Colin Turkington wins the first race at Knockhill

West Surrey Racing driver Colin Turkington has taken the win at the first race of the day at Knockhill, finishing ahead of the Honda of Gordon Shedden with Rob Austin’s Audi taking the final spot on the podium.

Rob Austin led the way at the start after claiming pole position on Saturday, but was unable to hold off Turkington, who was able to pass down the inside at the hairpin on the second lap and began to pull away.

Honda’s Matt Neal made contact with Jason Plato’s MG at Clark Curve on lap three, but Plato was able to hold on to the slide and kept the position ahead of the three-time champion, whilst Neal’s team-mate Gordon Shedden was able to get ahead of Austin at the same corner on the following lap under braking, making slight contact as he went past on the inside.

Neal seemed to lose pace after the contact with Plato, and was passed by the Cicely Racing Toyota of Adam Morgan for fifth at the hairpin on lap seven.

At the end of lap eight, Tony Gilham Racing’s Paul O’Neill was spun out of 16th place coming out of the final corner by the West Surrey Racing BMW of Nick Foster, and clouted the barrier at the entry to the pits, bringing out the only safety car of the race.

After the restart, Turkington began to rebuild his lead whist Shedden and Austin battled over second position.

Unable to keep with them, Triple Eight MG driver Plato lost fourth to Adam Morgan after the 24-year-old gave him a helpful tap out of the final corner on lap 17, but this position was handed back after the race with the stewards applying a 2.5 second penalty for the manoeuvre.

Turkington’s West Surrey Racing team-mate Rob Collard was also able to pick off a few more positions in the final few laps, passing the Eurotech Honda of Andrew Jordan for seventh at the end of lap 21 and then passing Matt Neal for sixth three laps later.

Shedden fell back into the clutches of Austin’s Audi during the final few laps, but the pole sitter was unable to find a way past, with Shedden holding on to second and adding 17 points to his tally in the championship, whilst Turkington took the fastest lap and the win to take the maximum of 22 points.

Liam Griffin took his fifth win in the Jack Sears Trophy with 17th overall in his Motorbase Performance Ford Focus, and is now just four cups behind Trophy leader Lea Wood.

Turkington’s victory sees the gap to Matt Neal at the lead of the championship reduced to 24 points. Neal extends his lead to ten points over Jordan, whilst Shedden is now just 14 points behind.

The second race of the day takes place at 14:17 BST.

Updated at 14:16 BST with Adam Morgan’s penalty