Donington Park BTCC: Adam Morgan wins finale for Ciceley Mercedes
Adam Morgan claimed the Donington Park British Touring Car Championship weekend's final race victory to take Mercedes-Benz's first victory in the series this year
The Ciceley Motorsport driver overhauled initial leader Ash Sutton's Team BMR Subaru Levorg after an early race safety car, but was forced to look to his mirrors over the latter period of the 19 laps as the Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra of Josh Cook raced in his wheeltracks.
The result means Morgan is now second in the points behind Speedworks Toyota Avensis driver Tom Ingram, who took his fully ballasted car to eighth place.
Morgan said: "We had a shocking start to the weekend with contact with our team-mate [Tom Oliphant]. We then had a fifth and now a win - what a return.
"The car was great, although I could feel my front-left tyre going at the end. I had a few scares and Cook was catching me. But I held my nerve."
Behind Morgan and Cook, Aiden Moffat took the bottom step on the rostrum when former leader Sutton's harder tyres held his car back.
Moffat had earlier overtaken Rob Collard's WSR BMW 125i M Sport going into Coppice corner, which was the foundation of his rostrum finish.
He was then able to go after Sutton and he overtook with two laps to go.
Collard and his WSR team-mate Andrew Jordan also managed to jump the Subaru shortly before the end. Matt Neal (Team Dynamics Honda Civic) took seventh place.
The shunt wiped out the team-mates and delayed several others.
Colin Turkington's miserable weekend also continued. An engine change didn't fully cure the car and he started from the pits after a last-minute water pump change. He finished 21st.
Jack Goff, who was second in the points going into the round in his Eurotech Racing Honda Civic, ran onto the grass after going side-by-side in his battle with Chris Smiley's BTC Norlin Honda in the battle for fifth on lap eight. He dropped back as a result and finished 23rd.
Smiley's race ended after he and Dynamics Honda driver Dam Cammish made contact at the Old Hairpin on lap 12, forcing both out.
Race three result - laps 19
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adam Morgan | Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes | 27m15.756s |
| 2 | Josh Cook | Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall | 0.368s |
| 3 | Aiden Moffat | Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes | 9.500s |
| 4 | Rob Collard | WSR | BMW | 10.023s |
| 5 | Andrew Jordan | WSR | BMW | 10.266s |
| 6 | Ash Sutton | Team BMR | Subaru | 11.831s |
| 7 | Matt Neal | Team Dynamics | Honda | 12.109s |
| 8 | Tom Ingram | Speedworks | Toyota | 12.577s |
| 9 | Tom Chilton | Motorbase | Ford | 14.932s |
| 10 | Jake Hill | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 15.147s |
| 11 | Rob Austin | HMS Racing | Alfa Romeo | 18.694s |
| 12 | James Nash | BTC Norlin | Honda | 19.046s |
| 13 | Rory Butcher | AmD Tuning | MG | 19.513s |
| 14 | Matt Simpson | Eurotech Racing | Honda | 22.747s |
| 15 | Mike Bushell | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 24.411s |
| 16 | Ollie Jackson | AmD Tuning | Audi | 25.453s |
| 17 | Stephen Jelley | Team Parker Racing | BMW | 25.647s |
| 18 | Jason Plato | Team BMR | Subaru | 27.450s |
| 19 | Michael Caine | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 28.110s |
| 20 | Bobby Thompson | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 28.497s |
| 21 | Colin Turkington | WSR | BMW | 29.002s |
| 22 | Tom Oliphant | Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes | 38.524s |
| 23 | Jack Goff | Eurotech Racing | Honda | 42.987s |
| 24 | Sam Smelt | AmD Tuning | Audi | 55.817s |
| - | Chris Smiley | BTC Norlin | Honda | Not classified |
| - | Dan Cammish | Team Dynamics | Honda | Retirement |
| - | Tom Boardman | AmD Tuning | MG | Retirement |
| - | Senna Proctor | Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall | Retirement |
| - | Josh Price | Team BMR | Subaru | Retirement |
| - | Brett Smith | Eurotech Racing | Honda | Retirement |
| - | James Cole | Motorbase | Ford | Retirement |
| - | Sam Tordoff | Motorbase | Ford | Retirement |
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