Turkington takes narrow victory

Having taken the lead off the line from second on the grid, WSR BMW driver Turkington was forced to fight a stern rearguard action against the Dealer Team UK-run version of Jackson all race long.

After passing Jason Plato around the outside at Druids on the opening lap, Jackson latched onto the tail of Turkington and stayed there until mounting a determined charge with a handful of laps left.

With his headlights ablaze, Jackson lined up Turkington through Surtees and attempted to make a move around the outside through Clearways on the final lap. Turkington was wise to it though and, without contact, forced his rival to put two wheels on the grass on the outside and give way.

All that was left was for the Ulsterman was to power to the finish line and his 10th BTCC win, making his charge from the back in race two all the more worthwhile after his rear-axle problems in the opening encounter.

Matt Neal completed the podium in his Vauxhall after passing the Eurotech Honda of polesitter Mike Jordan on the inside at Clearways on the penultimate lap.

Fabrizio Giovanardi, who won the first two races of the day, finished sixth behind Plato's SEAT and saw his championship lead cut from 10 points to two by Jackson, who also collected the bonus point for fastest lap.

Giovanardi had to call on all his racecraft to keep Tom Chilton's Honda behind him. The Team Dynamics racer had charged up from the back after his race two retirement and finished seventh, ahead of Matt Allison's Robertshaw Chevrolet.

Andrew Jordan took his first BTCC points in ninth for Eurotech with Stephen Jelley doing likewise in 10th for WSR.

Earlier on, Tom Onslow-Cole was lucky to emerge unscathed after being pitched into the wall on the Cooper straight at high-speed and destroying his Vauxhall. Onslow-Cole speared off the track after being tagged by Gordon Shedden, who was rubbing panels with Plato at the time.

Darren Turner and Gordon Shedden were both retired in separate incidents at Druids during the race.

Pos Driver                 Car              Gap
 1. Colin Turkington       BMW          27 laps                
 2. Mat Jackson            BMW           +0.882                 
 3. Matt Neal              Vauxhall      +1.417                
 4. Mike Jordan            Honda         +1.747                 
 5. Jason Plato            SEAT          +4.700                 
 6. Fabrizio Giovanardi    Vauxhall      +8.263         
 7. Tom Chilton            Honda         +8.478                 
 8. Matt Allison           Chevrolet    +11.543               
 9. Andrew Jordan          Honda        +12.287                
10. Stephen Jelley         BMW          +12.415                
11. Rob Collard            BMW          +14.846                
12. John George            Honda        +21.709                
13. Jason Hughes           MG           +25.436        
14. Harry Vaulkhard        Chevrolet    +27.400               
15. Michael Doyle          Honda        +31.612                
16. Martyn Bell            Vauxhall     +32.658        
17. Erkut Kizilirmak       Vauxhall     +43.579        
18. Adam Jones             SEAT          +1 lap                 

Not classified

    Alan Taylor            Honda         9 laps
    Gordon Shedden         Honda         7 laps
    Tom Onslow-Cole        Vauxhall      0 laps
    Darren Turner          SEAT          0 Laps

Fastest lap - Jackson, 49.588s on lap 12