Tom Ingram took the first victory after the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship mid-season break, leading home heroes Dan Cammish and Senna Proctor in the opener at Croft.
Team VERTU's Ingram led from start-to-finish as he kept Cammish at arm's length, as well as dealing with a late safety car period, to claim his third triumph of the season.
The #80 Hyundai i30N was the cream of the crop throughout the contest as Ingram moved into the championship lead, whilst title rival Ash Sutton hit trouble.
Cammish closed in on Ingram in the early stages before the latter stretched the gap out for a comfortable success, whilst Team VERTU's Proctor wowed the crowds with a stellar podium.
Incredibly, Proctor went from eighth to third on the opening lap with a move by NAPA Racing UK's Dan Rowbottom being a particular highlight.
Rowbottom held on to fourth from Team VERTU's Tom Chilton, whilst WSR's Daryl DeLeon starred in sixth.
DeLeon, who turned 20 yesterday, wrestled his way from tenth on the grid and even swapped paint with WSR stablemate Charles Rainford as he secured a top sixth finish ahead of Áron Taylor-Smith in his #40 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA Corolla.
Daniel Lloyd (Restart Racing) and Adam Morgan (Team VERTU) rounded out the top ten.
A few front-runners endured disappointment as Sutton and Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing's Mikey Doble both failed to score points.
Doble's Vauxhall – starting third on the grid – was shuffled down the order early on before things worsened further as the #88 spun out of contention in the run through the chicane.
Sutton was extremely unfortunate having drove brilliantly from 11th to sixth on the Goodyear hard tyre. Seemingly sitting pretty and with the soft compound to come for the remainder of the day, Sutton's Ford Focus picked a puncture from a sharp object on-track.
With two races still to come at the North Yorkshire circuit it will be interesting to see if four-time champion Sutton can turn around the standings deficit and you can watch the unmissable action unfold LIVE on ITV4.
2025 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Croft – Race 1 – Classification:
P/ No/ Name/ Entry/ Laps/ Time/ Gap/ Best/ On/
1 80 Tom INGRAM Team VERTU 17 24:56.873 1:22.176 14
2 27 Dan CAMMISH NAPA Racing UK 17 24:57.985 1.112 1:22.323 16
3 18 Senna PROCTOR Team VERTU 17 24:59.565 2.692 1:22.702 14
4 32 Daniel ROWBOTTOM NAPA Racing UK 17 24:59.933 3.060 1:22.531 14
5 3 Tom CHILTON Team VERTU 17 25:00.396 3.523 1:22.582 14
6 2 Daryl DELEON WSR 17 25:00.993 4.120 1:22.585 15
7 40 Árón TAYLOR-SMITH TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA 17 25:02.267 5.394 1:22.686 16
8 99 Charles RAINFORD LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR 17 25:03.858 6.985 1:23.035 16
9 123 Daniel LLOYD Restart Racing 17 25:05.288 8.415 1:23.303 15
10 33 Adam MORGAN Team VERTU 17 25:06.498 9.625 1:23.369 17
11 52 Gordon SHEDDEN TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA 17 25:08.627 11.754 1:23.597 14
12 17 Dexter PATTERSON ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport 17 25:09.950 13.077 1:23.726 8
13 16 Aiden MOFFAT LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR 17 25:10.340 13.467 1:23.739 15
14 77 Sam OSBORNE NAPA Racing UK 17 25:13.156 16.283 1:24.165 15
15 88 Mikey DOBLE Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing 17 25:18.776 21.903 1:24.297 14
16 12 Stephen JELLEY ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport 17 25:21.784 24.911 1:25.840 17
17 50 Nick HALSTEAD Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing 17 25:22.540 25.667 1:25.989 17
18 132 James DORLIN TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA 17 25:30.508 33.635 1:24.718 8
19 19 Max BUXTON TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA 17 25:47.934 51.061 1:25.863 15
20 116 Ashley SUTTON NAPA Racing UK 16 25:33.596 1 Lap 1:23.194 16
DNF 22 Chris SMILEY Restart Racing 9 13:09.011 8 Laps 1:24.077 8
DNF 28 Nicolas HAMILTON Powder Monkey Brewing Co with Esidock 2 3:59.535 15 Laps 1:45.081 1
