Tom Ingram secured victory in the first round of the 2026 British Touring Car Championship season leading from near lights to flag. He passed Dan Rowbottom off the line and led the rest of the way.

Mikey Doble finished second in a thrilling opening race while Ash Sutton came from 21st on the grid to finish fourth. Fourth became third though as Rowbottom suffered a ten second penalty for track limits offences – unable to repeat his Saturday heroics.

The new-for-2026 qualifying race on Saturday saw thrills and spills as Tom Ingram led from pole, being hunted down by Sutton and Rowbottom. Lap two saw Sutton and Ingram touch, with the former spinning out of the race, meaning he started 21st and last for Sundays race one.

The drama didn’t end there, as Ingram was handed a five second penalty for being marginally out of his grid box at the start. He showed scintillating pace trying to bridge the gap between himself and Rowbottom in second. The last lap saw Ingram just over four seconds ahead, he put in an incredible lap but it wasn’t enough, he lost the win to Rowbottom by just 0.024 seconds.

Rowbottom was on pole for race one, and gave Jason Plato and his new team the ideal start.

However off the line for race one, Rowbottom bogged down, seeing Ingram, Cook and Rainford leapfrog the Mercedes driver. Ingram burst free from the pack and was leading by the end of lap one by 1.5 seconds. Rowbottom’s recovery began by overtaking Rainford for third into the final chicane.

Speaking of recoveries, Ash Sutton surged up from the back of the grid to be 11th by the end of lap two. Cook and Rowbottom were chasing down Ingram, but the reigning champion was holding them at bay.

There were plenty of exciting battles in the midfield pack, with Gordon Shedden getting his elbows out in his Laser Tools Racing Toyota. He was battling the likes of Tom Chilton and Aiden Moffat. Sutton made his way past the Scotsman and was seventh by lap eight when the Safety Car made its first appearance of the season.

Going into the final chicane Josh Cook’s Toyota, running in second, suffered a left rear puncture, spinning him off and into the gravel trap, beached and not moving any time soon. After three laps the race resumed.

Doble made his way up to third on the restart with Sutton now fourth. Ricky Collard’s return to the BTCC ended prematurely as he suffered a puncture and damage, retiring from the race.

By lap 17 Doble was on the tail of Rowbottom, with the Audi man having more boost available to him. He managed to get past a lap later and made second his own. Behind them Rainford and Sutton were fighting for fourth. Rainford got past but was soon dispatched by the four time champion. Adam Morgan was close behind in the second Mercedes.

Sutton cleared Rainford and was hunting down Rowbottom in third – Morgan passed Rainford as an exciting battle was reaching its climax.

The final lap saw Rowbottom hit with a ten second penalty for track limits offences, dropping him from third on the road to 12th.

Ingram took the chequered flag, his 41st win of his career, with Doble securing an excellent second for Power Maxed in the Audi’s debut outing. Sutton finished fourth but inherited third, an incredible drive from the NAPA man.

Morgan was fourth with Rainford fifth. Dan Cammish finished sixth ahead of Shedden in seventh. Power Maxed pair Aiden Moffat and Dexter Patterson finished eighth and ninth respectively with Aron Taylor-Smith rounding off the top ten in his Toyota.

Tom Chilton was 11th with Rowbottom finishing 12th once the penalty was applied. Daryl DeLeon, James Dorlin and Sam Osborne finished in the points. Lewis Selby taking 16th on his BTCC debut.

Pos	Name	Team	Car
1 (2)	Tom INGRAM	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30N
2 (4)	Mikey DOBLE	Power Maxed Racing	Audi S3 Saloon
3 (21)	Ash SUTTON	NAPA Racing	Ford Focus Saloon
4 (7)	Adam MORGAN	Cataclean Plato Racing	Mercedes A35 AMG
5 (5)	Charles RAINFORD	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport
6 (13)	Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing	Ford Focus Saloon
7 (9)	Gordon SHEDDEN	Laser Tools Racing	Toyota Corolla
8 (8)	Aiden MOFFAT	Power Maxed Racing	Audi S3 Saloon
9 (10)	Dexter PATTERSON	Power Maxed Racing	Audi S3 Saloon
10 (11)	Aron TAYLOR-SMITH	Laser Tools Racing	Toyota Corolla
11 (6)	Tom CHILTON	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30N
12 (1)*	Dan ROWBOTTOM	Cataclean Plato Racing	Mercedes A35 AMG
13 (17)	Daryl DELEON	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport
14 (15)	James DORLIN	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30N
15 (18)	Sam OSBORNE	NAPA Racing	Ford Focus Saloon
16 (16)	Lewis SELBY	NAPA Racing	Ford Focus Saloon
17 (14)	Chris SMILEY	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30N
18 (19)	Nicholas HAMILTON	Team VERTU	Hyundai i30N
19 (20)	Max BUXTON	Speedworks Corolla Racing	Toyota Corolla
DNF (12)	Ricky COLLARD	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30N
DNF (3)	Josh COOK	Speedworks Corolla Racing	Toyota Corolla

* – Ten second penalty for track limits offences