Round eight, the feature race, and first night race of the season kicked off soon after 10pm, with the cars complete with reflective liveries, bright lights, and headlamps. To add to the spectacle, the rain was falling heavily and the drivers were set for the first wet race of 2001.

Two green flag laps later, Yvan Muller led the field on to the straight before hitting the throttle as the lights went green. The rain was pouring down at this point, meaning conditions were far from ideal. Jason Plato past Muller into the first corner, and Phil Bennett held his third position. Kurt Luby moved up to 4th as Thompson and Soper made contact, before both rejoining at the back of the field. Moen led the Production class, from Gavin Pyper and James Kaye.

Lap two saw Dan Eaves pass Luby for fourth, with the all black Lexus now having only its flashing left side indicator to make others aware of its presence. By the end of the following lap, Plato had extended his gap at the front to 1.2 seconds.

A couple of laps later, Steve Soper ran off the track again and, and Annie Templeton pulled off on to the grass opposite the pit lane. At the front of the Production class, James Kaye passed Pyper for second position going into Copse.

James Thompson made an early pit-stop at the end of lap five, followed by Egg Sport team-mate Phil Bennett on lap nine. The same lap saw Mat Jackson pull up, and the "sinister black shape" of Kurt Luby's Lexus re-pass Eaves.

Jason Plato made a mistake on lap 11, running off the track, and then came into the pits handing the race lead back to Muller, but the Frenchman had problems of his own, when there was a problem with the airline during his pit stop, meaning he was stationary for over 35 seconds. To add to his misery he was then awarded a drive-through penalty for his team being in the pit line for too long before stop.

During the Touring class pit-stops, there was a change in the lead of the Production class. Just as in the sprint race, Roger Moen went off at Becketts, allowing team-mate Harrison to take the lead.

Following the pit-stops, Jason Plato regained the race lead, with Bennett in second, and Muller third. Harrison led the Production class from Moen, Kaye and then Howell, although Moen and Kaye were soon in front as Simon Harrison developed gearbox problems. As the race entered the last few laps, the rain started to fall even harder, and there wasn't much passing happening, as the drivers fought to keep the cars on the track, although Paul O'Neill finished his successful weekend by passing Jim Edwards Junior.

Driver Quotes

Muller - "Everything was fixed before the start, but the car was only good for five laps, and then I had understeer again. It was much better on the second set of tyres - I told my engineer to modify the tyre pressure at the front - but there was still some understeer."

Plato - "I made a mistake. I put it in to neutral and I sailed off into the darkness.
The conditions got very difficult after about 10 laps, because I don't use my wipers in the rain - they just make it worse. So it was great in the dark sections, but I couldn't see a thing coming into the lights. It's been a good weekend, and I'm pleased, but there's a long way to go."