Colin Turkington took victory in the first British Touring Car Championship race at Snetterton, taking the lead from pole-sitter Gordon Shedden at just over the half-way stage of the race.
Turkington followed the Honda of Shedden for the first half of the race, keeping the pressure firmly applied to the rear of the Scot’s car.
The Subaru driver then made his move on lap eight exiting Agostini’s, getting just enough of an overlap on the Civic to move into the lead heading through Hamilton’s.
That left Shedden to defend from the Motorbase Performance car of Mat Jackson, who had earlier made his way into third on the opening lap from fifth on the grid.
Shedden was able to stave off Jackson’s attack to hold the position, scoring his fourth podium of the season, whilst Jackson also took a podium in what was Motorbase’s 300th BTCC race.
WIX Racing’s Adam Morgan took fourth, despite being part of the leading quintet throughout the race. That quintet became a quartet on lap ten when the fifth-placed MG of Ashley Sutton suffered a front-left puncture and befell the same fate as his team-mate Josh Cook, dropping out of the points.
Sutton’s demise handed the Subaru of Jason Plato fifth, with the former champion expertly passing Speedworks Motorsport’s Tom Ingram for the position around the outside at Agostini bend on the penultimate lap.
Ingram himself finished in sixth, ahead of the leading WSR BMW of Sam Tordoff in seventh, who benefitted from the demise of the MGs after passing Honda’s Matt Neal for position on lap eight.
Neal took the chequered flag in eighth, ahead of the Subaru’s of Warren Scott and James Cole, who ensured that all four Levorg cars made it into the top ten for the first time.
Early retirements in the race were Dextra Racing’s Alex Martin and BKR’s Árón Smith who both pulled off the circuit on the opening lap, the latter despite having made up a position to sixth early on.
From the back of the grid, Motorbase Performance’s Andrew Jordan took a hard fought two points for 14th, despite going off the circuit in the complex on the opening lap. He finished just ahead of Power Maxed Raving’s Hunter Abbott, who had a poor first lap to drop from sixth on the grid to 26th, before hauling himself back to 15th and taking the fastest lap of the race in the process.
There was a 30-second stop-and-go penalty for Laser Tools Racing’s Aiden Moffat early in the race, with the Mercedes driver having had his wheels changed after the three-minute board had been shown to start the race. He finished down in 23rd position as a result.
Despite post-race investigations for false starts for Turkington, Martin, Mark Howard, Jordan and Stewart Lines, the results were later declared as final.
Race two takes place at 14:02 BST.
Race result
POS
NO
CL
DRIVER
NAT
ENTRANT
CAR
LAPS
TIME/GAP
BEST
GD
1
4
M
Colin TURKINGTON
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing
Subaru Levorg GT
12
23:46.178
1:57.504
2
2
52
M
Gordon SHEDDEN
Halfords Yuasa Racing
Honda Civic Type R
12
2.771
1:57.831
1
3
7
Mat JACKSON
Motorbase Performance
Ford Focus
12
4.042
1:57.736
5
4
33
Adam MORGAN
WIX Racing
Mercedes-Benz A-Class
12
5.4
1:57.597
3
5
99
M
Jason PLATO
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing
Subaru Levorg GT
12
6.88
1:58.019
11
6
80
Tom INGRAM
Speedworks Motorsport
Toyota Avensis
12
8.994
1:58.059
4
7
600
C
Sam TORDOFF
Team JCT600 with GardX
BMW 125i M Sport
12
9.607
1:58.262
10
8
25
M
Matt NEAL
Halfords Yuasa Racing
Honda Civic Type R
12
10.172
1:58.188
9
9
39
M
Warren SCOTT
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing
Subaru Levorg GT
12
11.16
1:57.837
15
10
20
M
James COLE
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing
Subaru Levorg GT
12
12.647
1:58.218
13
11
31
C
Jack GOFF
Team IHG Rewards Club
BMW 125i M Sport
12
12.876
1:57.961
16
12
24
Jake HILL
RCIB Insurance Racing
Toyota Avensis
12
13.441
1:58.306
17
13
11
Rob AUSTIN
Handy Motorsport
Toyota Avensis
12
14.393
1:57.918
23
14
77
Andrew JORDAN
Motorbase Performance
Ford Focus
12
15.137
1:57.420
31
15
53
Hunter ABBOTT
Power Maxed Racing
Chevrolet Cruze
12
15.817
1:57.186
6
16
100
C
Rob COLLARD
Team JCT600 with GardX
BMW 125i M Sport
12
22.488
1:58.917
18
17
17
Dan WELCH
Goodestone Racing
Proton Persona
12
25.276
1:58.643
24
18
88
Michael CAINE
TLC Racing
Toyota Avensis
12
27.669
1:58.973
25
19
48
Ollie JACKSON
AmD Tuning
Audi S3
12
30.768
1:58.442
21
20
12
Mike EPPS
RCIB Insurance Racing
Toyota Avensis
12
43.162
1:57.833
20
21
95
Stewart LINES
Maximum Motorsport
Ford Focus
12
45.929
1:59.867
30
22
303
Matt SIMPSON
Speedworks Motorsport
Honda Civic Type R
12
46.136
1:58.503
19
23
16
Aiden MOFFAT
Laser Tools Racing
Mercedes-Benz A-Class
12
1:12.850
1:57.447
14
24
38
Mark HOWARD
BKR
Volkswagen CC
12
1:16.003
1:59.170
28
25
116
M
Ashley SUTTON
MG Racing RCIB Insurance
MG6GT
12
1:21.015
1:57.850
8
26
66
M
Josh COOK
MG Racing RCIB Insurance
MG6GT
12
1:21.617
1:57.899
12
R
84
Kelvin FLETCHER
Power Maxed Racing
Chevrolet Cruze
10
2 Laps
1:58.870
26
R
30
Martin DEPPER
Eurotech Racing
Honda Civic Type R
8
4 Laps
1:58.818
27
R
55
Jeff SMITH
Eurotech Racing
Honda Civic Type R
3
9 Laps
1:59.696
22
R
40
Árón SMITH
BKR
Volkswagen CC
0
12 Laps
00.000
7
R
14
Alex MARTIN
Dextra Racing with Team Parker
Ford Focus
0
12 LAPS
00.000
29
Complete race results
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