BTCC Snetterton: Colin Turkington takes dominant race one win

The 2014 champion led from pole and used his soft-compound Dunlops to build an early two-second lead over BMR team-mates Aron Smith and Jason Plato.

Turkington bagged fastest lap - and pole for race two - in the process, and managed that gap with ease until the end.

Behind, Smith kept Plato at arm's length as the two Volksagen CCs circulated never more than a second apart, though Plato's attentions were taken up by Andrew Jordan's MG in the closing stages.

Plato, who like Smith will run the softer tyres in race two, was handed a final-lap reprieve when Triple Eight man Jordan had to focus on defending fourth from Andy Priaulx, who put on a late charge in his WSR BMW.

With soft tyres on the 125i M Sport three-time world champion Priaulx had to defend sixth in the early stages, before passing Matt Neal's Honda for fifth at Coram just after the halfway mark.

Priaulx managed his softs perfectly and was a second quicker per lap than any other driver in the closing stages, slashing a three-second gap to Jordan and putting him under pressure on the final lap - though he had to settle for fifth behind the MG.

Neal kept sixth ahead of Adam Morgan, up from outside the top 10 after running well with soft tyres on his Mercedes A-Class and earning third on the race two grid in the process.

Croft race winner Sam Tordoff finished 11th, running the soft tyres in race one to try to grab a strong starting position for race two, a tactic that was rewarded with the second-fastest race lap.

Erstwhile championship leader Gordon Shedden's similar tactic was not as successful.

The Honda driver will start 11th, having wound up 14th in the opener after fading on his soft tyres, though he has at least shed the 75kg success ballast he had to carry in the process.

RACE ONE RESULT

RACE TWO GRID