Rob Austin claimed his first British Touring Car Championship win in more than three years with victory in race three at Brands Hatch, as Ash Sutton took the title following a retirement for Colin Turkington.
Handy Motorsport’s Austin started the reverse-grid race from second on the grid after the top ten were reversed from the second race result, and the Toyota driver got off to a strong start to take the lead from pole-sitter Mike Epps at Surtees on the opening lap.
Thereafter Austin was unchallenged for the win on a wet and slippery circuit, as he opened up a comfortable margin of over four seconds at one stage.
The title race was decided early in the race when BMW’s Turkington picked up damage to his right-rear suspension, following contact from the Ford Focus of Mat Jackson.
Although Turkington got off to a strong start, things came to a sudden halt on the second lap of the race when he picked up damage to the right-rear suspension on his 1-Series.
The incident was triggered when Speedworks Motorsport’s Tom Ingram made slight contact with Jackson heading into Turn 3, with the Ford Focus sliding wide off the circuit as a result.
As Jackson re-joined the circuit, he made contact with the right-rear wheel of Turkington’s car in an unfortunate case of ‘wrong place, wrong time’ for the Northern Irishman.
Turkington retired to the pits and out of the race, meaning that irrespective of Sutton’s finishing position the Subaru star will claim a maiden BTCC title in only his second season in the championship.
Sutton went on to claim a podium finish in his title-winning race in third, just behind Eurotech Racing’s Jack Goff who had been heading up the pack behind race leader Austin for most of the 17 laps.
By finishing in fourth, Ingram secured third overall in the drivers’ championship standings, with his position assured by passing Team HARD’s Epps three laps from the finish.
Honda’s Gordon Shedden thus missed out on third in the standings by two points, as the outgoing champion took the chequered flag in sixth behind Epps.
Despite his earlier contact with Turkington, Motorbase’s Jackson took seventh, ahead of the second Honda of Matt Neal in eighth.
Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan was ninth after a fighting drive from 19th on the grid, with Team HARD’s Jake Hill completing the top ten.
Towards the end of the race those drivers on dry tyres started to set the pace, with Motorbase’s Rory Butcher finishing as the best in 12th. Matt Simpson had also been on slicks but slipped off the circuit whilst running in 12th, eventually finishing in 24th, whilst Martin Depper finished in 23rd but posted the fastest lap of the race to gain a solitary bonus point.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 11 | Rob AUSTIN |  |
Handy Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 17 | 31:25.769 | 1:43.427 | 2 | |
| 2 | 31 | Jack GOFF | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 17 | 3.185 | 1:43.689 | 3 | |
| 3 | 116 | M | Ashley SUTTON | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 17 | 4.741 | 1:43.754 | 12 |
| 4 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 17 | 10.965 | 1:44.485 | 5 | |
| 5 | 12 | Mike EPPS | |
Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing | Volkswagen CC | 17 | 13.978 | 1:44.449 | 1 | |
| 6 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 17 | 15.024 | 1:44.556 | 9 |
| 7 | 3 | Mat JACKSON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 17 | 15.330 | 1:44.559 | 7 | |
| 8 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 17 | 16.008 | 1:44.561 | 8 |
| 9 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 17 | 22.924 | 1:45.158 | 19 | |
| 10 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
TAG Racing | Volkswagen CC | 17 | 24.538 | 1:45.372 | 16 | |
| 11 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 17 | 25.254 | 1:44.391 | 28 | |
| 12 | 6 | Rory BUTCHER | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 17 | 27.654 | 1:42.699 | 21 | |
| 13 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 17 | 29.191 | 1:45.041 | 17 |
| 14 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 17 | 31.374 | 1:45.098 | 6 | |
| 15 | 2 | M | Tom CHILTON | |
Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 17 | 31.757 | 1:45.456 | 4 |
| 16 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 17 | 31.924 | 1:45.234 | 15 | |
| 17 | 17 | Dave NEWSHAM | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 17 | 32.385 | 1:44.200 | 29 | |
| 18 | 39 | Brett SMITH | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 17 | 32.540 | 1:44.398 | 11 | |
| 19 | 7 | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 17 | 35.108 | 1:45.425 | 30 | |
| 20 | 40 | M | Árón TAYLOR-SMITH |  |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 17 | 35.319 | 1:45.342 | 13 |
| 21 | 95 | Stewart LINES | |
Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 17 | 35.649 | 1:44.321 | 25 | |
| 22 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 17 | 37.243 | 1:44.618 | 24 |
| 23 | 30 | Martin DEPPER | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 17 | 40.577 | 1:42.610 | 27 | |
| 24 | 303 | M | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 17 | 42.337 | 1:42.929 | 20 |
| 25 | 10 | Ant WHORTON-EALES | |
AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 17 | 45.225 | 1:45.328 | 18 | |
| 26 | 20 | M | James COLE | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 17 | 45.749 | 1:44.685 | 22 |
| R | 28 | M | Josh PRICE | |
A-Plan Academy | Subaru Levorg GT | 9 | DNF | 1:46.530 | 23 |
| R | 66 | Josh COOK | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 7 | DNF | 1:46.917 | 26 | |
| R | 18 | M | Senna PROCTOR | |
Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 2 | DNF | 1:48.404 | 14 |
| R | 4 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 1 | DNF | 1:54.487 | 10 |
| NS | 5 | M | Rob COLLARD | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | – | DNS | N/A | – |