Okay, so here goes my mumbling about what I was watching...
The first thing is that I AM WATCHING THIS ON ITV

I watched the replay of the last year's final race. Since then, for no reason, I was giggling and grinning like an idiot to the point that I started to laugh at myself

It was a loop! the break command was the start of the race
I'm still trying to manage my time more efficiently, so I skipped some of the analysis by Rider, Harvey and Addison. Oh well...
Race 1:
Excellent start for Turkington, Sutton, Butcher, and surprisingly, Oliphant. Very close racing along with Cammish on the first few laps. Colin's car was kinda twitchy without enough grip, while Sutton who was having an amazing pace as was Cammish.
The highlight of the race for me was of course the almost 5 abreast at lap 4 which took Sutton out and shuffled the order. I liked Sutton's attack from the outside on Turk, but then he went off track after he was hit by the BMW. As a fan of Turkington and BMW, I might sound biased, but it was a domino effect racing incident as there was Ingram on the back whom I think pushed Colin so he pushed Sutton (I wrote this before watching race 2, and it was confirmed by Sutton as well). I felt bad for him at the same time. The new Audi drivers were fun and gave a good challenge to each other and the rest. Oliphant needs to do better. His defense is weak.
Congrats to Cammish for winning, and to Turk for staying so close and giving a good challenge despite some excellent peek-a-boos from Butcher.
Race 2:
Wow! It's starting to heat up with the success ballast. Colin is much more comfortable and confident as the pace of the 330i was now ON. Obviously Cammish wasn't going to hang on to the first place for too long, so what I liked is how long he was able to remain in his position before being overtaken as it changed the pace. Colin was flying despite having 54 kg onboard.
The highlight for me this time was Sutton's advancing through the positions until reaching the top 10. Him pushing Jelly who was doing an amazing battle with Chilton made me thinking that maybe it was a bit too much and shouldn't be done, and maybe he kinda did it to himself in race 1, but then he fantastically slipped through the group and moved over to the 7th place. Then another safety car... but it's fine, as it made things more exciting and on the edge. Finally, Oliphant did something good which was overtaking! C'mon man! you have the same car as the leading one but 24 kg lighter! Sutton was amazing, and I like Ingram as well.
Well done Colin! Let's keep going strong

Also another excellent driving from Sutton and Butcher!
Race 3:
I liked Jelly's start, but he was pushed onto the grass and I'm not sure if Smiley pushed him. Good start for Jackson. The first highlight is Sutton going through the mid pack and Jelly battling the Halfords Hondas, and sadly, Jelly was doing good but then he went out which I think was no one's fault. Good rally style save by Ingram (it's a Toyota

). But the real meat was for the Jackson-Smiley-Cook-Morgan and later Sutton battle. Man that was fun to watch with 3 wide cars at the same time

I quite like Hyundai, and that was since I ever knew about them roughly 25 years ago, so to see the new Exler8 team doing well on its debut speaks a lot for them and for the series. Sutton is a bit aggressive and sometimes his decisions don't have the best outcome, but he was the most fun to watch in this round. Turkington didn't get camera time much, but it was obvious he acted as a wingman for Oliphant to help him with some points!
Congrats to Sutton for a well deserved win even with a 36 kg ballast (I think the Infiniti will get a boost decrease for performance balance, but I'm not sure about all the technical details).
Overall, very fun to watch event and a great start to the season, which is to be expected

Random impressions:
I like how loose the NextGen cars are. It's fun to see them getting their tails out instead of having ginormous wings, splitters and diffusors for a flat cornering.
I'm starting to hate this pattern of my own, but I can't get over how fun this thing is. This is the only place where I also cheer for the rivals of the team that I support and root for the most!
I feel bad for Nicolas. I highly admire his determination and perseverance, but it's still not paying off for the moment. I also kinda miss Plato, as I knew him from watching 5th Gear for a long time, and for not having Vauxhall on the grid I have a very soft spot for Opel.
Couldn't get time to watch the supporting series, but the Mini challenge looks fun and kinda hilarious with these drivers taking out the signs
