Knockhill BTCC: Colin Turkington dominates race one
Colin Turkington dominated the opening British Touring Car Championship round at Knockhill to bring his WSR-run BMW 1 Series home more than three seconds clear of the field
The Northern Irishman assumed the lead during an audacious three-wide overtaking move into the hairpin at the end of the second lap and he did not look back.
He held firm despite a mid-race safety car period to claim his fourth win of the season and his first ever at the Fife circuit.
With the BMW clear, attention centred around the fight for second position as Gordon Shedden's works Honda battled with the soft-tyred Audi A4 of polesitter Rob Austin.
The Honda pulled clear initially but Austin's car came on strong again over the closing stages to finish on the bootlid of the Civic.
Further back, Ciceley Racing Toyota Avensis driver Adam Morgan had one of his strongest races of the season. He unseated both the works Honda of Matt Neal and the MG of Jason Plato to secure fourth place. He was closing in on the battle for second position at the flag.
Plato came home in fifth despite two nudges - the first involving Neal and the second with Morgan - ahead of Rob Collard's WSR BMW.
Neal was seventh from Andrew Jordan's Eurotech Honda Civic.
The mid-race safety car period, which lasted for five laps, was caused when Paul O'Neill hit the barriers on the exit of the hairpin on lap nine after a clash with Nick Foster's WSR BMW.
In the Jack Sears Trophy, Liam Griffin lifted the spoils in his Ford Focus after fending off Lea Wood's Vauxhall Vectra to the flag.
Results - 27 laps: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Colin Turkington WSR BMW 26m41.180s 2. Gordon Shedden Honda +3.452s 3. Rob Austin Austin Audi +4.229s 4. Adam Morgan Ciceley Toyota +4.864s 5. Jason Plato MG +6.867s 6. Rob Collard WSR BMW +7.939s 7. Matt Neal Honda +11.386s 8. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda +11.510s 9. Sam Tordoff MG +15.183s 10. Aron Smith Motorbase Ford +17.975s 11. Dave Newsham Speedworks Toyota +18.300s 12. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford +20.125s 13. Tom Onslow-Cole Hard VW +20.631s 14. Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota +23.044s 15. Ollie Jackson Speedworks Toyota +24.715s 16. Nick Foster WSR BMW +25.233s 17. Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford +36.607s* 18. Mike Bushell IP Chevrolet +36.846s 19. Lea Wood Wood Vauxhall +37.428s* 20. Will Bratt Austin Audi +1 lap 21. Aiden Moffat Finesse Chevrolet +1 lap* 22. Kieran Gallagher Hard Vauxhall +2 laps Retirements: David Nye Welch Ford 26 laps* Daniel Welch Welch Proton 25 laps Paul O'Neill Hard Vauxhall 7 laps Warren Scott BMR VW 0 laps * S2000
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About this article
| Series | BTCC |
| Drivers | Colin Turkington , Jake Hill |
| Teams | BTC Racing |
| Author | Matt James |
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