 21 | 96 | I | |
Jack BUTEL | EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 27 | 15.518 | 49.395 | 25 |
| 22 | 52 | I | |
Gordon SHEDDEN | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type-R | 27 | 19.035 | 49.681 | 2 |
| 23 | 99 | I | |
Jade EDWARDS | BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 27 | 20.337 | 49.665 | 22 |
| 24 | 62 | I | |
Rick PARFITT Jr | EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 27 | 22.885 | 49.669 | 29 |
| 25 | 44 | M | |
Andy NEATE | Racing with Wera & Photon Group | Ford Focus ST | 27 | 23.690 | 49.774 | 26 |
| 26 | 28 | I | |
Nicolas HAMILTON | ROKiT Racing with iQuoto Online Trading | CUPRA Leon | 27 | 23.986 | 49.758 | 28 |
| 27 | 24 | M | |
Jake HILL | MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Ford Focus ST | 25 | + 2 LAPS | 49.286 | 4 |
| R | 88 | I | |
Glynn GEDDIE | Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct | CUPRA Leon | 12 | DNF | 49.387 | 27 |
| R | 12 | M | |
Stephen JELLEY | Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 1 | DNF | 1:01.315 | 14 |