Andrew Jordan stormed from fourth on the grid to lead at the end of a frantic first lap in race one at Rockingham, which he later turned into a vital race victory ahead of Airwaves Racing’s Mat Jackson and the Audi A4 of Rob Austin.

Not only was it a stunning win for Jordan but a number of his title rivals endured challenging contests and the 24-year-old now leads the championship for the first time since the opening day of the season at Brands Hatch.

With the vast majority of drivers running the Dunlop Sport BluResponse wet tyres in the damp conditions it was Jordan who made a blistering getaway as he leapfrogged Austin and the MG of front-row starter Sam Tordoff off the line. Pole-sitter Jason Plato proved a tougher nut to crack, but it didn’t take long as Jordan made his move before the end of the first tour.

No sooner had the lead changed hands that drama struck further down the order on the opening lap. The Audi of Will Bratt was seemingly touched by an eBay Motors BMW on the exit of Gracelands, which also collected the Toyota Avensis of Adam Morgan and triggered a separate event. The Proton of Daniel Welch and Airwaves Ford Focus of Tom Onslow-Cole touched while trying to avoid the aforementioned incident and with the Malaysian machine of Welch stranded on the circuit he was hit by the oncoming Chevrolet Cruze of Andy Neate.

An inevitable period behind the safety car followed as Onslow-Cole limped back to the pits and into retirement, whilst a number of other cars had to be retrieved from the track.

Jordan held his nerve at the restart but dramatically championship leader Matt Neal spun his Honda Yuasa Racing Civic and dropped down the order as racing got back underway. Second placed Plato seemed to be struggling for pace, as did his team-mate Tordoff who was falling away with an intermittent misfire, and reigning champion Gordon Shedden nipped by Plato’s MG and into second as Brook Chicane.

Despite a difficult start it was WIX Racing’s Austin who was now making his move at mid-distance as he clawed his way back up to fifth after eye-catching manoeuvres past Tordoff, eBay Motors’ Rob Collard and the Toyota of fast-starting Dave Newsham. There’d be even better news to come for Austin later in the race as he closed down on the trio ahead of him.

The Airwaves Racing Ford Focus of Jackson was the quickest car on track for much of the race and after a victorious battle with Plato he then grabbed second when Shedden ran wide at Deene on lap 14 of the now 19 lap race distance.

eBay Motors’ Colin Turkington was making steady progress and eventually took sixth behind Plato after the Ulsterman passed his team-mate Rob Collard.

If all that wasn't enough there was still time for some last lap brilliance from both Austin and Jack Sears Trophy leader Lea Wood.

Austin got by Plato with two laps to go and closed down on Shedden at a rate of knots on the final tour. He eventually made his move on the final corner as both he and Shedden reached the oval banking and the Audi blasted by to secure the final place on the podium behind Jordan and Jackson.

Meanwhile Wood’s Vauxhall Vectra was hounding S2000 leader Dan Nye and the pair went side-by-side through Yentwood and Chapman Curve for the final time before Wood made the move stick before the two cars reached Pif Paf.

The dramatic first contest means that Jordan now leads Neal in the standings – who recovered to finish 14th – by 13 points whilst both Shedden and Turkington also closed in.

After the race, Jordan said: "That went even better than I’d planned to be honest. It was a great race, I got a strong start and then luckily after the safety car I got away and could control the gap as I wanted to which I'm really pleased with. There’s still a long way to go, it’s great to have moved ahead in the points but I need to keep my head for the next two races and really make the most of it."

2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Rockingham – Race one

1 Andrew Jordan (Pirtek Racing) 19 Laps2 Mat Jackson (Airwaves Racing) +3.379 3 Rob Austin (WIX Racing) +9.071 4 Gordon Shedden (Honda Yuasa Racing) +9.271 5 Jason Plato (MG KX Momentum Racing) +14.803 6 Colin Turkington (eBay Motors) +19.4627 Robert Collard (eBay Motors) +22.542 8 Dave Newsham (Speedworks Motorsport) +23.939 9 Jack Goff (RCIB Insurance Racing) +24.395 10 Frank Wrathall (Dynojet) +25.319 11 Nick Foster (eBay Motors) +26.175 12 Jeff Smith (Pirtek Racing) +29.083 13 Aron Smith (Airwaves Racing) +29.385 14 Matt Neal (Honda Yuasa Racing) +34.337 15 Ollie Jackson (Speedworks Motorsport) +41.183 16 Sam Tordoff (MG KX Momentum Racing) +42.843 17 Howard Fuller (RCIB Insurance Racing) +43.372 18 Andy Wilmot (PPCGB/Kraftwerk Racing) +43.956 19 Warren Scott (Team BMR Restart) +1:19.408 20 Lea Wood (Wheel Heaven/Houseman Racing) +1:33.17521 David Nye (Welch Motorsport with Sopp + Sopp) +1:35.335

Not Classified- Tom Onslow-Cole (Airwaves Racing) +18 Laps - Will Bratt (Rob Austin Racing) +19 Laps - Daniel Welch (Welch Motorsport with Sopp + Sopp) +19 Laps - Andy Neate (Team Club 44) +19 Laps - Liam Griffin (Addison Lee Motorbase) +19 Laps - Adam Morgan (Ciceley Racing) +19 Laps