Matt Neal claimed his 60th Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship race win in race one at Thruxton.
The Halfords Yuasa Racing driver took a lights-to-flag win after his first pole position in five BTCC seasons, leading home team-mate Gordon Shedden to complete a one-two finish for the Honda duo.
Shedden challenged his team-mate heading to the Complex for the first time of asking in Hampshire, but Neal held the inside line and the advantage.
Trouble evaded the pair for the remaining 15 laps, Neal matching Andy Rouse’s tally of 60 BTCC victories.
The triple champion finished 0.290s ahead of Shedden, who defied 75kg success ballast to beat Jack Goff‘s Eurotech Honda Civic in a clean sweep of the podium for the Japanese manufacturer.
Tom Ingram was a close fourth, Adam Morgan next up for Mercedes ahead of the top Subaru of Ashley Sutton.
Colin Turkington took full advantage of Rob Austin and Mat Jackson squabbling at the Complex on lap eight, snatching seventh as Jackson, Austin and Turkington’s Team BMW team-mate Rob Collard rounded out the top 10.
Aiden Moffat lost out on lap 11 when a defending Andrew Jordan slowed through Allard, Tom Chilton moving by the Mercedes which had an engine change following head gasket failure.
Jeff Smith held 11th from Jordan’s BMW, but the latter removed himself from the battle and handed Moffat 12th with a spin heading into the second part of the Complex.
An early altercation at the Complex eliminated Jake Hill and Josh Cook from the race, broken rear suspension spearing the latter off the road.
Photo: BTCC Media