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Croft BTCC: Rob Collard completes WSR BMW's win hat-trick

Rob Collard made it three wins and a third different winner for the WSR BMW team in the British Touring Car Championship round at Croft

Race-one winner Andy Priaulx completed a second one-two of the day for the team with a last-lap pass on Gordon Shedden, who led for the majority of the finale.

The Honda driver was third into Clervaux for the first time as Collard led away from pole and Priaulx jumped the Civic Type-R off the line, but muscled his way back ahead of the three-time world champion through Hawthorns.

Collard resisted Shedden's first attack for the lead at the hairpin on lap two but defended too deep at Tower next time round and allowed Shedden to get by into the Jim Clark Esses.

The 2012 champion edged clear over the next few laps but as his soft tyres faded Collard, who ran the faster-degrading Dunlops in race one, began to close.

With three laps to go Collard attacked into Clervaux and Hawthorns, getting past before the chicane, which Shedden cut in avoidance.

As Collard streaked clear for the victory Shedden fell into the clutches of Priaulx, who attacked fiercely on the final lap before cutting underneath the Honda at the first part of the Complex and sliding across beautifully before the hairpin to nick second.

Colin Turkington beat Jason Plato in the battle between the two Team BMR Volkswagen CCs for fourth, but neither looked like having the pace to challenge the leading three.

Plato's attentions were largely required to deal with Sam Tordoff, who despite carrying 75kgs for his race-two win looked quicker than the VW but could not force a way past.

He briefly slipped behind Matt Neal, but the Honda slipped back from sixth in the closing stages and ended up ninth.

His decline elevated Tom Ingram to seventh as the Speedworks Toyota man capped a very strong day in his Avensis by keeping MG's Jack Goff at bay in the closing stages.

Shedden's podium extended his lead in the drivers' championship to 10 points over Plato, while Andrew Jordan non-finished and has dropped to sixth, 39 points in arrears.

RESULTS - 15 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Rob Collard WSR BMW 21m45.389s
2 Andy Priaulx WSR BMW 7.249s
3 Gordon Shedden Honda Honda 7.973s
4 Colin Turkington Team BMR Volkswagen 10.585s
5 Jason Plato Team BMR Volkswagen 11.551s
6 Sam Tordoff WSR BMW 11.732s
7 Tom Ingram Speedworks Motorsport Toyota 13.641s
8 Jack Goff MG MG 15.313s
9 Matt Neal Honda Honda 17.568s
10 Warren Scott Team BMR Volkswagen 22.364s
11 Dave Newsham Power Maxed Chevrolet 25.576s
12 Aron Taylor-Smith Team BMR Volkswagen 31.251s
13 Aiden Moffat Aiden Moffat Racing Mercedes 38.411s
14 Jeff Smith Eurotech Honda 38.707s
15 Josh Cook Power Maxed Chevrolet 39.299s
16 Hunter Abbott Rob Austin Racing Audi 40.244s
17 Martin Depper Eurotech Honda 40.481s
18 Simon Belcher Handy Motorsport Toyota 44.935s
19 Derek Palmer Jr. Infiniti Infiniti 45.124s
20 Max Coates Infiniti Infiniti 45.682s
21 Daniel Welch Welch Motorsport Proton 51.326s
22 Nicolas Hamilton AmD Audi 1m02.070s
23 Adam Morgan Ciceley Racing Mercedes 1m05.467s
24 Stewart Lines Houseman Racing Toyota 1 Lap
25 Alex Martin Team Parker Ford 2 Laps
- Rob Austin Rob Austin Racing Audi Retirement
- Andrew Jordan MG MG Retirement
- Andy Wilmot Welch Motorsport Proton Retirement
- Mike Bushell AmD Ford Not started

DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP:

Pos Driver Points
1 Gordon Shedden 195
2 Jason Plato 185
3 Matt Neal 173
4 Sam Tordoff 162
5 Colin Turkington 161
6 Andrew Jordan 156
7 Adam Morgan 128
8 Rob Collard 127
9 Andy Priaulx 126
10 Jack Goff 124
11 Aron Taylor-Smith 101
12 Tom Ingram 92
13 Josh Cook 54
14 Rob Austin 51
15 Dave Newsham 46
16 Aiden Moffat 38
17 Martin Depper 25
18 Jeff Smith 22
19 Hunter Abbott 19
20 Warren Scott 17
21 Mike Bushell 2
22 Simon Belcher 1
23 Daniel Welch 1
24 Kieran Gallagher 1


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