Adam Morgan wins the final BTCC race of the day at Brands Hatch

Morgan leads a tight pack after the safety car period (Photo by Marc Waller)

Morgan leads a tight pack after the safety car period (Photo by Marc Waller)Adam Morgan has taken a popular victory in race three after holding off WSR drivers Sam Tordoff and Jack Goff for the whole race.

Morgan’s victory means we have three different winners from the first three races on this opening weekend of the season.

It was actually Sam Tordoff who got away in the lead from his pole position with Morgan following close behind. Morgan immediately started trying to find a way past the WSR driver.

Morgan had chosen this race to run the soft tyre option and it was the perfect decision to benefit from this race. Within a lap he made his move as the cars approached paddock hill bend to take the lead.

The Motorbase Ford Focus collided early in the race sending Jordan into a big slide and Jackson into the pits with a puncture.

Mark Howards VW CC had been nudged into the gravel at Surtees on the first lap and at the same time Kelvin Fletcher’s Chevrolet also visited the gravel on the other side of the circuit. As the marshalls were unable to shift in on people power alone, the safety car was scrambled. Fletcher has not had the debut he hoped for with a single finish (25th) in race two his sole result from the day.

Tordoff leads lap one (Photo by Marc Waller)Hill and Ingram had a rather tight battle (Photo by Marc Waller)Morgan celebrates (Photo by Marc Waller)Hugs with team and family (Photo by Marc Waller)The top three with Ashely Sutton who wins the Jack Sears trophy for Rookie driver for this weekend (Photo by Marc Waller)Once the safety car was in, The Hondas of Neal and Shedden ended Aron Smiths hopes of another podium as they passed him on lap seven but Shedden’s race was to fall apart as his tyres seemed to go off only to eventually end up in the Paddock Hill gravel trap as the result of a puncture.

Matt Neal was unable to keep in fourth as Andrew Jordan charged back from his inter team incident to take fourth from Neal on the line, the gap just 0.037s. Collard took sixth but only just from a charging Jeff Smith.

Smith had spent most of the race behind Aron Smith but passed him in the closing stages and then very nearly passed Collard on the line, Collard’s splitter giving him sixth by just three thousandths of a second.
.
Aron Smith’s eighth completed a day of top tens for new team BKR, with third in race two being the highlight. Aiden Moffat was another consistent points finisher as he took his best result of the day in ninth. Ashley Sutton took tenth after a great recovery drive. He had a problem at the start and had dropped down the field. His results from the day give him the victory for this weekend in the Jack Sears trophy for rookie drivers.

Its all against Morgan for the champagne battle (Photo by Marc Waller)Adam Morgan had a fraught last lap as Tordoff followed him across the line just 0.135s behind with Goff just three tenths behind that.

Rob Austin took eleventh to complete what had been a difficult weekend with another points score. Turkington took more points for BMR Subaru in twelfth, the team will have to find more speed in the cars for the second meeting at Donington Park. Hunter Abbott took more points for Power Maxed in thirteenth with Josh Cook in fourteenth for MG.

Matt Simpson took his first point in the BTCC with fifteenth place in his Speedworks run Honda Civic Type R.
Full results are on TSL timing; By Marc Waller

Written by