Tom Chilton claims first BTCC win in seven years in race three

Motorbase’s Tom Chilton claimed his first win in the British Touring Car Championship since 2011 in the final race at Knockhill, holding off Team BMW’s Colin Turkington and BMW Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan.

Chilton led the race from lights-to-flag to become the 14^th different winner of the season, withstanding late-race pressure from Turkington to take his 13^th win in the series.

Although Turkington could only take second, the Northern Irishman was able to extend his points lead to 43 points after a steady drive in wet but drying conditions.

Jordan completed the podium, having jumped past Power Maxed Racing’s Josh Cook at the start before passing Honda’s Dan Cammish, who was going backwards through the field, on lap ten.

Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan finished in fourth, having run in second early on in the race but succumbing to Turkington on lap 15 and Jordan three laps later.

Motorbase’s Sam Tordoff was fifth, having got past the MG of Rory Butcher along with Cook on the penultimate lap of the race.

AmD Tuning racer Butcher held on to take seventh, marking the Knockhill local’s third top ten finish of the weekend and the second successive weekend in which he has been in the top ten in all three races.

The drive of the race went to Subaru’s Ash Sutton, who carved his way through the field from 30^th on the grid to end the race in eighth and limit the damage to his championship chances from Turkington’s podium finish.

Sutton had got past Eurotech Racing’s Jack Goff on the penultimate lap at the hairpin, the scene of most of his passing moves, leaving Goff to take ninth and his best result of the weekend ahead of BTC Norlin Racing’s Dan Lloyd, who completed the top ten.

Although Speedworks’ Tom Ingram started alongside Sutton on the back row of the grid after the duo’s race two exclusion, his progress was much more muted and he could only bring his Toyota home in 16^th after making up 14 places in the race – just missing out on the points.

Cammish, meanwhile, slipped down the rankings as the race entered its latter phase, finishing in 17^th despite having run in fourth for the first nine laps.

The safety car was only required once in the race when Eurotech Racing’s Brett Smith tapped Matt Simpson into a spin at the hairpin, with the latter’s Honda collecting Mike Bushell’s Volkswagen.

Later on in the race as Senna Proctor made a beeline for the pits he was contacted from behind by Smith, who hit the back of the Vauxhall unaware that Proctor was intending to pit. It sent the Vauxhall into the tyres at the pit entrance, with Smith later retiring from 21^st due to the damage.

The BTCC resumes at Silverstone in three weeks’ time.

Race result

POS	NO	CL	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	3		Tom CHILTON		Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher	Ford Focus RS	27	27:39.687	56.429	1
2	2	M	Colin TURKINGTON		Team BMW	BMW 125i M Sport	27	0.948	56.098	3
3	77	M	Andrew JORDAN		BMW Pirtek Racing	BMW 125i M Sport	27	6.332	56.334	6
4	33		Adam MORGAN		MAC Tools with Ciceley Motorsport	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	27	10.899	56.623	2
5	600		Sam TORDOFF		Team GardX Racing with Motorbase	Ford Focus RS	27	11.112	56.613	11
6	66	M	Josh COOK		Power Maxed TAG Racing	Vauxhall Astra	27	11.590	56.314	5
7	6		Rory BUTCHER		AmD with AutoAid / RCIB Insurance Racing	MG 6	27	12.075	56.435	7
8	1	M	Ashley SUTTON		Adrian Flux Subaru Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	27	15.266	56.116	30
9	31		Jack GOFF		WIX Racing with Eurotech	Honda Civic Type R	27	16.153	56.748	8
10	26		Daniel LLOYD		BTC Norlin Racing	Honda Civic Type R	27	16.446	56.634	14
11	22		Chris SMILEY		BTC Norlin Racing	Honda Civic Type R	27	17.016	56.561	10
12	16		Aiden MOFFAT		Laser Tools Racing	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	27	17.533	56.666	13
13	11		Rob AUSTIN		DUO Motorsport with HMS Racing	Alfa Romeo Giulietta	27	18.607	56.764	9
14	60		Stephen JELLEY		Team Parker Racing	BMW 125i M Sport	27	19.057	56.419	27
15	25	M	Matt NEAL		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	27	21.412	56.676	17
16	80		Tom INGRAM		Speedworks Motorsport	Toyota Avensis	27	25.592	56.510	31
17	27	M	Dan CAMMISH		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	27	26.595	57.076	4
18	41		Glynn GEDDIE		AmD with AutoAid / RCIB Insurance Racing	MG 6	27	27.150	56.789	15
19	99	M	Jason PLATO		Adrian Flux Subaru Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	27	27.210	56.402	23
20	19		Bobby THOMPSON		Team HARD. with Trade Price Cars	Volkswagen CC	27	27.600	56.260	24
21	15		Tom OLIPHANT		Ciceley Motorsport	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	27	28.149	56.623	26
22	20		James COLE		Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher	Ford Focus RS	27	31.206	56.670	18
23	42		Carl BOARDLEY		Team HARD. with Trade Price Cars	Volkswagen CC	27	34.540	57.073	28
24	55	M	Ricky COLLARD		Team BMW	BMW 125i M Sport	26	+ 1 LAP	56.867	12
25	21		Mike BUSHELL		Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing	Volkswagen CC	25	+ 2 LAPS	56.208	25
R	39		Brett SMITH		WIX Racing with Eurotech	Honda Civic Type R	21	DNF	56.852	19
R	18	M	Senna PROCTOR		Power Maxed TAG Racing	Vauxhall Astra	20	DNF	56.682	16
R	43		Ollie PIDGLEY		Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing	Volkswagen CC	19	DNF	57.264	21
R	48		Ollie JACKSON		AmD with Cobra Exhausts	Audi S3	7	DNF	1:00.106	29
R	23		Sam SMELT		AmD with Cobra Exhausts	Audi S3	2	DNF	1:00.171	22
R	303		Matt SIMPSON		Simpson Racing	Honda Civic Type R	2	DNF	1:08.932	20