Colin Turkington maintains Snetterton form with lights-to-flag race one win

Colin Turkington scored a lights-to-flag victory in a safety car-interrupted opening British Touring Car Championship race at Snetterton, with WSR team-mate Jake Hill and Excelr8 Motorsport’s Tom Ingram completing the podium.

With the WSR BMW trio having been handed team orders prior to the start not to race each other in the opening laps, Turkington was able to get a good start and maintain his lead through the first lap.

Hill held second whilst Ingram had no early challenge for the rear-wheel drive machines ahead, holding the third place he had inherited before the start when Stephen Jelley was given a one-place grid penalty prior to the start for impeding a rival on Saturday.

Despite having to manage two safety car restarts, Turkington – with only two laps of hybrid boost and less than anyone else – was never really challenged for the lead, having opened up a margin of three seconds by lap ten, as he went on to record his second win of the season.

It is also the Northern Irishman’s ninth win at the Norfolk circuit and maintains his record of winning the opening race at the circuit – something which he has now done for each of the past three years and also in 2015 and 2016.

Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan got the jump on fellow BMW racer Jelley at the start and held fourth thereafter, scoring his best result since he won race three at Thruxton earlier in the year.

Jelley was therefore left to take the chequered flag in fifth, whilst BTC Racing’s Jason Plato was the top Honda driver in sixth, having maintained his starting position throughout to equal his best finish of the year.

NAPA Racing UK’s Dan Cammish dived down the inside of Team Dynamics’ Daniel Rowbottom for seventh at the final corner on the third lap, the Ford driver then being able to maintain the position for his best finish since Oulton Park.

Rowbottom held on to eighth, despite pressure from the second NAPA car of Ash Sutton, who had got by Excelr8’s Tom Chilton for tenth on the opening lap and then picked off the Toyota of Ricky Collard two tours later.

Gordon Shedden completed the top ten in his Team Dynamics Honda after Collard went wide at Hamilton on the eighth lap, although Collard was able to regroup and eventually held on to 11^th.

Ecxelr8’s Daniel Lloyd was 12^th, having passed Power Maxed Racing’s Ash Hand for the place on lap eight into the Wilson hairpin.

Hand brought his Vauxhall home in 13^th, with Team HARD’s Bobby Thompson and Toyota’s Rory Butcher round out the points positions.

BTC Racing’s Josh Cook had climbed eight places to 14^th on the opening lap with a strong start, but after being muscled out by Butcher on lap eight he lost three places, before losing a further three on lap ten when he was sandwiched between Jack Butel and Aiden Moffat going into the first corner.

Cook had nowhere to go as Moffat turned in from the outside line, resulting in contact between the pair which pitched the Infiniti off into the first corner barriers with broken rear suspension, resulting in a second, two-lap safety car period.

Cook would eventually finish down in 20^th, gaining just two places from his grid position.

The first safety car had been called after four laps when Michael Crees stopped his Vauxhall with a mechanical issue.

Jade Edwards also retired after eight laps with an engine issue, whilst Chilton didn’t make it beyond the opening lap due to a problem on his car.

Race two is scheduled to get underway at 14:15 BST.

Race result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	500	M		Colin TURKINGTON	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	15	32:10.063	1:57.389	1
2	24	M		Jake HILL	ROKiT MB Motorsport	BMW 330e M Sport	15	1.098	1:57.481	2
3	80	M		Tom INGRAM	Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	15	3.604	1:58.157	3
4	33	I		Adam MORGAN	Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport	BMW 330e M Sport	15	4.171	1:57.865	5
5	12	M		Stephen JELLEY	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	15	5.133	1:57.754	4
6	11	I		Jason PLATO	Rich Energy BTC Racing	Honda Civic Type R	15	6.519	1:58.125	6
7	9	M		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	15	6.975	1:57.997	8
8	32	M		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	Halfords Racing with Cataclean	Honda Civic Type R	15	7.915	1:58.603	7
9	1	M		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	15	7.945	1:58.803	11
10	52	M		Gordon SHEDDEN	Halfords Racing with Cataclean	Honda Civic Type R	15	8.037	1:58.620	14
11	21	M		Ricky COLLARD	Toyota GAZOO Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	15	10.850	1:59.042	10
12	123	M		Daniel LLOYD	Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	15	11.598	1:59.156	12
13	97	I		Ash HAND	CarStore Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	15	11.982	1:58.903	17
14	19	I		Bobby THOMPSON	Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero	CUPRA Leon	15	12.221	1:58.825	13
15	6	M		Rory BUTCHER	Toyota GAZOO Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	15	12.362	1:59.148	26
16	42	I		George GAMBLE	Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport	BMW 330e M Sport	15	15.640	1:59.518	15
17	40	I		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing	CUPRA Leon	15	17.521	2:00.275	16
18	48	M		Ollie JACKSON	Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan	Ford Focus ST	15	17.763	2:00.635	25
19	17	I		Dexter PATTERSON	Laser Tools Racing	Infiniti Q50	15	18.418	1:59.849	21
20	66	I		Josh COOK	Rich Energy BTC Racing	Honda Civic Type R	15	19.608	1:59.078	22
21	77	M		Sam OSBORNE	Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan	Ford Focus ST	15	19.719	1:59.970	23
22	96	M		Jack BUTEL	Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	15	20.120	2:00.027	20
23	62	I		Rick PARFITT JR	Uptonsteel with Euro Car Parts Racing	Infiniti Q50	15	24.949	2:00.434	29
24	28	I		Nicolas HAMILTON	Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing	CUPRA Leon	15	25.401	2:00.906	27
25	20	I		Will POWELL	Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero	CUPRA Leon	15	25.418	2:01.076	28
R	16	I		Aiden MOFFAT	Laser Tools Racing	Infiniti Q50	9	DNF	2:00.285	19
R	99	I		Jade EDWARDS	Rich Energy BTC Racing	Honda Civic Type R	8	DNF	2:00.925	24
R	777	I		Michael CREES	CarStore Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	3	DNF	1:59.283	18
R	3	M		Tom CHILTON	Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	0	DNF	N/A	9