Colin Turkington takes victory in final Thruxton race

Colin Turkington took the final win of the day in another action-packed race at Thruxton, which featured two safety car periods after two huge accidents at Church for Ollie Jackson and Simon Belcher.

The West Surrey Racing man took the lead from pole-sitter Fabrizio Giovanardi into Church on lap one, and led every lap of the race to take his second win of the season.

Behind him, Mat Jackson rounded off an excellent day in second, passing Giovanardi at the final chicane on lap 16. The Italian hung on in third under pressure from Andrew Jordan, netting his first podium on his return to the BTCC.

But as with race two, the fans were left holding their breath after big accidents for Jackson and Belcher, on lap five and 12 respectively. Both escaped unhurt, with Belcher going off at seemingly unabated speed, before hitting the tyres and rolling his Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis.

Behind the top three, the action was equally frenetic and at times controversial. Eurotech Racing’s Jordan fought through to fourth ahead of Honda Racing Team’s Gordon Shedden, who had appeared to pass Team BMR’s Jack Goff under waved yellow flags at Church.

The yellow flags were waved permanently at Church for the remainder of the race, after the second safety car period.

Goff hung on for sixth, having also dropped behind Jackson under the first safety car; the Ford driver maintaining that he saw a green flag when he passed him.

Completing the top 10, Aron Smith climbed to seventh from 15th, ahead of Adam Morgan, Sam Tordoff and Rob Collard, with the latter involved in a late clash with Matt Neal at the first chicane. Collard dropped back from fifth, while Neal fell all the way to 23rd.

There was equally as much drama at the start, as Collard made contact with Morgan at the complex, possibly after contact from behind. This caused the Mercedes A-Class to slide luridly across the track, and while Morgan collected it up, Triple Eight’s Jason Plato could not avoid him; the ensuing contact breaking Plato’s right rear wheel and caused him to retire.

None of this could distract Turkington, who managed the two safety car restarts perfectly to take a deserved win.