Adam Morgan edges out Sam Tordoff in race three finale

Adam Morgan won the final race of the day at the series opener for the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship after narrowly edging out the WSR duo of Sam Tordoff and Jack Goff.

Tordoff lined up on pole position following the reverse grid ballot and led away from pole, maintaining his lead through Paddock whilst further back Ashley Sutton’s MG bogged down on the grid from 4^th.

Eslewhere on the opening lap, Andrew Jordan made a fantastic save coming down Paddock hill in the Pirtek Ford Focus, whilst Kelvin Fletcher and Mark Howard’s races ended on the first lap, the former after tangling with Andy Neate, who continued as the safety car was deployed.

At the end of the chaos, Adam Morgan emerged at the front of the field after passing Tordoff for the lead into Paddock Hill bend on lap two.

Mat Jackson made a trip to the pit lane during the safety car period after his first lap contact from team-mate Jordan resulted in a rear-left puncture.

As the safety car came in, Adam Morgan put his foot to the floor in the Mercedes-Benz A-Class, with Tordoff and Goff behind.

Further back, Team BMR’s initial progress was steady, with Jason Plato and Colin Turkington retaining 14^th and 15^th positions, before the latter passed Plato on lap five.

Meanwhile, a ballast-free Rob Collard continued to charge through the field after starting 16^th and passed race two winner Shedden for 6^th.

The only notable switch in position at the front during the mid-phase of the race came when Matt Neal took to the inside line into Paddock and completed a move to seize fourth from Jordan.

With fourteen laps to go, the BMW’s better tyre degredation came into effect and Tordoff began to close the gap to race leader Adam Morgan in front, taking his IHG-backed team-mate Goff with him.

With seven laps remaining, the gap had come down to just four tenths of a second, whilst further back Jeff Smith promoted himself at the expense of Gordon Shedden. Disaster then struck for the double champion as his race ended at Paddock Hill bend in the gravel trap after a puncture on the Civic Type R.

The end of the race became a cat-and-mouse game between Morgan, Tordoff and Goff but the order remained the same and Adam Morgan crossed the line to claim his first win of the season, whilst Andrew Jordan passed Matt Neal on the line for fourth.

Race result

POS	NO	CL	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME/GAP	BEST	GD
1	33		Adam MORGAN		WIX Racing	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	27	27 LAPS	48.816	3
2	600	C	Sam TORDOFF		Team JCT600 with GardX	BMW 125i M Sport	27	0.136	49.005	2
3	31	C	Jack GOFF		Team IHG Rewards Club	BMW 125i M Sport	27	0.449	48.977	4
4	77		Andrew JORDAN		Motorbase Performance	Ford Focus	27	3.832	49.126	7
5	25	M	Matt NEAL		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	27	3.869	48.861	9
6	100	C	Rob COLLARD		Team JCT600 with GardX	BMW 125i M Sport	27	4.192	49.037	16
7	55		Jeff SMITH		Eurotech Racing	Honda Civic Type R	27	4.195	49.042	1
8	40		Árón SMITH		BKR	Volkswagen CC	27	5.702	49.121	8
9	16		Aiden MOFFAT		Laser Tools Racing	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	27	6.391	49.107	11
10	116	M	Ashley SUTTON		MG Racing RCIB Insurance	MG6GT	27	10.862	49.066	5
11	11		Rob AUSTIN		Handy Motorsport	Toyota Avensis	27	11.051	49.309	14
12	4	M	Colin TURKINGTON		Subaru Team BMR	Subaru Levorg GT	27	11.482	49.268	20
13	53		Hunter ABBOTT		Power Maxed Racing	Chevrolet Cruze	27	11.995	49.403	15
14	66	M	Josh COOK		MG Racing RCIB Insurance	MG6GT	27	14.512	49.174	29
15	303		Matt SIMPSON		Speedworks Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R	27	15.098	49.554	18
16	99	M	Jason PLATO		Subaru Team BMR	Subaru Levorg GT	27	15.513	49.562	13
17	80		Tom INGRAM		Speedworks Motorsport	Toyota Avensis	27	15.64	49.014	31
18	20	M	James COLE		Subaru Team BMR	Subaru Levorg GT	27	16.124	49.525	19
19	39	M	Warren SCOTT		Subaru Team BMR	Subaru Levorg GT	27	16.744	49.433	21
20	17		Dan WELCH		Goodestone Racing	Proton Persona	27	17.406	49.251	12
21	12		Mike EPPS		RCIB Insurance Racing	Toyota Avensis	27	21.854	49.463	17
22	48		Ollie JACKSON		AmD Tuning	Audi S3	27	22.302	49.706	23
23	24		Jake HILL		RCIB Insurance Racing	Toyota Avensis	27	23.947	49.452	30
24	30		Martin DEPPER		Eurotech Racing	Honda Civic Type R	27	24.912	49.248	22
25	7		Mat JACKSON		Motorbase Performance	Ford Focus	27	27.308	49.060	6
26	57	M	Andy NEATE		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	27	32.593	49.520	26
27	14		Alex MARTIN		Dextra Racing with Team Parker	Ford Focus	27	40.9	49.792	24
28	95		Stewart LINES		Maximum Motorsport	Ford Focus	27	45.226	50.405	32
R	22		Chris SMILEY		TLC Racing	Toyota Avensis	23	4 Laps	49.639	28
R	52	M	Gordon SHEDDEN		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	20	7 Laps	49.120	10
R	84		Kelvin FLETCHER		Power Maxed Racing	Chevrolet Cruze	1	26 Laps	65.277	25
R	38		Mark HOWARD		BKR	Volkswagen CC	0	27 Laps	N/A	27

Complete race results