Rob Austin takes popular win in Rockingham finale

Rob Austin led comfortably from start to finish to take a popular win in the final race at Rockingham, mirroring his victory from last year, while Alain Menu took the first podium of his BTCC return in second.

Austin got the jump on Team BMR’s Menu at the start and led every lap, maintaining a gap of around two seconds to the Volkswagen CC throughout, while Eurotech Racing’s Andrew Jordan drove an impressive defensive race to take third, holding off a train of cars.

It was another significant race in the championship battle as West Surrey Racing’s Colin Turkington was the first of that train in fourth.

Although he tried in vain to pass Jordan, Turkington still extended his lead in the standings to 55 points, as Triple Eight’s Jason Plato could only finish seventh, and Honda Racing Team’s Gordon Shedden retired in the pits with damage at the end of the first lap.

For Shedden, it was his first retirement on the season, and the first time he has not finished a race in the points in 2014. Shedden had significant front end damage following contact with Rob Austin Racing’s Hunter Abbott, who also retired from the race.

Mat Jackson finished fifth for Motorbase Performance ahead of the charging Rob Collard, then behind Plato, Sam Tordoff, Matt Neal and Dave Newsham completed the top 10.

It was a quiet race by normal race three standards, but Marc Hynes, Warren Scott and Chris Stockton all came to grief on the first lap.

As the top two edged away, most of the attention was on Jordan as he gamely held off Turkington, with a queue of up to five cars behind the BMW 125i.

Elsewhere, Fabrizio Giovanardi battled past Tordoff at Tarzan on lap five, but the MG regained the position at Brook on lap 13. That lap also saw Collard divebomb Plato at the hairpin, and contact between Martin Depper and Glynn Geddie, as the Scot battled back through the field.

Giovanardi span down to 13th on the penultimate lap and Dan Welch and Simon Belcher made contact at turn one on the last tour, but all eyes were on Austin.

As in 2013, the Midlander performed a ‘stoppie’ in front of the grandstand as he took the flag, to loud cheers from his pit garage and the crowd.