Rob Collard wins dramatic British Touring Car Championship season opener at Brands Hatch

Collard's rear-wheel-drive WSR BMW, running a turbo engine for the first time, jumped from third to second on the run to Paddock at the start.

When polesitter Dave Newsham (ES Racing Vauxhall Vectra) had a small slide at Paddock, Collard got a run on the climb to Druids. Newsham closed the door and there was contact, Collard taking the lead as Newsham slipped to third after a hit from Andrew Jordan (Eurotech Honda Civic).

After a safety car period to retrieve BTCC debutant Adam Morgan's Speedworks Toyota from the Paddock gravel trap, Collard, Matt Neal (Honda Civic), Newsham, Jason Plato's new MG6 and Tom Onslow-Cole's WSR BMW drew away.

Neal attacked Collard on the inside of Clearways and made the move stick to lead into Paddock with his new NGTC Civic, and Newsham followed him through.

At the same time, Plato, Onslow-Cole and a charging Gordon Shedden (Honda) - up from ninth on the grid - squabbled over fourth.

Just after half-distance, Newsham got a run on Neal out of Clearways, but Plato - who had already passed Collard - was quicker than both. He tried to make it three wide into Paddock, which resulted in Newsham being fired into the gravel, and Collard passing all three to lead.

Newsham's off, along with a crash by Aron Smith (Motorbase Ford Focus), brought out the second safety car.

Collard led the field for the five-lap dash to the flag and held on to win despite a kiss from Neal at the last corner.

With Shedden dropping back twice with an intermittent problem, Onslow-Cole and Plato fought for third. The MG pulled alongside Onslow-Cole on the run to the line, but the Neil Brown-prepared BMW engine was enough to keep Plato off the podium by 0.036 seconds.

Behind Shedden, Andrew Jordan was sixth, his Civic seemingly lacking some pace after the lap-one hit.

Mat Jackson's Motorbase Ford Focus overtook the Audi of Rob Austin on the last lap for seventh, while Nick Foster made it three WSR BMWs in the top nine.

Results - 27 laps:

Pos  Driver           Team/Car             Time/Gap
 1.  Rob Collard      WSR BMW            26m15.638s
 2.  Matt Neal        Dynamics Honda       + 0.329s
 3.  Tom Onslow-Cole  WSR BMW              + 1.114s
 4.  Jason Plato      Triple 8 MG          + 1.150s
 5.  Gordon Shedden   Dynamics Honda       + 3.872s
 6.  Andrew Jordan    Eurotech Honda       + 5.156s
 7.  Mat Jackson      Motorbase Ford       + 7.339s
 8.  Rob Austin       Austin Audi          + 7.489s
 9.  Nick Foster      WSR BMW              + 7.581s
10.  Jeff Smith       Eurotech Honda       + 7.886s
11.  Lea Wood         Wood Vauxhall        + 8.186s
12.  Andy Neate       Triple 8 MG         + 12.090s
13.  Ollie Jackson    AmD Volkswagen      + 12.112s
14.  Liam Griffin     Motorbase Ford      + 12.307s
15.  Chris James      ES Vauxhall         + 15.499s
16.  Tony Hughes      Speedworks Toyota   + 24.791s
17.  Daniel Welch     Welch Proton        + 27.661s
18.  Tony Gilham      Gilham Honda          + 1 lap

Did not finish:

     John Thorne      Thorney Vauxhall      24 laps
     Dave Newsham     ES Vauxhall           14 laps
     Aron Smith       Motorbase Ford        14 laps
     Frank Wrathall   Dynojet Toyota          1 lap
     Adam Morgan      Speedworks Toyota      0 laps