Turkington wins chaotic Croft opener

The Team RAC driver prevailed in his BMW, grabbing the lead from Gordon Shedden when the Team Halfords Honda driver slid wide at the hairpin in what was the last corner before the order was frozen.

Shedden finished third behind Vauxhall's Matt Neal, who also nipped by on the run to the finish line.

The race initially got underway with second-row man Jason Plato starting from the pit-lane after aquaplaning into the gravel at Clervaux while heading from the pits and to the grid.

Shedden grabbed the lead from Plato's team-mate Darren Turner, and the SEAT driver soon dropped to the back of the field after ploughing straight on into the field at Tower on the first lap.

The standing water at the entry to Tower continued to cause problems. Stephen Jelley crashed there on lap three, prompting the marshals to come out and clear his car. Alan Taylor, who was further down the field, aquaplaned off at the same corner 20 seconds later, hitting and injuring one of the marshals - although not seriously - and forcing a red flag.

The re-start order was set from the previous lap, meaning that Jackson, who had taken the lead from Shedden with a sensational move around the outside at the Jim Clark Esses, had to drop back behind the Scotsman on the new grid.

The restart was due to be an eight-lap race without aggregate times. Jackson made the best of his rear-wheel drive to take a huge lead into turn one, but slid off at Tower and dropped to the rear of the field.

He wasn't the only one to be caught out by the conditions. Tom Chilton and Tom Onslow-Cole went off as well, with the Team Halfords driver failing to get going and bringing out the safety car.

Turkington and Neal to grabbed first and second from Shedden as the leading trio across the line for the last time under green flag conditions as worsening rain forced a result to be declared after two laps.

Fabrizio Giovanardi held his nerve to finish fourth from 12th on the grid for Vauxhall, while Rob Collard took his and Motorbase's best finish of the year in fifth in his BMW.

Mike Jordan and Steven Kane were next up with Adam Jones eighth and increasing his lead of the Independents' championship in his Team Air-Cool SEAT.

Michael Doyle took ninth and the best finish of his career in his In-Tune Racing Honda, while Andrew Jordan completed the top 10 in the second of the Eurotech Integras.

Pos Driver                  Car                Time
 1. Colin Turkington        BMW            4:07.301
 2. Matt Neal               Vauxhall         +1.007
 3. Gordon Shedden          Honda            +1.973
 4. Fabrizio Giovanardi     Vauxhall         +3.161
 5. Rob Collard             BMW              +4.182
 6. Mike Jordan             Honda            +5.078
 7. Steven Kane             BMW              +6.303
 8. Adam Jones              SEAT             +7.276
 9. Michael Doyle           Honda            +7.858
10. Andrew Jordan           Honda            +8.619
11. Chris Stockton          SEAT             +9.663
12. Jason Plato             SEAT            +10.323
13. Harry Vaulkhard         Chevrolet       +11.229
14. Jason Hughes            Honda           +13.069
15. Darren Turner           SEAT            +13.644
16. Erkut Kizilirmak        Vauxhall        +15.059
17. John George             Honda           +15.746
18. Mat Jackson             BMW             +16.267
19. Tom Onslow-Cole         Vauxhall        +17.169
20. Martyn Bell             Vauxhall        +18.173
21. Stuart Oliver           SEAT            +35.813


Retirements:
    Driver                  Car                Laps
    Alan Taylor             Honda            0 laps
    Stephen Jelley          BMW              0 laps
    Tom Chilton             Honda            0 laps


Fastest lap, Turkington 1:51.885 on lap 1