BTCC: Cammish takes race one victory at Brands Hatch finale

Dan Cammish stormed to a lights to flag victory after an excellent race from the NAPA driver.

Before the race could even begin, pole sitter Daryl DeLeon had to pull into the pitlane with an issue leaving Cammish to start out front ahead of teammate and championship rival Dan Rowbottom, while Tom Chilton and Adam Morgan start behind them.

Cammish would get a solid start while Rowbottom would have to defend from Chilton into Paddock Hill bend, Chilton would initially take the place before Rowbottom reclaimed the place diving up the inside at druids. Meanwhile, Tom Ingram would start making an attack on Jake Hill before the BMW, in his last BTCC weekend, would end up with a puncture ruining his race. Further back, Dan Lloyd had made up seven places to get to eighth place on the opening lap.

On the second lap, Ingram would be passed by Charles Rainford for fifth place but with Ingram on the medium tyres, his day would come later on. The battle for second would heat up on lap three as Chilton would pull alongside Rowbottom to take the inside line into Druids, just about making a move stick on the exit, before contact into Surtees between the Ford and Morgan would send Rowbottom wide to lose places to Rainford and Ingram. Rainford would use the contact with Rowbottom to catch and pass Morgan into Hawthorns for third.

Further down the order, Sam Osborne would be defending from Josh Cook and Mikey Doble, with Cook jumping Doble to get into fourteenth position. Ash Sutton would put pressure on Gordon Shedden but the Toyota would keep the Ford behind before Sutton would need to start defending on lap five against Árón Taylor-Smith into Hawthorns forcing him to lose time but keep the position. Chris Smiley would join this fight making a move on lap six to pass Taylor-Smith into Druids before trying to dive up the inside into Surtees but to no avail. Aiden Moffat would have to come into the pits with a part of his car hanging off from the rear meaning only one of the BMW's would remain running without problems.

The race lead would become a four way fight between Cammish, Chilton, Rainford and Morgan as the NAPA driver out front would need to battle the pressure. Cammish would start to stretch the margin again after pulling the gap over Chilton on lap nine. Meanwhile, Doble would pass Osborne to move to fourteenth place and set his sights on Senna Proctor and Cook in front.

Chilton would have to defend against Rainford on lap eleven, as the Hyundai would defend hard to also help his teammate Morgan pass Rainford to make his way into third. Further back, Shedden applies pressure against Rowbottom but the NAPA would continue to defend. Meanwhile, Sutton would lose out a place to Smiley on the run to Hawthorn to drop him to tenth. He would try to regain the position into Druids before Smiley used to outside line to keep hold of the position on the exit. Sutton would retake the position after a bad run at Graham Hill Bend for the Restart Racing Hyundai.

Race one would go the way of Cammish who takes victory ahead of Chilton and Morgan. Rainford finish ahead of Ingram who completes the top five. Rowbottom would manage to fend off Shedden while Lloyd took home eighth and the Independents victory. Sutton and Lloyd would complete the top ten.

At the end of the race, Ingram would sit thirty-seven points in the lead of Sutton as the Hyundai closes in on sealing the championship at the end of the day.