Team BMR’s Colin Turkington kept hopes of retaining his British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) title alive with victory in race three at Silverstone, ahead of WSR duo Rob Collard and Sam Tordoff.
From third on the grid, Turkington followed Collard past pole man James Cole at the start of the race, before passing the BMW driver for the lead on the following lap.
The Northern Irishman would have to wait to consolidate his lead, however, as the safety car was brought out on lap three following a heavy smash between the spinning Dan Welch and Exocet AlcoSense driver Hunter Abbott, who was pitched head-on into the crash barriers as a result of the contact.
When the race resumed on lap six Turkington was able to build up a comfortable two-second advantage over Collard, who was clearly holding up team-mate Tordoff.
Collard eventually let Tordoff past on lap 19 to allow the Yorkshireman to try to challenge Turkington’s lead, but he was unable to close in and gave the position back to Collard on the final lap.
Team BMR’s Jason Plato finished in fourth, his best result of the weekend, ahead of Honda duo Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal in fifth and sixth respectively.
Despite starting from 24th on the grid, Motorbase Performance’s Mat Jackson finished seventh, setting the fastest lap of the race in the process.
WIX Racing’s Adam Morgan was eighth, ahead of a career-best finish for the second Motorbase Ford of James Cole in ninth, who cracked the top ten for the first time.
The second Ciceley Mercedes of Aiden Moffat completed the top ten, following a feisty late-race battle with Speedworks Motorsport’s Tom Ingram, who took 11th, and Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan who was 12th.
Team HARD’s Tony Gilham took a point home on his return to the series with 15th, despite the best efforts of Power Maxed Racing’s Josh Cook, who came home in 16th just two tenths behind.
Race two winner Andy Priaulx was running in 13th position, having been as high as tenth, when he was handed a drive-through penalty for exceeding the track limits. The BMW racer eventually finished down in 21st in his second pointless race of the weekend.
Turkington’s win keeps him within 32 points of championship leader Shedden, who has 325 points, whilst Plato remains second overall on 302 points.
Points scoring result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 1 | Colin TURKINGTON |  |
Team BMR RCIB Insurance | Volkswagen CC | 25 | 27:03.506 | 59.148 | 3 | |
| 2 | 6 | C | Rob COLLARD | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 25 | 2.117 | 58.948 | 2 |
| 3 | 7 | C | Sam TORDOFF | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 25 | 2.387 | 58.992 | 5 |
| 4 | 99 | Jason PLATO | |
Team BMR RCIB Insurance | Volkswagen CC | 25 | 3.078 | 59.116 | 4 | |
| 5 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 25 | 3.497 | 59.122 | 7 |
| 6 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 25 | 3.908 | 59.174 | 6 |
| 7 | 4 | Mat JACKSON | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus | 25 | 4.036 | 58.827 | 24 | |
| 8 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
WIX Racing | Mercedes Benz A-Class | 25 | 4.697 | 59.202 | 11 | |
| 9 | 44 | James COLE | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus | 25 | 5.967 | 59.214 | 1 | |
| 10 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes Benz A-Class | 25 | 10.448 | 59.289 | 13 | |
| 11 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 25 | 10.633 | 59.193 | 12 | |
| 12 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | |
MG 888 Racing | MG 6GT | 25 | 10.777 | 58.876 | 19 |
| 13 | 21 | Mike BUSHELL | |
AmD Tuning.com | Ford Focus | 25 | 13.906 | 59.345 | 17 | |
| 14 | 30 | Martin DEPPER | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic | 25 | 15.148 | 59.263 | 15 | |
| 15 | 18 | Tony GILHAM | |
RCIB Insurance Racing | Toyota Avensis | 25 | 15.414 | 59.387 | 20 |