The Northern Irishman’s win, which he took from a reversed-grid pole position, was BMW’s 100th outright success in the BTCC after teammate Rob Collard had taken the spoils in race two.

The two-time champion, who was more than 2.5s clear at the end, said: “We had problems with the car’s handling earlier in the weekend and we were chasing the set-up. We took a step in race three and on the opening lap, I knew I had a really great car underneath me.

“To take the 100th win for BMW is an incredible feeling too. I am over the moon.”

Jack Goff ran second initially in his Eurotech Racing Honda but Tom Ingram was soon on a charge in his Speedworks Toyota.

Ingram overtook Rob Austin for third at the Complex on lap three, and then set off after Goff. At the start of lap nine, Ingram moved into second place at Allard corner.

Goff finished in third place, while Gordon Shedden was the leading Team Dynamics Honda in fourth position after he too had overtaken Austin at the Complex.

Ash Sutton was the top Team BMR Subaru in the sixth spot, although he was putting Austin under severe pressure late on in the event.

Collard had run competitively earlier on but his BMW, carrying the maximum 75kg of ballast, dropped back as the tyres wore. He rescued seventh spot, just ahead of the two Mercedes cars of Aiden Moffat and Adam Morgan.

Matt Neal (Team Dynamics Honda) had started from 29th after problems in race two, but he powered through the pack to claim the final position in the top 10.

After the weekend’s three races, Ingram still leads the standings with 131 points. He has a 17-point buffer over Shedden, with Turkington 19 points off the title summit. Collard is fourth on 103 points.

Matt James / Autosport