Tom Chilton surged to his first Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship race victory in four years in a dramatic second contest of the season at Donington Park.

The race began under grey skies, and rain began to fall just before cars left the grid. Hyundai contender Chilton was one of five drivers to pit before the start, a decision that was to pay dividends as he stormed up the order to lead by lap eight.

Adam Morgan's BMW and Chilton's teammate Ronan Pearson were among the others to benefit from being on the right tyres, as they completed the podium places in second and third, with the latter taking a podium on his debut weekend.

NAPA Racing UK's Sam Osborne took a career-best result in fourth ahead of Morgan's teammate Stephen Jelley, while Power Maxed Vauxhall debutant Mikey Doble passed Team HARD's Nicolas Hamilton for sixth and the Independent race win at the final corner, with Hamilton making a late call to start the race on wet tyres and scooping a best-ever BTCC result in the process.

Drizzle at the start made things interesting once more, as race one winner and pole-sitter Dan Cammish led the field away, but it was already clear that conditions were tricky as Aiden Moffat slid off the road at the Old Hairpin and Ricky Collard picked up damage elsewhere and stopped on circuit, necessitating a safety car.

By now, Hamilton had shown that the wet tyres were what was required as he moved up five places on the first lap, while Ash Sutton, starting from the back, had shot up to 11th from 27th and last on the grid after his race one retirement.

With a lengthy safety car period, several other runners opted to pit for treaded rubber, with the race resuming on lap seven. Cammish and Ingram continued to lead, but Morgan, Chilton, Hamilton and Pearson made big progress up the order.

Chilton hit the front on lap eight, with Morgan moving into second ahead of Cammish. From there, Chilton was able to quickly build a big lead, which he stretched to over seven seconds at the end of the encounter, taking his first win since Croft in 2019.

Morgan and Pearson remained in their positions for the remainder of the race, while Hamilton made his way into the top four at one point and became the big story of the race as he edged closer to a landmark result. Though he ran wide and lost a couple of positions at the Robert's chicane on lap 12, he was still on course to take a sensational Independents victory but was being caught rapidly by Doble's Vauxhall.

On the penultimate lap, Doble looked to move past at Redgate, but Hamilton refused to surrender and re-passed on the run to the Craners.

Holding a slender margin crossing the line to start the last lap, Hamilton almost grabbed his spot on the podium as the Independent's winner, but Doble forced his way past at the final corner of the race, though Hamilton was still mobbed by his mechanics as he returned to the pits, with seventh being his best BTCC career result to date.

Nick Halstead (Hyundai) was another debutant in the top-10 in eighth, with Colin Turkington (BMW) and Tom Ingram (Hyundai) finding their way into the top-10.

The final BTCC race of the weekend is the reverse grid contest, with Daniel Rowbottom drawn to start on pole after finishing in 12th place in race two.

Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship, Donington Park, race two top-10 result:
1. Tom Chilton, Bristol Street Motors with Excelr8, Hyundai i30N, 21 laps
2. Adam Morgan, Team BMW, BMW 330e M Sport, +7.394s
3. Ronan Pearson, Bristol Street Motors with Excelr8, Hyundai i30N, +15.617s
4. Sam Osborne, NAPA Racing UK, Ford Focus ST, +18.622s
5. Stephen Jelley, Team BMW, BMW 330e M Sport, +22.322s
6. Mikey Doble, CarStore Power Maxed Racing, Vauxhall Astra, +35.360s
7. Nicolas Hamilton, Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown, Cupra Leon, +35.619s
8. Nick Halstead, Bristol Street Motors with Excelr8, Hyundai i30N, +51.253s
9. Colin Turkington, Team BMW, BMW 330e M Sport, +59.353s
10. Tom Ingram, Bristol Street Motors with Excelr8, +1m17.130s

Click here for full result

The next major event at Donington Park is the Donington Historic Festival next weekend. Click here for full information.