Jason Plato has won the first of today’s three HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship rounds at the Snetterton circuit in Norfolk.

Plato led all the way from pole position to rack up the 41st race win of his BTCC career. Team-mate Darren Turner followed him throughout to finish second and give SEAT’s turbo-diesel Leon TDI model its first 1-2 result in the BTCC. Turner also set a new lap record of 1m11.711s.

Third in his Team Halfords Honda Civic was Tom Chilton. He had started fifth but a great start had enabled him to shoot between both team-mate Gordon Shedden and the Vauxhall Vectra VXR of Fabrizio Giovanardi who, by contrast, dropped back to ninth.

Chilton and Shedden would keep up the pressure on the SEATs during the race but were never able to get quite close enough to attempt an overtaking move. Close behind at the finish were Colin Turkington (Team RAC BMW 320si), Tom Onslow Cole (Vauxhall Vectra VXR) and a recovering Giovanardi.

Steven Kane and Robert Collard, who had shot through at the start from 15th on the grid, gave the Motorbase team solid eighth and ninth place finishes. Vauxhall's Matt Neal's finished tenth after out-dragging Mike Jordan's John Guest Honda Integra on the run to the line.

As a result, Giovanardi and Neal remain at the top of the championship, but Plato has moved up to third and taken a sizeable chunk of points out of them.

Turkington's fifth position has also moved him past Adam Jones and into the lead of the Independents championship. Jones, in his Air Cool SEAT Leon, and fellow front-running privateer Mat Jackson (BMW 320si) were both in the wars during the race, finishing only 13th and 15th outright after being muscled out by fellow runners. Jackson had been battling for position with Neal until being nerfed off the track at the Esses - a lap later at the same spot he went off again, damaging his car, in a scuffle with the recovering Jones.

Meanwhile, the race's opening laps had been filled with drama further down the order. Andrew Jordan (John Guest Honda), John George (TH/JAG Honda), Martyn Bell (Arkas/Sunshine.co.uk Vauxhall Astra) and Michael Doyle (In-Tune Honda Civic) all went in different directions entering Sear corner on lap two.

Bell's car rammed a marshals' post and was out on the spot, while Jordan spun left and vanished into a farmer's field. Doyle also retired with broken suspenion while George at least was able to continue.

Poor Alan Taylor never even made the start after his Roberthsaw Honda Integra lost a wheel on the final green flag lap...