Oulton Park BTCC: Colin Turkington leads BMW 1-2 in race one
Colin Turkington led a BMW one-two in the opening British Touring Car race at Oulton Park
The poleman held the lead at the start, with his WSR team-mate Rob Collard slotting into second from row two.
The BMW duo ran together over the opening laps on the International circuit, with Jason Plato's Triple Eight MG gradually falling away.
As the race developed, Turkington's consistency - he was the only man able to lap in the 1m43s for most of the race - took him away from Collard. The 2009 champion thus crossed the line 2.7 seconds clear.
Behind Collard and Plato, Gordon Shedden held off a late charge by Rob Austin's Audi A4 to secure fourth.
A fast-starting Austin had challenged Shedden at Cascades on the opening lap, but lost ground and had to fend off the MG of Sam Tordoff. Austin finally started coming back at Shedden in the closing stages, but ran out of time.
Tordoff took sixth, ahead of the Motorbase Ford Focus of Mat Jackson.
Some way further back, Nick Foster made it three rear-wheel-drive BMWs in the top eight after holding a gaggle of cars behind him for much of the encounter.
At one stage the group contained 10 cars, but the only change of position came when Matt Neal managed to dive past Alain Menu into Lodge on the final lap to secure 13th.
Reigning champion Andrew Jordan, carrying 45kg of success ballast, struggled. He fell from 13th to 15th on the opening lap and failed to make progress in the pack behind Foster.
Results - 12 laps:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Colin Turkington WSR BMW 20m49.803
2. Rob Collard WSR BMW +2.692s
3. Jason Plato MG +5.429s
4. Gordon Shedden Honda +7.628s
5. Rob Austin RAR Audi +8.357s
6. Sam Tordoff MG +12.275s
7. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford +13.378s
8. Nick Foster WSR BMW +18.194s
9. Tom Ingram Speedworks Toyota +19.471s
10. Marc Hynes MG +19.810s
11. Fabrizio Giovanardi Motorbase Ford +20.319s
12. Aron Smith BMR VW +20.743s
13. Matt Neal Honda +21.255s
14. Alain Menu BMR VW +21.824s
15. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda +22.631s
16. Jack Goff BMR Vauxhall +23.732s
17. Dave Newsham AmD Ford +24.086s
18. Adam Morgan Ciceley Mercedes +27.390s
19. James Cole UA Toyota +29.123s
20. Jack Clarke Motorbase Ford +30.230s
21. Glynn Geddie UA Toyota +36.254s
22. Lea Wood Houseman Toyota +39.460s
23. Warren Scott BMR Vauxhall +46.718s
24. Hunter Abbott RAR Audi +46.942s
25. Robb Holland Rotek Audi +1m00.766s
26. Simon Belcher Handy Toyota +1m08.670s
27. Daniel Welch Welch Proton +1m11.429s
Retirements:
Martin Depper Eurotech Honda 11 laps
Ollie Jackson Welch Proton 2 laps
Aiden Moffat Moffat Chevrolet 1 lap
Chris Stockton BTC Chevrolet 1 lap
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