IT was BMWs all the way in the first of three British Touring Car Championship races at Croft Circuit today.

Former World Touring Car championship driver Andy Priaulx led home Yorkshireman Sam Tordoff and Rob Collard, making it a one, two, three for West Surrey Racing.

Tordoff led for most of the race but as a small shower came down he opened the door for Priaulx who made no mistake in grabbing the lead.

The BMW's closest competitor was Honda's Gordon Shedden.

Speaking afterwards, Priaulx said: “That’s just what I needed right now – I’m so delighted to be back to my winning ways.

"I’ve had wins in GTs in the last few years but it’s been a while since I’ve been up here just for myself. We haven’t converted our pace to wins up to now, so it’s great to break the duck and get that monkey of my back.

"I think we can get the car even faster for race two. The confidence is there, the car is quick, we just need to keep converting the pace into results.” 

Despite relinquishing the win Tordoff was nevertheless satisfied with his performance.

“I’m not too disappointed. I just made a small mistake when it started to rain and Andy made a solid pass," he said. "It’s still a great result for me and it’s amazing for the team. When it starts to rain and you’re out front you’re the guinea pig and all it takes is a little mistake, but we’ve got pole position again for race two and have to keep capitalising here where the car is good.”

Third place man Collard said: “It’s a great feeling to be a part of such an amazing result for WSR. Hopefully my tyre choice will give me some glory in the next two races – the other guys still have to run the soft tyre but I’ve used it now and that should help.”