BTCC – Colin Turkington wins an eventful last race at Thruxton

BTCC action (photo by Marc Waller)Colin Turkington has won a dramatic race three here at Thruxton.

He took the lead from pole sitter Fabrizio Giovanardi and never looked like being headed again despite two safety car periods.

The first Safety car was for a heavy crash by Ollie Jackson in his Proton but that was then topped a few laps into the restart when Simon Belcher went off at church and barrel rolled into the trees. Both drivers were unhurt but their cars were heavily damaged.

Behind Turkington, Mat Jackson battled past both second place starter Jack Goff, but also his team mate Fabrizio Giovanardi to take second, his best finish so far this season. Giovanardi held onto third to return to the podium for the first time since his last BTCC race at Thruxton back in 2010. (A race he won.) Jack Goff ran strongly initially from second on the grid but gradually succumbed to faster cars, eventually taking a fighting sixth place. Fourth was Andrew Jordan, taking another big haul of points. Fifth was Gordon Shedden who had a battle with Rob Collard along with his team mate Neal. Neal and Collard eventually colliding at the complex dropping Collard to tenth and Neal ended up finishing in twenty third.

BTCC action (photo by Marc Waller)BTCC action (photo by Marc Waller)BTCC action (photo by Marc Waller)Podium (photo by Marc Waller)Aron Smith took Seventh in his Restart racing VW CC salvaging something from the weekend. Eighth was Adam Morgan who was nearly tapped into a spin on lap one by Rob Collard. He saved it but at the expense of Jason Plato who he hit as he recovered. Plato’s rear suspension snapped and he was out after less than half a lap of racing. It hasn’t been a good weekend for the works MG driver who is used to winning. His team mate Tordoff was ninth taking another top ten finish.

AMD tuning’s Dave Newsham took a points scoring fourteenth place finish in his Ford Focus ending his day on more of a positive note.

Full results can be found on TSL.

A more detailed review of the weekend’s races will be coming soon. By Marc Waller

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