It was Jamie Bond who took the flag in the VW Racing Cup after a first lap crash had left him the gravel. He would reclaim the pole position on the restart and drove away to win the first race at Brands Hatch.
After a surprise pole position, Bond lined up ahead of the field as the lights went green. Bond was forced to wait on the grid as the back of the field took a long time to form.
There was chaos on the start as Bond struggled away from the start. He was spun through the first corner causing damage on Shaun Hollamby‘s car. He crept up the hill unsighted to the remaining of the field.
This caused a pile up behind as a few others were forced into the gravel. Bobby Thompson came out of it the worse, barrel rolling his car down the hill. Elsewhere, Paul Taylor and Toby Davis also came to blows.
This brought out the red flag as Darelle Wilson led the remaining field into the pits. Bond would return, going back to pole as Wilson was made to start in third as he had been on the grid. The race was shortened to 10 minutes.
Wilson, not one to lose out went straight back into the lead before a tank-slapper at Clearways destroyed all his hard work. This left Bond leading from Phil House and Kieran Gordon, who held off Simon Rudd and championship contender Tom Witts.
As it turned out, Gordon couldn’t hold on, losing a place to Rudd and Witts. Sadly for Rudd, he couldn’t catch the leading duo allowing Bond and House to extended their advantage, with Bond taking the flag.
Behind the podium finishers, Witts will be disappointed with fourth from Gordon, Mark Smith and the recovering Wilson. The top eight was eventually rounded out by Paul Ivens after an anonymous race.
