Matt Neal claimed his 10th British Touring Car Championship victory at Thruxton in the opening race of the weekend.
Neal resisted pressure from Colin Turkington early in the race to finish 0.860s ahead of the BMW driver.
Dan Cammish picked up third off the line but soon came under pressure from Sam Tordoff, who had started sixth on the grid.
Tordoff was never quite close enough to make a move stick on the Honda, but stayed close enough to take advantage of any mistake Cammish might make. Cammish put in a faultless drive to hold onto third, his second podium of the season.
A fast starting Andrew Jordan became a road block for Tom Chilton and Senna Proctor. The West Surrey Racing driver started eighth, but spent the early part of the race defending fourth place from Tordoff.
Tordoff managed to find a way through and Chilton tried to follow, but Jordan closed the door on the Ford driver.
Jordan put up a strong defence but Chilton eventually managed to pass the BMW, taking fifth, while Proctor had to settle for seventh.
Brett Smith, who struggled to get away after qualifying third, finished eighth, ahead of Josh Cook and Chris Smiley.
Tom Ingram had been running in the top 10 before an electrical problem meant he lost all power steering. He continued for a handful of laps before slowing and pitting to retire.
Fortunately for the championship leader, his closest rival, Adam Morgan, could only manage 14th, so Ingram’s lead at the top of the order narrowed by just two points.
Rob Collard finished just outside the top 10 in 11th, followed by Matt Simpson, Jack Goff, Morgan, and Ashley Sutton.
