Soon the pair were dicing for the lead, as Turkington just touched the white line at Paddock on lap ten and spun his
BMW through 360 degrees, dropping him to sixth in the process. It meant Giovanardi took the lead from Plato and Turner, with Onslow-Cole fourth from Chilton and Turkington.
On lap eleven, Jones moved into eighth past Mike Jordan and set about chasing down Shedden while at the back of the field, Bell had pulled back into the pits in the AllAboutProperty.com BMW with steam pouring out from under the bonnet.
Bell was quickly joined in retirement by Shedden who, having lost position to Jones coming out of Graham Hill Bend, was hit by Jordan's Honda Integra and forced to pull out with damaged suspension. Jordan himself would be forced to pit a lap later and would drop to the back of the field.
Out front, Giovanardi wasn't to be denied another victory with Plato and Turner joining him on the grid with Turkington taking fourth having battled past Onslow-Cole and then benefiting on the last lap when Chilton slipped back to sixth.
Jones took seventh from Smith while Matt Allison and Erkut rounded out the top ten the Turkish driver securing his first ever BTCC point in the process.
Chris Stockton took eleventh after beating Richard Marsh in a drag race to the line, with Jordan completing the 13 finishers.
How many cars will line up on the grid for the second race of the day remains to be seen
.
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