Stephen Jelley eased to his first British Touring Car Championship victory of the 2022 season in a dramatic final race of the weekend at Oulton Park.
Racing was neutralised behind a safety car after half a lap due to a large crash for Exceler8’s Dan Lloyd, which collected a number of other drivers including Jelley’s WSR team-mate Colin Turkington.
Lloyd had been battling at the sharp end of the field on the opening lap when he was spun into the path of the rest of the field at Hilltop after contact with the Toyota of Ricky Collard. The helpless Turkington then colided with the stranded Hyundai, taking both drivers out of the race. Michael Crees also retired on the spot after hitting Lloyd’s car in avoidance, while Ash Sutton, Tom Ingram, and Bobby Thompson were all forced to pit after running wide to avoid the incident.
The safety car was required for several laps to clear the stricken cars, before the track went green on lap six of 18.
Laser Tools Racing’s Aiden Moffat couldn’t keep in touch with Jelley on the restart and the race leader was able to escape down the road. Over the course of the race, Jelley extended the gap to more than 1.5 seconds by the chequered flag.
Moffat was left largely unchallenged in second for the majority of the race. On the restart, a train of six drivers were able to stay on his tail, but he quickly shook them off once they started fighting for third.
Collard was third on track, but had earned a five second time penalty for a false start. It didn’t stop the Speedworks driver battling to defend the position from Josh Cook, who was himself under pressure from Gordon Shedden.
Collard managed to hold off the pair, but dropped back to seventh when the time penalty was applied at the end.
Rory Butcher had a relatively quiet race to climb up to fifth ahead of NAPA Racing’s Dan Cammish. Cammish spent the second half of the race battling with Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan for position. The pair made contact as they ran side by side but Cammish ultimately came out on top.
Morgan was just over five seconds behind Collard, so wasn’t promoted by Collard’s penalty and ended up in eighth.
Ash Hand took fifth, as Árón Taylor-Smith rounded out the top ten.
Jason Plato came home 11th ahead of Team Dynamics’ Dan Rowbottom.
A tight battle for the final points paying positions took place, as Ollie Jackson tried to hold off Jake Hill, Dexter Patterson, and the recovering Sutton and Ingram, both of whom had to pit behind the safety car for the removal of grass collected in avoidance of the opening lap incident.
Hill managed to find a way through to take 13th at the line, with Jackson and Patterson also taking points.
The result has moved Cook back to being the sole championship leader on 169 points, ahead of Ingram (154), Sutton (151), Turkington (140) and Hill (119).
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 12 | M |  |
Stephen JELLEY | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 18 | 28:58.209 | 1:26.742 | 1 |
| 2 | 16 | I | |
Aiden MOFFAT | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 18 | 1.541 | 1:26.959 | 2 |
| 3 | 66 | I | |
Josh COOK | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 18 | 3.975 | 1:26.901 | 4 |
| 4 | 52 | M | |
Gordon SHEDDEN | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type R | 18 | 4.402 | 1:26.731 | 8 |
| 5 | 6 | M | |
Rory BUTCHER | Toyota GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 18 | 5.196 | 1:26.564 | 9 |
| 6 | 9 | M | |
Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 18 | 8.245 | 1:26.729 | 7 |
| 7 | 21 | M | |
Ricky COLLARD | Toyota GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 18 | 8.261 | 1:26.838 | 3 |
| 8 | 33 | I | |
Adam MORGAN | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 18 | 8.453 | 1:26.293 | 16 |
| 9 | 97 | I | |
Ash HAND | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 18 | 11.503 | 1:26.672 | 22 |
| 10 | 40 | I |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing | CUPRA Leon | 18 | 16.670 | 1:27.350 | 15 |
| 11 | 11 | I | |
Jason PLATO | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 18 | 16.894 | 1:27.375 | 17 |
| 12 | 32 | M | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type R | 18 | 17.153 | 1:26.879 | 26 |
| 13 | 24 | M | |
Jake HILL | ROKiT MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 18 | 22.154 | 1:26.182 | 6 |
| 14 | 48 | M | |
Ollie JACKSON | Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan | Ford Focus ST | 18 | 22.905 | 1:27.429 | 24 |
| 15 | 17 | I | |
Dexter PATTERSON | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 18 | 23.201 | 1:26.951 | 20 |
| 16 | 1 | M | |
Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 18 | 23.449 | 1:26.550 | 11 |
| 17 | 80 | M | |
Tom INGRAM | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 18 | 23.838 | 1:26.491 | 12 |
| 18 | 99 | I | |
Jade EDWARDS | Rich Energy BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 18 | 24.363 | 1:27.388 | 19 |
| 19 | 96 | M | |
Jack BUTEL | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 18 | 24.650 | 1:27.354 | 23 |
| 20 | 3 | M | |
Tom CHILTON | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 18 | 25.241 | 1:26.826 | 28 |
| 21 | 20 | I | |
Will POWELL | Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero | CUPRA Leon | 18 | 31.418 | 1:27.679 | 29 |
| 22 | 28 | I | |
Nicolas HAMILTON | Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing | CUPRA Leon | 18 | 31.849 | 1:27.565 | 27 |
| R | 62 | I | |
Rick PARFITT JR | Uptonsteel with Euro Car Parts Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 13 | DNF | 1:27.622 | 25 |
| R | 42 | I | |
George GAMBLE | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 9 | DNF | 1:27.360 | 18 |
| R | 77 | M | |
Sam OSBORNE | Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan | Ford Focus ST | 6 | DNF | 1:44.157 | 21 |
| R | 19 | I | |
Bobby THOMPSON | Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero | CUPRA Leon | 5 | DNF | 1:52.862 | 14 |
| R | 123 | M | |
Daniel LLOYD | Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 0 | DNF | N/A | 5 |
| R | 50 | M | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 0 | DNF | N/A | 10 |
| R | 777 | I | |
Michael CREES | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 0 | DNF | N/A | 13 |