Alex Ley stormed to his second win in the TCR UK Championship, however there was controversy before the race had begun with polesitter Max Hart being demoted to the back of the grid, after a technical infringement from qualifying was penalised.
With everyone moving up one place, Ley guided his Daniel James Motorsport Hyundai into the lead ahead of Adam Shepherd and Jac constable, with the Brands Hatch race three winner staying ahead as the field streamed through Old Hall corner.
Isaac Smith made inroads on fellow title contender Chris Smiley and soon passed the Restart Racing Honda driver for fourth place, with Jamie Tonks, Andy Wilmot, Bruce Winfield, Ant Whorton-Eales and Bradley Hutchison running in the top ten
Starting at the back an ten seconds after the field set off, Max Hart managed to close the gap to the drivers in front and soon started to make progress as he worked his way up to thirteenth place early on. However, Hart would score his first DNF as he pulled off on the run to Lodge corner causing the Safety Car to be deployed.
Once racing resumed on lap nine, Ley held his nerve and built up a lead of Shepherd, Smith, Smiley and Jamie Tonks, as Constable fell back in the Power Maxed Racing CUPRA TCR. Constable tried to pass the Area Motorsport by FastR CUPRA driver and found himself in the gravel at Cascades, dropping him down the order.
The second part of the race began to focus on the fight for the bottom half of the top ten with the all important tenth place required to take pole position in race two. This was fought over by Whorton-Eales, Bradley Kent, Hutchison and Lewis Kent, who has worked his way up from 15th on the grid.
Out front, Alex Ley went on to take his second consecutive win of the year, ahead of Adam Shepherd and Isaac Smith, with Chris Smiley completing the top five places.
Andy Wilmot scored his best finish spo far in sixth place in the JamSport Racing Hyundai and with it taking the Goodyear diamond Trophy win, ahead of Bruce Winfield, Ant Whorton-Eales, Bradley Hutchison and Lewis Kent, putting the Essex and Kent Motorsport driver on pole for race two.
Matthew Wilson finished in eleventh place ahead of Callum Newsham, who was running as high as fourth but fell back down the field.
Bradley Kent (Hyundai), Jessica Hawkins (CUPRA), Jac Constable (CUPRA), Scott Sumpton (Hyundai), Darelle Wilson (Vauxhall), Max Hart (Hyundai) and Neil Trotter (CUPRA) all failed to finish.
