Rockingham BF3: Norris wins Race 1 after thrilling battle with Collard

The son of BTCC driver Rob Collard, Ricky, having started alongside Norris, got a perfect getaway to go around the outside at Turn 1, to take the lead of the race on Lap 1.

Collard, then, maintained a crucial gap between him and Norris, but his Carlin teammate closed the gap gradually, in the 4-lap race.

Norris attacked Collard and finally got the move stick on the penultimate lap, taking the inside line on Collard at the Pif Paf corner, with a wheel on the grass, to secure a win.

While the two teammates battled at the front, Matheus Leist finished a lonely third, ahead of Thomas Randle and Aleksanteri Huovinen, as the top five remained the same, as they started.

Enaam Ahmed was sixth, after the British driver took the position from Ameya Vaidyanathan on the opening lap.

The Indian had a battle in hand for seventh, being chased by fellow countryman Tarun Reddy throughout the race, but the Fortec driver unable to go past the Carlin car.

Reddy, by finishing eighth, secured a reverse-grid race two pole, as Thomas Maxwell finished ninth and Quinlan Lall completing the top 10.

Toby Sowery, having finished 14th, lost his championship lead to Collard. The Lanan driver owing to a bad start, had dropped to 19th, in the opening lap.

Race one results:

Pos	Driver	Team	Time/Gap
1	Lando Norris	Carlin	17'22.876
2	Ricky Collard	Carlin	1.633
3	Matheus Leist	Double R Racing	2.772
4	Tom Randle	Douglas Motorsport	4.621
5	Aleksanteri Huovinen	Double R Racing	8.404
6	Enaam Ahmed	Douglas Motorsport	11.550
7	Ameya Vaidyanathan	Carlin	12.677
8	Tarun Reddy	Fortec Motorsports	13.942
9	Thomas Maxwell	Sean Walkinshaw Racing	21.417
10	Quinlan Lall	Chris Dittmann Racing	22.138
11	Ben Hingeley	HHC Motorsport	24.627
12	Enzo Bortoleto	Double R Racing	24.866
13	Jan Jonck	Sean Walkinshaw Racing	25.200
14	Toby Sowery	Lanan Racing	25.707
15	Faisal Al Zubair	Fortec Motorsports	26.440
16	Sisa Ngebulana	HHC Motorsport	30.161
17	Eugene Denyssen	Sean Walkinshaw Racing	30.707
18	Jeremy Wahome	Chris Dittmann Racing	32.153
19	Akhil Rabindra	Lanan Racing	34.353
20	Krishnaraaj Mahadik	Chris Dittmann Racing	+ 1 lap

Results to follow