Two from two for dominant Colin Turkington
Championship leader Colin Turkington swept the competition aside in the second race at Rockingham, beating the MGs of Jason Plato and Sam Tordoff by more than eight seconds to extend his lead in the standings to 51 points.
West Surrey Racing’s Turkington made a perfect start from pole position and after maintaining a gap of around two seconds to Plato in the early stages, he stretched his legs to take the flag 8.081 ahead of the Triple Eight pair, who were separated by just 0.308 at the end.
Behind the podium finishers, Eurotech Racing’s Andrew Jordan recovered from a first lap hit from Adam Morgan to take fourth, with Rob Austin another big mover in fifth.
Team BMR’s Alain Menu was sixth, after dropping three seconds on the final lap, falling behind Rob Austin. The Swiss was then drawn out of the hat to start at the front for the finale.
Mat Jackson was seventh ahead of Gordon Shedden and Rob Collard, with the impressive Hunter Abbott continuing his forward progress in 10th.
There were furious battles all the way down the field, with Jordan’s team-mate Martin Depper putting on a strong showing in 12th, and setting a best lap faster than both factory Hondas.
The result also means that barring any penalties, Matt Neal is no longer in mathematical contention for the title.
Although the action wasn’t quite as frenetic as in race one, the early laps were very dramatic. Menu passed Sam Tordoff at Chapman on lap one, before Gordon Shedden got sideways at Gracelands and Jordan was punted wide by Morgan at Tarzan.
BTC Racing’s Chris Stockton had a huge moment at turn one on the second lap, before Dave Newsham and Tom Ingram made contact at the hairpin, and Tordoff re-passed Menu at Tarzan.
Then the Motorbase Performance pair of Jackson and Fabrizio Giovanardi had another huge inter-team battle with plenty of contact, allowing Austin to close on the pair.
Morgan’s race ended prematurely when he slowed across the start/finish straight on lap seven, before Jordan passed Giovanardi at Gracelands on the same lap. The reigning champion then passed the sister Focus ST of Jackson at Tarzan on lap nine, before disposing of Menu at Gracelands on lap 11.
The action didn’t finish there, as Giovanardi put up a very robust defence against Collard after being passed by Shedden, eventually dropping behind the BMW 125i and Abbott’s Audi A4.
Ingram and Foster then clashed at Tarzan on lap 15, causing both to retire in the pits.
Back at the front, the serene Turkington now comfortably leads the tied pair of Plato and Shedden with just seven races of the season to go.
