Giovanardi wins Race 1

The 40-year-old Italian led home his team-mate Tom Chilton by a little over four seconds as the British manufacturer took a one-two finish with championship leader Jason Plato completing the podium.

Plato was already shouldering all of SEAT's hopes in the race after pole-sitter Darren Turner's car developed problems on the grid – forcing him out before the lights had even gone green.

And he will not have been happy with a mistake he made on oil dropped on the racing line by Fiona Leggate's Kartworld MG, which saw him run wide, letting Chilton up to second.

Gordon Shedden beat his defending champion team-mate Matt Neal to fourth place in his Team Dynamics Honda, meaning the latter fell to 11 points behind Plato in the championship.

Mike Jordan's Eurotech Honda was the first of the independent cars home in sixth with the WSR BMWs of Colin Turkington and Tom Onslow-Cole mysteriously unable to do better than seventh and eighth.

Irishman Eoin Murray finished a race for the first time this season in eighth in his Quest Alfa Romeo with Mat Jackson tenth in his family-run BMW.