Colin Turkington kept his title hopes alive in the second race of the day at the Brands Hatch BTCC finale.
The Team BMW driver went from fifteenth on the grid to take the victory passing nearly half the field to win the race.
One of those he had to pass was title rival Ashley Sutton. The Subaru driver could have ended the title battle there and then as the two passed but both contenders drove fairly. Turkington’s pass for the lead on pole sitting Aiden Moffat was more controversial after the Irishman hit the rear of the Laser Tools Mercedes to make the pass, dropping Moffat to fifth place.
Moffat had led the race from pole with Ingram behind but Ashley Sutton had a nightmare start dropping down the order to sixth place. Turkington was already up to twelfth by the end of the first lap and by the end of lap seven he was just behind Sutton. He made the move into druids on the eighth lap and then continued his charge up the field and his controversial move on Moffat.
“I’ve still got the fight!” said Turkington. “What an amazing race. I wasn’t expecting to make that much progress but the strategy was really good. Obviously, I missed out in race one but with the soft tyre here and no weight the 1 Series was blinding. I had the fire in my belly, there’s too much at stake not to. The grip was there in the warmer part of the day once you make a few places up, you get a bit of confidence and we were strong in the right areas, so I could make the cutback and we were strong on the brakes too.
“Aiden [Moffat] was carrying full weight and driving a very defensive race – I came with so much more pace and was able to brake so much deeper. The disparity between the two cars at that point was pretty obvious and there was too much at stake to follow him around, so I may have just kissed him. I’m just going to try. A cup of tea is required! I’ll reset and we’ve got to do the same again. I thought after race one that it was too much of an ask but there are always twists and turns and I’m just going to give it everything. I’ve fought from day one to now, so I’ll keep trying.”
Turkington was now just six points behind Sutton with one race to go.
Shedden and Neal had an excellent race in their Halford Yuasa Hondas passing Ingram’s Toyota, Jacksons Focus and the recovering Aiden Moffat on their route to the podium. Mat Jackson took the independent win with fourth just ahead of Moffat.
Sixth was Tom Ingram and this was enough so secure the independents championship for the young driver.
“All credit goes to Speedworks,” enthused Ingram. “They’ve done a splendid job to pull all this together. Without them all, I wouldn’t be able to do what we do. I’m so, so pleased. It’s huge for us. People may look down on it but there are some proper teams in this paddock. You look down the Independents’ table and there’s some real class in there. For us to come out on top with a race to spare is just amazing. Hopefully we can get the Independent Teams’ wrapped up now too. Gordon [Shedden] had a very good run that time, and had the pace on me and he managed to sneak past. It’s really good for us to be in the mix for third in the overall standings, too.”
The top ten was completed by Goff (Eurotech) Austin (Handy Motorsport) and Epps (Team Hard.)
Epps was picked out of the reverse grid draw live on ITV4 by the legendary commentator Murray Walker and will start on pole just ahead of Rob Austin.
2017 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Round 29 – Brands Hatch GP
1 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW 15 laps
2 Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +1.605s
3 Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +2.246s
4 Mat JACKSON (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo +3.756s
5 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +5.923s
6 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +6.486s
7 Tom CHILTON (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +6.832s
8 Jack GOFF (GBR) Eurotech Racing +7.252s
9 Rob AUSTIN (GBR) Handy Motorsport +7.854s
10 Michael EPPS (GBR) TAG Racing +8.001s
11 Brett SMITH (GBR) Eurotech Racing +8.563s
12 Ashley SUTTON (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +8.691s
13 Aron TAYLOR-SMITH (IRL) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +8.958s
14 Senna PROCTOR (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +11.420s
15 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts +11.810s
16 Jake HILL (GBR) TAG Racing +15.016s
17 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) BMW Pirtek Racing +15.290s
18 Ant WHORTON-EALES (GBR) AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts +15.480s
19 Adam MORGAN (GBR) Ciceley Motorsport +15.644s
20 Matt SIMPSON (GBR) Simpson Racing +16.411s
21 Rory BUTCHER (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo +16.730s
22 James COLE (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +17.066s
23 Josh PRICE (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +22.090s
24 Jason PLATO (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +29.816s
25 Stewart LINES (GBR) Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport +31.169s
26 Josh COOK (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +41.809s
27 Martin DEPPER (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo +49.980s
28 Chris SMILEY (GBR) BTC Norlin Racing +1 lap
29 Dave NEWSHAM (GBR) BTC Norlin Racing +7 laps By Marc Waller
