Jason Plato claimed a lights-to-flag victory in the opening Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship race at Silverstone after fending off an early challenge from his MG team-mate Sam Tordoff.

Matt Neal produced a fantastic drive to complete the podium although the eBay Motors BMW of Colin Turkington crossed the line side-by-side with the Honda, and missed out on third by just 0.008s. The sister eBay car of Rob Collard took fifth ahead of championship leader Andrew Jordan.

Tordoff looked to have got the jump on Plato as the MGs ran down to Copse for the first time but the young gun lost the rear of the car mid-corner, which forced Plato wide in avoidance. Plato held his lead while Tordoff was passed by Turkington before he had a chance to fully regain control of his MG6.

The lap one incidents continued as the Toyota of Dave Newsham slid wildly on the approach to Luffield and slipped down the order, whilst Jack Goff nearly spun in sympathy. There was still time for Nick Foster and Will Bratt to have a coming together before the first lap was out, which also took out Andy Neate and resulted in the safety car being deployed.

Critically Tordoff had re-passed Turkington before the deployment of the safety car and the MGs scarpered off into the distance when the race restarted.

Honda Yuasa Racing’s Matt Neal was arguably the star of the show as he picked off cars one after another. The three-time champion made Maggots Corner his own as he first passed Dynojet’s Frank Wrathall before going on to pull the same moves on Collard and Turkington later in the race. Having started ninth, Neal had made his way into third with ten laps still remaining. He could do little about the MGs, however, and was forced to defend from Turkington in the closing stages.

Third through to eighth were covered by just over two seconds at the chequered flag with the trio of Andrew Jordan, Adam Morgan and Aron Smith following the BMW of Collard. Mat Jackson lost places after his Airwaves Racing Ford Focus ran wide on the exit of Luffield, but he held on to take ninth ahead of the recovering Newsham.

Reigning champion Gordon Shedden had real difficulty fighting his way through the order but the Honda racer made a late move by the Proton of Welch to claim 11th. WIX Racing’s Rob Austin also passed Welch in the same melee that forced the Proton down to 13th.

Wrathall ran as high as fourth in the early stages but he plummeted down the order late on as he struggled for grip and he eventually came home in 14th position.

Jason Plato said: "We’ve hit the spot before but we’ve made mistakes or things have gone wrong. Today the MG is definitely in the zone and we’ve got to be looking to score as many points as possible. The championship isn’t over until it’s over but we need to have an epic end to the year."

Sam Tordoff said: "We were side-by-side and I thought I had the place but I just lost the rear end. Jason had to run wide and I managed to just gather it all back up. Luckily Jason kept his lead but I had some work to do then to fight my way back through. The car is great here though and we're delighted to get a one-two."

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

1 Jason Plato (MG KX Momentum Racing) 25 Laps2 Sam Tordoff (MG KX Momentum Racing) +1.477 3 Matt Neal (Honda Yuasa Racing) +6.072 4 Colin Turkington (eBay Motors) +6.080 5 Robert Collard (eBay Motors) +6.453 6 Andrew Jordan (Pirtek Racing) +7.114 7 Adam Morgan (Ciceley Racing) +7.511 8 Aron Smith (Airwaves Racing) +8.206 9 Mat Jackson (Airwaves Racing) +8.494 10 Dave Newsham (Speedworks Motorsport) +9.227 11 Gordon Shedden (Honda Yuasa Racing) +13.243 12 Rob Austin (WIX Racing) +13.398 13 Daniel Welch (Welch Motorsport with Sopp + Sopp) +14.092 14 Frank Wrathall (Dynojet) +14.381 15 Tom Onslow-Cole (Airwaves Racing) +14.732 16 Warren Scott (Team BMR Restart) +19.698 17 Howard Fuller (RCIB Insurance Racing) +22.463 18 Jeff Smith (Pirtek Racing) +30.32719 Ollie Jackson (Speedworks Motorsport) +30.475 20 Lea Wood (Wheel Heaven/Houseman Racing) +32.789 21 Aiden Moffat (PPCGB/Kraftwerk Racing) +33.068 22 Will Bratt (Rob Austin Racing) +1 Lap

Not Classified- Liam Griffin (Addison Lee Motorbase) +10 Laps - Jack Goff (RCIB Insurance Racing) +14 Laps - Andy Neate (Team Club 44) +24 Laps - Nick Foster (eBay Motors) +24 Laps