Tordoff converts pole to win in Thruxton opener

AmD Tuning's Sam Tordoff opens his 2019 British Touring Car Championship victory account after taking a perfect lights-to-flag win during race one at Thruxton.

The Honda Civic Type-R driver started the opening race from pole position and led every lap ahead of fellow Honda runner Dan Cammish to record his first BTCC victory since Silverstone last season.

Although Tordoff was able to control the gap back to Cammish to tune of around one-second, the 2016 BTCC runner-up's lead did come under threat for a brief moment right at the start of the race when two-time champion Jason Plato pulled alongside the Honda in the opening complex.

Despite the attentions of Plato, Tordoff stood firm and held the inside line for Campbell corner and secured a lead he would never relinquish.

Tordoff's afternoon was arguably made slightly easier when Power Maxed Racing's Plato received a drive-through penalty for starting out of position within his grid slot, which dropped the 96-time race winner out of contention.

The AmD driver could afford to back off during the final corner to cross the line 0.4s ahead of Cammish, while Mac Tools Racing's Adam Morgan secured his second podium finish of 2019 in third.

BTC Racing's Josh Cook also found himself in the hunt for a podium result after latching onto the rear of Morgan's Mercedes A-Class, but ultimately had to settle for fourth ahead of Team BMW's lead runner Tom Oliphant in fifth.

Following Plato's costly drive-through penalty, Rob Collard was left to pick up the pieces for the Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall squad in sixth ahead of title contender Rory Butcher in seventh.

Butcher survived early contact with BTC Racing's Chris Smiley to finish race one as the highest title contender.

Matt Neal, Ashley Sutton and Chris Smiley completed the remainder of the top-ten in eighth, ninth and tenth.

The top-two championship drivers Andrew Jordan and Colin Turkington spent the majority of the race nose-to-tail but finished down in 12th and 13th, respectively, while Plato recovered up the order to finish in 17th.