Colin Turkington takes first win of the season in Donington thriller

Colin Turkington followed in his team-mate’s footsteps as he took a commanding victory in race two at Donington Park to give the BTCC its fifth different winner in as many races.

Turkington won the race a clear 2.501 seconds ahead of Honda’s Matt Neal, despite a late race charge from the three-time champion, who fought his way up through the top positions, including an impressive three-wide move on Adam Morgan and Andrew Jordan at the chicane in the latter stages of the race.

The battle for third saw a thrilling dice, starting with Morgan and Jordan continuing on from their battle with Neal, with Rob Collard, Jason Plato and Josh Cook joining the party in the closing laps.

The race began with a physical battle between Turkington and Gordon Shedden, allowing Jordan to jump up in to second before the safety car made its first appearance of the day, as Alex Martin sent Warren Scott in to the gravel trap at the Old Hairpin, ending the encounter for the Team BMR owner.

It was plain sailing for Turkington from there on, getting the jump on Jordan from the restart and never looking back. Meanwhile, Gordon Shedden found his rear view mirrors full of the yellow and black Mercedes of Morgan, which in turn allowed Jack Goff, Rob Collard and Matt Neal to join the fray for the final podium spot.

By the time Morgan was able to get close enough to put a move on Shedden, Goff had closed right up and the three attempted to make Redgate alongside, with Morgan coming off best and Neal capitalising on the action to jump up to fourth. It was less of a success story for the Honda of Shedden however, who began to suffer from the soft tyre and dropped down the field, eventually finishing in 14th.

Jordan also began to start losing pace with the soft tyres, although not to the extent of Shedden, but enough to have Morgan and Neal on his back bumper by lap 14, with the three trying to go three wide at the chicane. Morgan would lose out as he was pushed wide on to the grass by Neal, who found himself in second and with a chance to hunt down Turkington.

Neal was only able to halve Turkington’s lead in the final five laps, while Morgan, Jordan and Collard diced for third, slowing them up in to the grasp of Jason Plato. After a series of physical corners, Morgan won the war and came out in third ahead of Jordan, Plato and Collard.

Josh Cook continued the good day for Power Maxed Racing as he took seventh place, with Goff, Sam Tordoff and Andy Priaulx rounding out the top ten.

There were mechanical issues for Mike Bushell and Dan Welch, with both visiting the pitlane throughout the race, while Alex Martin came in to fix the damage after his incident with Scott at the Old Hairpin.

Following the draw for the race three grid, the top seven will be reversed, meaning Josh Cook will line up on pole alongside Rob Collard.