Rob Collard takes first win of year in Knockhill finale

West Surrey Racing’s Rob Collard took his first win of the season in the final race at Knockhill, with Dave Newsham scoring AmD Tuning’s first podium and best ever result in second.

In a race three which was unusually quiet by recent standards, Collard completed a superb recovery effort after starting last for the first race, coming through from sixth on the grid in the finale to win by more than six seconds.

And completing an excellent race for WSR, Colin Turkington extended his championship lead in third, just holding off charging team-mate Nick Foster.

Eurotech Racing’s Andrew Jordan finished fifth from 11th on the grid ahead of Gordon Shedden who was sixth from 12th, with Adam Morgan, Alain Menu, Tom Ingram and Jason Plato completing the top 10.

After a clean start, Collard made what turned out to be the decisive pass on Newsham at the hairpin on lap one, before passing Fabrizio Giovanardi in an opportunist move on lap two.

The Italian had tried to pass Foster around the outside of the hairpin but left the door open on the inside, allowing Collard to sneak through and power past the Motorbase Performance man along the pit straight.

Newsham passed Giovanardi at the hairpin on lap three, before Turkington made a move at Clark’s on lap six and the pair ran wide, allowing Morgan through.

Collard took the lead from Foster at Duffus Dip on lap eight, before Turkington re-passed Morgan at Clark’s and both Newsham and Ingram passed Foster.

The only real controversy came on lap 10, when Giovanardi and Neal made contact at Clark’s, with the resultant damage putting the Ford Focus out. Then Jason Plato made contact with Rob Austin at the hairpin, causing the Audi A4 to retire with damage.

Turkington moved up to third past Ingram on lap 12, as the Speedworks Motorsport man dropped down the top 10, but Collard was serene out in front.