Motorbase Performance's Ollie Jackson claimed a second career Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship victory, whilst the title contenders kicked off behind him in the final encounter at Snetterton.
Jackson made one of the moves of the season on the opening lap as he held on around the outside and eventually tucked in ahead of Adam Morgan in the Carlube TripleR Racing with Mac Tools Mercedes. Morgan kept Jackson honest throughout, whilst also holding the chasing pack at bay, but it wasn't enough to prevent the Motorbase man from taking another impressive and hard earned win.
Colin Turkington concluded one of the best weekends of his BTCC career by claiming an unexpected podium – following his earlier win double – as Rory Butcher's Ford Focus crashed into the Toyota Corolla of Tom Ingram on the final corner.
Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with Ginsters' Ingram had been reeling in Butcher's #6 machine in the latter stages and eventually made his move through Coram on the last lap. The initial tap seemingly came from the Corolla through the right hander but as Butcher's Focus skated across the grass he then returned to the track and slammed into Ingram's car at Murrays.
Turkington scampered past and was followed home by fellow contender Ash Sutton in the Laser Tools Racing Infiniti Q50, whilst Butcher crawled home in fifth.
Halfords Yuasa Racing's Dan Cammish claimed sixth, but he was one of many drivers to get stuck behind pole-sitter Chris Smiley in the Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai. Northern Irishman Smiley defended extremely heavily from the likes of Sutton and Turkington, but it was Cammish who would eventually see off his effort as he tapped into the rear of the Excelr8 man.
BTC Racing's Josh Cook suffered damage in an earlier skirmish with Cammish but he also jumped the recovering Ingram across the line to take eighth, whilst MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square's Jake Hill and Excelr8 Motorsport's Senna Proctor completed the top ten.
Ollie Jackson said: "The first win was really emotional. This one just feels brilliant – I feel like a race winner already! It’s a great feeling again. I used to win races back in Caterhams obviously. But I think once you get back into the feeling of winning races again it’s definitely something that gave me the confidence to push forward today. It’s fantastic after a pretty unlucky first race when we have the pace, I wasn’t expecting to have such a great end to the day.
"I got a good start again, a good launch then managed to get the tyres switched on right away and it looked like Adam was struggling a little bit to start off with, so I just took advantage and hung on to it for the rest of it.
"I was just focussing on the track, getting the lines right and placing my car. Adam definitely had the pace on me towards the end. His car was probably set up to work in the second half of the race and mine was for the first half. All I had to do was focus. He gave me a good old push for the last few laps but thankfully I just held on."
Adam Morgan said: "That was pretty tough! The car was a little bit loose through turn one and normally that’s a good corner to set up to overtake into turn two, but without the grip, I left myself pretty open to attacks from Rory. It's a mega result for the boys, the team have worked faultlessly this weekend and the cars been absolutely on it. I’m just really chuffed for everyone at Carlube TripleR Racing with Mac Tools.
"Ollie is a strong defender. He knows what to do with the car and where to put it. He drove faultlessly, didn’t make a mistake. That move around the outside of me on Agostini on the first lap, I’ll lose some sleep over that tonight. Overall though, a really great weekend and well done to Ollie."
Colin Turkington said: "A big surprise for me, but when it’s going your way, it’s going your way and today was perfect, three podiums, though obviously I inherited the last one. I could see there was a pretty hefty tussle going on between Tom and Rory. I could see it kicking off and just kept telling myself ‘keep your eyes on the road and don’t go off after them’.
"I’m very pleased with my weekend, I had excellent pace in the third race with the weight so I would have been happy with P5 from where I started. Top job by Team BMW once again.
"I just knew I had to fight for every point and every position before we go to Brands Hatch. It’s going to be the great unknown, so I wanted to have as many points in the bag as possible. I was stuck in a train for quite a while behind Tom Ingram and then behind Ash, but I tried to be patient, make the right moves and stay out of trouble. It went my way today, it didn’t at Croft, but it’s nice to fight back. I’ll leave Snetterton very happy tonight."
2020 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Race 3 – Snetterton
1 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) Motorbase Performance 12 laps
2 Adam MORGAN (GBR) Carlube TripleR Racing with Mac Tools +0.217s
3 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +4.872s
4 Ashley SUTTON (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +6.312s
5 Rory BUTCHER (GBR) Motorbase Performance +8.195s
6 Dan CAMMISH (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +9.194s
7 Josh COOK (GBR) BTC Racing +9.782s
8 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with Ginsters +9.934s
9 Jake HILL (GBR) MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square +13.758s
10 Senna PROCTOR (GBR) Excelr8 Motorsport +16.544s
11 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +17.167s
12 Tom OLIPHANT (GBR) Team BMW +17.561s
13 Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +20.891s
14 Michael CREES (GBR) The Clever Baggers with BTC Racing +21.443s
15 Glynn GEDDIE (GBR) RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport +28.737s
16 Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team Parker Racing +29.716s
17 Tom CHILTON (GBR) BTC Racing +30.859s
18 Carl BOARDLEY (GBR) HUB Financial Solutions with Team HARD +34.649s
19 Jack GOFF (GBR) RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport +35.046s
20 Jessica HAWKINS (GBR) Power Maxed Car Care Racing +40.032s
21 Paul RIVETT (GBR) GKR TradePriceCars.com +40.322s
22 Ethan HAMMERTON (GBR) GKR TradePriceCars.com +44.761s
23 Chris SMILEY (GBR) Excelr8 Motorsport +47.177s
24 Jack BUTEL (GBR) Carlube TripleR Racing with Mac Tools +50.883s
25 Andy NEATE (GBR) Motorbase Performance DNF
26 Sam OSBORNE (GBR) MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square DNF
More to follow...
