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Stephen Jelley frustrated to be denied podium by Colin Turkington

Stephen Jelley was frustrated to be denied the chance of scoring a podium in the British Touring Car Championship races at Knockhill, but the Team Parker driver did accept Colin Turkington’s apology for their race one clash.

Jelley had been running in second in the opening race of the weekend, following a season’s-best qualifying result on Saturday, when the factory BMW of Turkington attempted a pass on the sixteenth lap.

Unfortunately for Jelley the Northern Irishman misjudged the move and Turkington hit the back of Jelley’s own BMW, sending him spinning off the circuit and into the gravel on the outside of Clark’s curve.

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That then left Jelley starting at the back for race two, from which he also retired with an electrical issue, before he finished 14th in race three in a weekend which promised much more for the 36-year-old.

Despite having his weekend hopes dashed by Turkington, Jelley accepted Turkington’s apology and blame, with Turkington receiving a formal reprimand and two penalty points on his racing licence.

“He’s made a mistake and unfortunately its had a big consequence for us,” said Jelley to TouringCars.Net. “Up until that point we were looking good.

“We were able to stick with the front-running pace and overtake cars. The fact that we were able to do that in completely different conditions to yesterday was good and positive going forwards.

“He came and apologised straight away, and I think it just caught him out. I think he just left his braking too late and fired into the back of the car.

“He’s had two points on his licence and a strike, and that’s the standard regulation thing for that type of incident. I had a similar incident with Tom Chilton at Brands Hatch, and that’s what I got, and Tom got a puncture and didn’t finish the race.

“Unfortunately, those are the regulations and there’s nothing more that can happen. There wouldn’t be a way of doing it that would put us back in P2 unfortunately!”

Turkington apologised to Jelley for the incident, although the WSR driver was able to keep hold of his second position despite accepting fault.

“I had a good race with Stephen up until that point,” Turkington told TouringCars.Net. “We battled hard and I got a good run coming out of the chicane.

“I committed to a move on the inside, and as I committed Stephen rightfully defended his position. Once you’re committed I had no opportunity to back out and that caught me by surprise.

“Obviously, he came off worse. As he knows, and everybody knows, there was no malice involved – it was just a racing incident that we didn’t want to happen, especially to two BMWs.

“It’s never nice not to finish a race and I’ve been in that position myself before. We’re all pushing as hard as we can.

“Apologising to Stephen was the first thing that I did but it was done by then.”

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