Adam Morgan takes maiden Plato Racing victory in rain-soaked BTCC Knockhill Race 1

Credit: British Touring Car Championship

Adam Morgan won race one at Knockhill to claim Plato Racing's maiden victory in the British Touring Car Championship, with Dan Rowbottom finishing in second place, making it a 1-2 finish for the squad in a rain-soaked opening race.

The pair of Plato Racing Mercedes cars were able to dominate proceedings in Race 1, with Morgan converting his pole position into a race victory, and Rowbottom making his way through on Gordon Shedden early on into the race.

Further through the field, championship leader Ashley Sutton began making his way through the pack from 11th place. The NAPA Racing Ford driver overtook several cars off the start, before approaching the leading five cars.

Sutton was also being chased by championship rival, Tom Ingram, who started from ninth place, having been overtaken by Sutton earlier on. Ingram made an impressive double overtake on Dan Cammish and Daryl De Leon on the exit of the final corner, squeezing through the middle of the pair, with Ingram finding sufficient traction on the exit, powering through to take fifth place.

Ingram would then find his way through on Ricky Collard after battling for a small handful of laps, as the Team VERTU Hyundai of Ingram chased after Sutton, with the pair separated by 58 points in the championship. With the second half of the season approaching, Ingram needs to beat Sutton consistently to stamp his authority back on the BTCC.

The NAPA Racing Ford of Sutton eventually clipped the rear of Charles Rainford's West Surrey Racing BMW, with the rear bumper hanging off the BMW, leading to a somewhat major loss of speed in the treacherous wet weather, with Rainford eventually called into the pit lane to fix the damage.

Credit: British Touring Car Championship

Battling for 15th position, Josh Cook and Lewis Gilbert came together, with Gilbert narrowly keeping 15th place after forcing Cook onto the grass. One lap later, Cook managed to get a run on Gilbert and managed to dive down the inside of Gilbert. However, the pair would come together again, this time in a more violent way, with Gilbert sent spinning out of the race as his BMW got beached in the gravel.

With Gilbert beached in the gravel, the Safety Car was deployed to retrieve the BMW. Subsequently, the race distance was extended by an extra few laps. With the field bunched up, all eyes were on Sutton and Ingram, who had been coming through the field like a hot knife through butter.

At the restart, Morgan managed to break away early on, with Rowbottom defending second place from Gordon Shedden, who was also under pressure from Sutton, who was under pressure from Ingram behind.

In the end, Adam Morgan led Dan Rowbottom across the line to take Plato Racing's first victory, and a strong 1-2 finish. Shedden ended up successfully holding off Sutton and Ingram to take third place, as the two behind fought each other, with Sutton staying ahead of Ingram, therefore extending his championship lead by a couple of points.

The results of race one has also determined the grid order for race two, which sees Sutton and Ingram one step closer to the front of the field.

The second BTCC race at Knockhill gets underway in a couple of hours, later this afternoon.