Adam Morgan claimed a lights-to-flag victory in the opening race of the weekend at Rockingham after securing his first British Touring Car Championship pole.
The Mercedes driver managed changing conditions and an early safety car to take his third win of the season ahead of Ashley Sutton and Tom Chilton.
West Surrey Racing’s Colin Turkington reclaimed the championship lead after title rival Tom Ingram slowed to a stop on the final lap.
Morgan enjoyed a strong start to the race while Dan Cammish and Sam Tordoff battled for P2. Cammish knocked the back of Tordoff’s car, sending the Ford into a spin. A number of drivers were caught up in the incident, including Cammish’s team-mate Matt Neal and BMW driver Andrew Jordan.
Tordoff came into the pits to retire, but Cammish was able to continue in third, behind Chilton.
Sutton was able to pass Cammish not long after the restart, but couldn’t shake the Honda. Mike Bushell joined the pair to make it a three way fight for the final podium position. Sutton defended well and was eventually able to pull away from Cammish as Chris Smiley locked onto the back of the orange and black Honda.
Sutton was able to quickly catch and pass Chilton but ran out of time before he could close the gap to Morgan, who had enjoyed a quiet race at the front of the field.
Morgan finished more than three seconds ahead of Sutton.
Chilton spent the final laps of the race leading a small train, with Cammish and Smiley running nose to tail behind. The Ford driver held onto the position, while Smiley pipped Cammish to fourth on the line.
Bushell came under attack from Ingram late in the race. The then championship leader managed to find a way past, but Bushell fought back, reclaiming the position. Turkington was right behind the Team HARD driver, but Ingram closed the door before he could lose another position.
Turkington, who had spent the entire race on Ingram’s bumper, couldn’t find a way past the Toyota, but was gifted P7 on the final lap when Ingram slowed with a throttle problem and stopped on track.
Aiden Moffat inherited eighth, ahead of Rory Butcher and Matt Simpson.
Rob Austin, Senna Proctor, Jack Goff, Stephan Jelley, and Jordan completed the points paying positions.
