Knockhill BTCC: Rob Collard battles to win for WSR BMW
Rob Collard battled through to win the opening British Touring Car Championship race at Knockhill
It was another WSR BMW 125i M Sport that led into Duffus Dip for the first time as Andy Priaulx held onto his pole advantage, while the third BMW of Sam Tordoff fluffed its lines from second on the grid and fell to third behind Mat Jackson.
The Motorbase Ford Focus man needed little time to get to the front, passing Priaulx into the hairpin at the end of the first lap and then edged out a near-three-second lead after half a dozen laps.
As he made good his escape Collard, who surprisingly had made no progress from fourth on the grid at the start but nipped ahead of Tordoff later on in the opening lap, was harrying Priaulx for second.
A brief safety-car period bunched the leaders up but when it ended a lap later, Jackson pushed his lead back up above a second - though the rear-wheel drive BMWs came back at him once their soft tyres were back up to temperature.
Jackson defended gamely, keeping Priaulx at bay without too much difficulty, but the pressure turned into contact when Priaulx tried to get around the outside of the Ford exiting the hairpin at three-quarters' distance.
Priaulx went onto the grass briefly, allowing Collard into second - and a lap later he cut underneath Jackson exiting the same corner and took the lead into Duffus Dip.
He retained his advantage to the flag, finishing 1.7s clear of Jackson who expertly fought off Priaulx to mark Motorbase's second meeting of the season with a fine second - and claimed pole for race two with the race's fastest lap.
Behind the podium trio Tordoff recovered to fourth, flying in the final stages after losing ground early on while those on soft tyres swarmed all over his medium-shod BMW.
He passed the Honda of Matt Neal, Rob Austin's Audi and Gordon Shedden in the second Honda in quick succession to vault from seventh to fourth in the space of two laps, and pulled well clear of that battle by the race's end.
Home hero Shedden eventually triumphed in the fight for fifth, keeping a charging Austin at bay throughout.
By backing up Austin, Shedden helped team-mate Neal jump the Audi A4 for sixth on the final lap.
Andrew Jordan's MG, Adam Morgan's Ciceley Mercedes and the lead Team BMR Volkswagen CC of Colin Turkington completed the top 10.
Jason Plato opted to start the race from the back of the grid, having backed off on the formation lap.
He cruised round on the opening lap, and again immediately after the safety car, and ultimately set the ninth-best time to give him some hope of points in races two and three.
RESULTS - 25 LAPS:
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Rob Collard | WSR | BMW | 22m43.347s |
2 | Mat Jackson | Motorbase | Ford | 1.720s |
3 | Andy Priaulx | WSR | BMW | 1.891s |
4 | Sam Tordoff | WSR | BMW | 2.734s |
5 | Gordon Shedden | Honda | Honda | 7.820s |
6 | Matt Neal | Honda | Honda | 7.925s |
7 | Rob Austin | Rob Austin Racing | Audi | 8.060s |
8 | Andrew Jordan | MG | MG | 11.128s |
9 | Adam Morgan | Ciceley Racing | Mercedes | 11.762s |
10 | Colin Turkington | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 15.593s |
11 | Jack Goff | MG | MG | 15.772s |
12 | Jeff Smith | Eurotech | Honda | 17.354s |
13 | Warren Scott | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 22.315s |
14 | Martin Depper | Eurotech | Honda | 27.282s |
15 | Mike Bushell | AmD | Ford | 31.678s |
16 | Josh Cook | Power Maxed | Chevrolet | 31.686s |
17 | James Cole | Motorbase | Ford | 32.381s |
18 | Dave Newsham | Power Maxed | Chevrolet | 37.459s |
19 | Robb Holland | Handy Motorsport | Toyota | 43.378s |
20 | Alex Martin | Team Parker | Ford | 47.716s |
21 | Daniel Welch | Welch Motorsport | Proton | 48.120s |
22 | Aiden Moffat | Aiden Moffat Racing | Mercedes | 49.683s |
23 | Jason Plato | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 1 Lap |
24 | Stewart Lines | Houseman Racing | Toyota | 1 Lap |
25 | Aron Taylor-Smith | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 3 Laps |
- | Tom Ingram | Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota | Retirement |
- | Kieran Gallagher | Team Hard | Toyota | Retirement |
- | Derek Palmer Jr. | Infiniti | Infiniti | Retirement |
- | Hunter Abbott | Rob Austin Racing | Audi | Not started |
RACE TWO STARTING GRID:
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Mat Jackson | Motorbase | Ford | 52.424s | - |
2 | Gordon Shedden | Honda | Honda | 52.429s | 0.005s |
3 | Rob Austin | Rob Austin Racing | Audi | 52.482s | 0.058s |
4 | Rob Collard | WSR | BMW | 52.530s | 0.106s |
5 | Andrew Jordan | MG | MG | 52.549s | 0.125s |
6 | Sam Tordoff | WSR | BMW | 52.565s | 0.141s |
7 | Colin Turkington | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 52.674s | 0.250s |
8 | Jason Plato | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 52.675s | 0.251s |
9 | Andy Priaulx | WSR | BMW | 52.677s | 0.253s |
10 | Matt Neal | Honda | Honda | 52.740s | 0.316s |
11 | Jeff Smith | Eurotech | Honda | 52.812s | 0.388s |
12 | Aiden Moffat | Aiden Moffat Racing | Mercedes | 52.834s | 0.410s |
13 | Dave Newsham | Power Maxed | Chevrolet | 52.890s | 0.466s |
14 | Adam Morgan | Ciceley Racing | Mercedes | 52.999s | 0.575s |
15 | Martin Depper | Eurotech | Honda | 53.035s | 0.611s |
16 | James Cole | Motorbase | Ford | 53.063s | 0.639s |
17 | Aron Taylor-Smith | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 53.172s | 0.748s |
18 | Josh Cook | Power Maxed | Chevrolet | 53.279s | 0.855s |
19 | Warren Scott | Team BMR | Volkswagen | 53.545s | 1.121s |
20 | Mike Bushell | AmD | Ford | 53.621s | 1.197s |
21 | Stewart Lines | Houseman Racing | Toyota | 53.842s | 1.418s |
22 | Daniel Welch | Welch Motorsport | Proton | 53.892s | 1.468s |
23 | Robb Holland | Handy Motorsport | Toyota | 53.919s | 1.495s |
24 | Alex Martin | Team Parker | Ford | 54.258s | 1.834s |
25 | Tom Ingram | Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota | 52.569s | 0.145s |
26 | Kieran Gallagher | Team Hard | Toyota | 54.355s | 1.931s |
27 | Derek Palmer Jr. | Infiniti | Infiniti | 53.707s | 1.283s |
28 | Jack Goff | MG | MG | 53.043s | 0.619s |
Set by race one fastest laps
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