Colin Turkington bags race three win at Croft

Team BMW’s Colin Turkington won the final, reverse-grid race in the British Touring Car Championship at Croft, heading up Team Dynamics’ Gordon Shedden and Laser Tools Racing’s Ash Sutton.

Turkington started the race from pole position after the top seven finishers from race two were randomly selected by BTCC Chief Executive Alan Gow to be reversed for the race.

Shedden made a strong start to draw alongside the BMW on the run up to the first corner, but Turkington held his line and the position, as behind there was chaos in the mid-pack.

Contact amongst several drivers pitched local Dan Lloyd into the gravel and out of the race, with BMW’s Tom Oliphant also taking a trip through the gravel but surviving.

Two Team HARD cars, those of Jack Goff and Jack Mitchell, picked up damage in the melee and were out of the race, along with the MB Motorsport Ford of Ollie Jackson, who sustained broken suspension, prompting a one-lap safety car period on lap two. BTC Racing’s Jade Edwards also retired to the pits at the end of the lap.

When racing resumed on lap three, Turkington had more heat in his tyres and was able to open up a gradual advantage over Shedden, who had his mirrors full of the Infiniti of Sutton.

Despite applying race-long pressure, points leader Sutton was unable to find a way past the three-time champion ahead, and the duo ultimately finished the race in second and third.

Indeed, amongst the top eight finishers there were no changes from their starting grid positions, with Excelr8 Motorsport’s Tom Ingram also finishing where he started in fourth.

BTC’s Josh Cook was fifth, ahead of race one winner Aiden Moffat’s Laser Tools Infiniti in sixth.

MB Motorsport’s Jake Hill, laden with full ballast after his race two win, was seventh, although his race was not without incident. Defending from Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan on lap six, the two made contact at the Complex, sending Morgan into a spin and down the order.

Hill continued unscathed, but behind him there was further drama as BMW’s Stephen Jelley was tapped into a spin by Team Dynamics’ Daniel Rowbottom in the confusion.

BTC Racing’s Senna Proctor managed to avoid the drama, and reclaimed his eighth place, which he held until the chequered flag.

The top ten was completed by the Honda of Rowbottom and Ciceley Motorsport’s Tom Chilton, the latter recording just his third top ten finish of the season.

Toyota’s Rory Butcher was an impressive 11^th, having started the race from the back of the grid for the second time in one day, making up 18 places over the course of the race.

Árón Taylor-Smith was the leading Team HARD driver in 12^th, ahead of the two BMW’s of Oliphant and Jelley after their dramas earlier in the race.

Power Maxed Racing’s Jason Plato might have scored points, but he spun out of the race at high-speed on lap three whilst running in 12^th, necessitating a pitstop for new tyres and he ultimately finished 23^rd and a lap down.

The only other retirement of the race was Excelr8’s Chris Smiley, who slowed on lap five whilst running in 11^th with a technical issue.

As Sutton finished ahead of Hill he has re-extended his championship lead, with the reigning champion now on 247 points ahead of Hill (218), Turkington (212), Cook (211), Ingram (210) and Shedden (165).

Race result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	2	M		Colin TURKINGTON	Team BMW	BMW 330i M Sport	16	23:19.784	1:22.504	1
2	52	I		Gordon SHEDDEN	Halfords Racing with Cataclean	Honda Civic Type-R	16	3.500	1:22.671	2
3	1	I		Ashley SUTTON	Laser Tools Racing	Infiniti Q50	16	3.716	1:22.423	3
4	80	I		Tom INGRAM	Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	16	7.282	1:22.889	4
5	66	I		Josh COOK	BTC Racing	Honda Civic Type-R	16	7.896	1:22.952	5
6	16	I		Aiden MOFFAT	Laser Tools Racing	Infiniti Q50	16	16.730	1:23.234	6
7	24	M		Jake HILL	MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square	Ford Focus ST	16	18.360	1:23.758	7
8	18	I		Senna PROCTOR	BTC Racing	Honda Civic Type-R	16	18.979	1:23.676	8
9	32	I		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	Halfords Racing with Cataclean	Honda Civic Type-R	16	20.363	1:22.785	16
10	3	I		Tom CHILTON	Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport	BMW 330i M Sport	16	20.810	1:23.076	17
11	6	M		Rory BUTCHER	Toyota Gazoo Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	16	21.279	1:22.891	29
12	40	I		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	Team HARD. with HUB Financial Solutions	CUPRA Leon	16	22.409	1:23.341	22
13	15	M		Tom OLIPHANT	Team BMW	BMW 330i M Sport	16	22.600	1:23.026	28
14	12	M		Stephen JELLEY	Team BMW	BMW 330i M Sport	16	23.383	1:23.093	10
15	41	I		Carl BOARDLEY	Laser Tools Racing	Infiniti Q50	16	26.709	1:23.546	23
16	23	M		Sam SMELT	Toyota Gazoo Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	16	34.310	1:23.353	19
17	33	I		Adam MORGAN	Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport	BMW 330i M Sport	16	34.872	1:23.222	9
18	44	M		Andy NEATE	Racing with Wera & Photon Group	Ford Focus ST	16	36.467	1:24.283	24
19	96	I		Jack BUTEL	EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	16	36.939	1:24.190	26
20	28	I		Nicolas HAMILTON	ROKiT Racing with iQuoto Online Trading	CUPRA Leon	16	45.435	1:24.721	27
21	42	I		Nick HALSTEAD	EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	15	+ 1 LAP	1:25.297	25
22	4	M		Sam OSBORNE	Racing with Wera & Photon Group	Ford Focus ST	15	+ 1 LAP	1:23.071	13
23	11	I		Jason PLATO	Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	15	+ 1 LAP	1:23.130	12
R	22	I		Chris SMILEY	Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	5	DNF	1:24.132	11
R	48	M		Ollie JACKSON	MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square	Ford Focus ST	1	DNF	N/A	14
R	99	I		Jade EDWARDS	PHSC with BTC Racing	Honda Civic Type-R	1	DNF	N/A	21
R	31	I		Jack GOFF	Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct	CUPRA Leon	1	DNF	N/A	15
R	123	I		Daniel LLOYD	Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	0	DNF	N/A	18
R	19	I		Jack MITCHELL	Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct	CUPRA Leon	0	DNF	N/A	20