Tordoff leads the pack into turn one
Sam Tordoff took his first Porsche Carrera Cup GB win as he led from lights to flag in the first race at Oulton Park.
With weather conditions much better than they were six weeks ago at Thruxton Tordoff led the field into turn one ahead of Michael Meadows and Jonas Gelzinis. The front group began to pull away from the rest and the gap widened as Glynn Geddie ran wide and spun on the exit of Cascades.
Further down the field the Leonard brothers were running close together in the Pro-Am2 class, while Ben Barker moved pass Richard Plant for 5th at the front.
Tordoff looked to break the two to Meadows and Gelzinis behind with two successive fastest laps, extending his lead to about a second by the end of lap six, but Meadows kept him under pressure by going fastest on lap seven.
Behind them Lloyd was clear of the battling Barker and Rory Butcher, with Plant in 7th ahead of the leading Pro-Am1 cars of Victor Jiménez, Derek Pierce and Ahmad Al Harthy, who had survived a little scare on the opening lap when the back end of his car twitched slightly at Cascades.
In the midfield Michael Leonard spun off at chicane, clattering the kerb hard on entry and pirouetting across the grass.
On lap 9 it became clear it was a three-way fight at the front, with Lloyd in a race of his own in fourth, well ahead of Barker and Butcher, still battling furiously for fifth.
Butcher eventually prevailed in that contest, pulling clear of Barker and hounding Lloyd, finishing half a second shy of fourth as the flag fell.
Out in front though Tordoff could not be stopped, and Meadows – who will start the second race later today from pole – had to turn his attentions to Gelzinis in third after a big moment through turn one almost cost him second, but he held on.
Further down the field Jimenez took his first win in Pro-Am1, comfortably ahead of Derek Pierce and Ahmad Al Harthy. Will Goff won the Pro-Am2 category by 20s from Tautvydas Barstys.
