Croft BTCC: Colin Turkington wins race two in tricky weather

Intermittent rain before the start made tyre choice difficult. Most opted for slicks, but the MGs of Jason Plato and Sam Tordoff, and the Motorbase Ford Focus of Michael Caine started on wets.

Although Turkington led at the start, he was soon overcome by both MGs in the slippery conditions.

Plato had built a 2.8-second lead by the end of lap two, but thereafter the conditions started to favour the slick-shod runners.

Turkington passed Tordoff and then retook the lead from Plato at Sunny on lap four.

The WSR BMW was swiftly followed by Gordon Shedden's Honda Civic and the duo headed off into a race of their own.

As the MGs plummeted down the field, Tom Onslow-Cole moved into an impressive third in Team Hard's VW Passat, while Matt Neal's Civic held off a queue of cars in fourth.

Shedden put Turkington under intense pressure in the middle part of the race, but the 2009 champion held firm and edged away to a three-second victory at the flag.

Onslow-Cole completed the podium, some way behind Shedden, with Neal taking fourth.

Rob Collard's WSR BMW came through to challenge Andrew Jordan's Eurotech Civic in the closing stages, having overtaken fast-starting team-mate Nick Foster.

Collard appeared to have got ahead of Jordan at Hawthorn on the final lap, only for the Honda to straightline the chicane to stay ahead. But Collard was not to be denied and he forced his way through at the last corner to finish fifth.

Foster made it three WSR BMWs in the top seven, while Adam Morgan had a quiet run to eighth in Ciceley Racing's Toyota Avensis.

A brilliant three-way fight for Jack Sears Trophy honours raged throughout.

David Nye (Welch Ford Focus) jumped BTCC rookie Jake Hill (Motorbase Focus) early on and held off the race one winner, despite some tough challenges.

Lea Wood's Vauxhall Vectra was also in the fight and managed to outdrag Hill on the run to the line, as Nye took his first S2000 victory.

Results - 15 laps:

Pos  Driver            Team/Car             Time/Gap
 1.  Colin Turkington  WSR BMW            22m20.699s
 2.  Gordon Shedden    Honda                 +2.987s
 3.  Tom Onslow-Cole   Hard VW               +9.035s
 4.  Matt Neal         Honda                +12.012s
 5.  Rob Collard       WSR BMW              +12.785s
 6.  Andrew Jordan     Eurotech Honda       +13.680s
 7.  Nick Foster       WSR BMW              +15.159s
 8.  Adam Morgan       Ciceley Toyota       +17.359s
 9.  Jeff Smith        Eurotech Honda       +25.523s
10.  Dave Newsham      Speedworks Toyota    +27.774s
11.  Daniel Welch      Welch Proton         +36.899s
12.  Aron Smith        Motorbase Ford       +37.285s
13.  Frank Wrathall    Dynojet Toyota       +39.380s
14.  Rob Austin        Austin Audi          +39.940s
15.  David Nye         Welch Ford           +51.970s*
16.  Lea Wood          Wood Vauxhall        +52.468s*
17.  Jake Hill         Motorbase Ford       +52.514s*
18.  Will Bratt        Austin Audi          +57.266s
19.  James Kaye        AmD VW             +1m04.126s*
20.  Jason Plato       MG                     +1 lap
21.  Sam Tordoff       MG                     +1 lap

Retirements:

     Michael Caine     Motorbase Ford        12 laps
     Jack Goff         Hard Vauxhall         12 laps
     Mat Jackson       Motorbase Ford         5 laps
     James Cole        Hard Vauxhall          0 laps
     Ollie Jackson     Speedworks Toyota      0 laps*

* S2000