Reigning BTCC Champion, Colin Turkington took a lights to flag victory in the opening race at Snetterton to begin the penultimate race meeting of the season which sees him now joint top of the Drivers’ Championship alongside Ash Sutton.
As the lights went out at the Norfolk circuit, Turkington got away well and Ingram got past Hill into second with Ingram making a charge after the reigning champion which allowed the MB Motorsport driver to have a go but Turkington remained in first.
To begin the race further down, Ollie Jackson, Tom Oliphant and Ash Sutton all tangled going into the first corner which saw Jackson and Oliphant go off.
Sutton continued to battle but with another Motorbase Performance driver in Rory Butcher as he looked to go into fifth place. Turkington began to look back comfortable going +0.593 ahead of Ingram but Hill took the fastest lap as he aimed to mount a challenge on Ingram which could have seen the former get away if a battle ensued.
Butcher got a run into the hairpin and he got past Cammish into fourth place as he looked to join the leading pack and as a result get away from the aforementioned battle with the championship leader.
Hill continued to get closer to Ingram getting towards the end of Lap 6 ballast free in his MB Motorsport Honda but couldn’t find an opportunity to pass but this allowed Turkington to get away further. But on Lap 7, Hill made a dive into the hairpin and Ingram was tapped and spun. The former gave the place back though straight away not wanting to fight it out post race.
Further down, Sutton went up into fifth place going past one of his championship rivals in Dan Cammish and Rory Butcher began to catch the podium runners in Tom Ingram and Jake Hill.
Turkington was four seconds up on that battle pack and looked to be away which he was as he took the chequered flag ahead of Ingram and Hill to conclude the podium.
Rory Butcher finished fourth, championship leader Ash Sutton claimed fifth while Dan Cammish rounded out the top six. Adam Morgan, Josh Cook, Senna Proctor and a superb effort to go up seven places saw Michael Crees take Jack Sears Trophy honours and finish in the top 10.
Chris Smiley, Stephen Jelley, a recovering Tom Oliphant and Carl Boardley rounded out the points scorers. Paul Rivett was the first of the debutants in 19th for GKR TradePriceCars Racing, with Jessica Hawkins in 22nd in the Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra.
