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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