Turkington Keeps His Cool To Claim Race One Win

Team BMW's Colin Turkington converted his first BTCC pole position in over two years into a relatively comfortable race one win, whilst a frenetic contest behind him created plenty of drama.

Adrian Flux Subaru Racing's Ash Sutton snatched second off the line from then championship leader Josh Cook, and the 2017 champion followed Turkington home in steady fashion, whilst Team BMW's Tom Oliphant scored a first ever BTCC podium.

A multiple car accident on lap one led to several retirements and heavy damage to a number of cars as Andrew Jordan's BMW slid sideways on the exit of the Old Hairpin. The Mercedes of Adam Morgan had nowhere to go while Ollie Jackson's Ford, Matt Simpson's Honda and Jake Hill's Audi also crashed out of the action. Stephen Jelley's BMW and Aiden Moffat's Mercedes were caught up in the collision too but both continued.

Unfortunately the contact continued after the restart as Sam Tordoff's Honda bumped with the newer Civic of Josh Cook, leaving the latter with a damaged left rear and out of contention. The incident led to a gaggle of cars vying for position with BTC Racing's Chris Smiley also being shuffled down the order.

A separate incident between Moffat and ROKiT Racing with Motorbase's Nic Hamilton sent the Ford Focus into the wall and a further safety car period was required.

Thankfully things settled down after the restart and Turkington cruised home ahead of Sutton and Oliphant, with the race winner also setting a new lap record of the 1.98-miles circuit.

"Brands Hatch was a difficult weekend for me," said Turkington. "Circumstances went against us and there's no better feeling than winning races. I only won one last year and this is the second now for the new 3 Series. I'm fine tuning it to my style and I'm really liking it. We've come out of the box really fast and close to our potential.

"I'm going to need a few more wins this time! Last year was just points and consistency but as usual, the bar is raised. There are even quicker cars out there and serial wins will be required. 54 kilograms is new territory for us. I've not had weight in the car before and we'll give it our best go."

Halfords Yuasa Racing's Matt Neal headed an eye-catching quartet to claim fourth ahead of Tom Ingram (Toyota), Dan Cammish (Honda) and Smiley (Honda) behind him.

Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher's Tom Chilton now leads the overall standings after finishing in eighth place, whilst the Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing duo of Jason Plato and Rob Collard completed the top ten positions.

2019 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Round 4 – Donington Park

1 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW 19 laps
2 Ashley SUTTON (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +2.254s
3 Tom OLIPHANT (GBR) Team BMW +6.402s
4 Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +8.543s
5 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Team Toyota GB with Ginsters +9.027s
6 Dan CAMMISH (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +9.480s
7 Chris SMILEY (GBR) BTC Racing +9.862s
8 Tom CHILTON (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher +10.899s
9 Jason PLATO (GBR) Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing +12.267s
10 Rob COLLARD (GBR) Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing +12.488s
11 Rory BUTCHER (GBR) Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid/RCIB Insurance +12.722s
12 Senna PROCTOR (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +12.166s
13 Sam TORDOFF (GBR) Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid/RCIB Insurance +20.103s
14 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +20.370s
15 Jack GOFF (GBR) RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport +21.317s
16 Rob SMITH (GBR) Excelr8 Motorsport +25.972s
17 Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team Parker Racing +26.652s
18 Bobby THOMPSON (GBR) GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct 27.156s
19 Daniel ROWBOTTOM (GBR) Cataclean Racing with Ciceley Motorsport +29.120s
20 Carl BOARDLEY (GBR) RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport +33.106s
21 Michael CREES (GBR) GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct +34.276s
22 Sam OSBORNE (GBR) Excelr8 Motorsport +35.186s
23 Mark BLUNDELL (GBR) TradePriceCars.com +35.888s
24 Josh COOK (GBR) BTC Racing +1 lap
25 Nicolas HAMILTON (GBR) ROKiT Racing with Motorbase +12 laps
26 Matt SIMPSON (GBR) Simpson Racing +18 laps
27 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher +19 laps
28 Adam MORGAN (GBR) Mac Tools with Ciceley Motorsport +19 laps
29 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) BMW Pirtek Racing +19 laps
30 Jake HILL (GBR) TradePriceCars.com +19 laps

28th April 2019