Fabrizio Giovanardi won the first race of the day at Brands Hatch, but only after almost half the field was wiped out on the opening lap, bringing out the red flags. The result brings Giovanardi’s championship deficit to Jason Plato down to just 10 points.

A massive pile-up saw 11 cars collide on the run up to Druids for the first time. The rain was falling as the red lights went out to get the race underway and starting from pole position, Colin Turkington led through Paddock Hill Bend. Behind him were the SEATs of Darren Turner and Jason Plato. Quickest starter was Mat Jackson from sixth on the grid. The SEAT Cupra Champion put all four wheels on the grass along the straight to get alongside Plato going through Paddock. But the green painted surface around the outside didn’t provide enough grip to keep the BMW pointing in the right direction.

Jackson lost the back end, which sent him spinning across the track. Fabrizio Giovanardi managed to navigate his way through, but reigning champion Matt Neal collided with the back of the BMW. That was the start of a chain reaction which blocked the track on the approach to the Druids hairpin. Motorbase Performance’s Tom Ferrier was helpless as he collided with Jackson and the barrier on the inside. With plenty spray being thrown up from the wet track, David Pinkney seemed not to see what was unfolding ahead of him as he mad heavy contact with the back of Neal’s stranded Honda Civic.

Also victims of the first lap drama were Kartworld Racing pair Fiona Leggate and Jason Hughes, Pinkney’s teammate Richard Marsh, plus fellow Alfa Romeo driver Eoin Murray, as well as John George, Martyn Bell and Rick Kerry.

Unsurprisingly, the race was quickly stopped and the survivors headed back to the grid. They were sat there for some twenty minutes as the damaged cars were recovered. Of those caught up in the collision, Martyn Bell and Richard Marsh were both able to make it round to the restart, leaving the damage tally at nine. Bell’s BMW was not running on full health however, and he later retired with a smoking engine.

When the race was eventually able to restart, Colin Turkington led away from the line again, trailed by Darren Turner and Tom Chilton. Of the championship contenders, it was Giovanardi who got away the better. The Vectra was fourth at Paddock, with Plato fifth in his SEAT Leon.

Turkington was able to establish a small lead at the front as Turner defended from Chilton and Giovanardi, but it was not long before the top five were running nose to tail around the 1.2-mile circuit. Lap five brought a challenge from Turner for the lead. The SEAT and Turkington’s BMW ran side-by-side along the straight and into Paddock Hill Bend, but Turner was on the outside line and almost inevitably ran wide into the gravel at the bottom of the dip.

The wet gravel allowed Turner to drive right through, but he dropped to fifth position in the process. He commented, “I really thought it would come off, but [the car] understeered off. I lost places but not too much momentum.”

Running second and third, there was minor contact between the two Vauxhalls on lap seven. After rubbing panels at Clark Curve, Giovanardi moved through into second. It looked like Chilton would also lose out to Plato, as the points leader followed Giovanardi through the gap. However, Chilton had the inside line on the run up to Druids and regained the position with relative ease. Chilton dropped to the back of the leading pack a couple of laps later when he spun on his own.

Turkington continued to lead until just before mid-distance. The BMW driver was to be denied victory for the second consecutive meeting. On an ever-wetter track, Turkington’s rear-wheel drive BMW lost traction at the bottom of Paddock Hill Bend, spinning through 360 degrees. He was able to rejoin, but not before he had dropped to sixth.

Giovanardi now found himself in the lead of the race, with a healthy two-second lead to boot. Behind him it was Plato from Turner, Tom Onslow-Cole, Chilton and Turkington. There was still time for further changes, with Chilton moving through to fourth.

Further down the order, a bad race got worse for Team Halfords as Gordon Shedden joined Matt Neal in retirement. The Scot was passed by Adam Jones along the Cooper Straight, and his reduced momentum saw him collected from the side by Mike Jordan, breaking the front left suspension on the Civic.

At the front, Giovanardi was able to control the remainder of the race to take his seventh win of the season. He was followed home by the SEAT pairing of Plato and Turner. Turkington and Onslow-Cole were fourth and fifth respectively, while a last-lap visit to the gravel dropped Chilton down to sixth. Adam Jones and the returning Gavin Smith finished seventh and eighth for GR Asia, with Matt Allison (Motorbase Performance) and Erkut Kizilirmak (Arkas Racing) completing the top ten.