Brands Hatch BTCC: Colin Turkington wins reversed-grid finale
Colin Turkington won a dramatic reversed-grid British Touring Car Championship race at Brands Hatch
Rob Collard led WSR BMW team-mates Nick Foster and Turkington away from the start, but the 2009 champion had the greater pace.
Turkington dived by Foster into Paddock on lap two and then kissed Collard's car at Clearways a few laps later to carve an opening into Paddock Hill Bend.
The WSR BMW 1-2-3 was broken when Foster had to serve a drive-through penalty for starting out of position, leaving the Honda Civic Tourers of Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden in third and fourth.
They were able to close up thanks to a safety car after Alain Menu's BMR VW Passat and the Speedworks Toyota Avensis of Tom Ingram made contact, leaving Ingram in the wall.
On a charge after the restart was Jason Plato, who took Adam Morgan's Mercedes for fifth with a move at Paddock.
He soon duplicated the effort on Shedden to snatch fourth, but found Neal a more defensive prospect as both closed on Collard, now struggling on his soft rubber.
The Honda and MG both made it by the BMW with three laps to go, but catching all three were the leading hard tyre runners: Mat Jackson, Menu and Jack Goff.
Menu managed to overtake Jackson and then overcame Shedden going onto the final lap to complete his BTCC comeback weekend with fifth, just behind Collard.
Fabrizio Giovanardi finished 16th after an off on lap one, while Andrew Jordan struggled to 13th to retain a two-point lead over Neal. Turkington's 25th BTCC victory puts him just one point behind Neal.
Results - 27 laps: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Colin Turkington WSR BMW 24m21.546s 2. Matt Neal Honda +1.114s 3. Jason Plato MG +1.446s 4. Rob Collard WSR BMW +2.432s 5. Alain Menu BMR VW +2.660s 6. Gordon Shedden Honda +3.378s 7. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford +3.550s 8. Jack Goff BMR Vauxhall +3.803s 9. Dave Newsham AmD Ford +6.395s 10. Adam Morgan Ciceley Mercedes +8.728s 11. Rob Austin RAR Audi +9.632s 12. Sam Tordoff MG +10.173s 13. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda +10.761s 14. James Cole UA Toyota +11.184s 15. Hunter Abbott RAR Audi +13.357s 16. Fabrizio Giovanardi Motorbase Ford +13.548s 17. Jack Clarke Motorbase Ford +19.228s 18. Marc Hynes MG +19.461s 19. Nick Foster WSR BMW +19.838s 20. Robb Holland Rotek Audi +20.336s 21. Simon Belcher Speedworks Toyota +24.898s 22. Ollie Jackson Welch Proton +26.349s 23. Warren Scott BMR Vauxhall +31.083s 24. Aiden Moffat Moffat Chevrolet +1 lap 25. Glynn Geddie Speedworks Toyota +3 laps 26. Chris Stockton BTC Chevrolet +5 laps Retirements: Aron Smith BMR VW 15 laps Tom Ingram Speedworks Toyota 11 laps Lea Wood Houseman Toyota 6 laps Martin Depper Eurotech Honda 0 laps
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