Colin Turkington wins again at Brands Hatch, title goes to the wire

Team BMR Subaru driver Colin Turkington claimed his second win of the day at Brands Hatch, running on the Dunlop soft tyres and with maximum weight to close up to just ten points from points leader Sam Tordoff, with the number of potential champions now reduced to four.

Turkington led from pole position ahead of Handy Motorsport’s Rob Austin at the start, while Subaru team-mate Jason Plato had a great start launch from fourth on the grid and was up to third, and even had a nose down the inside of Austin’s Toyota at Paddock Hill bend.

The two Hondas were up to fifth and sixth, with Matt Neal setting the fastest lap on lap three before his Civic Type R’s engine cut-out on the way down through Paddock Hill. The triple-champion was able to get the system restarted outside of Druids, but he was hit by Triple Eight MG’s Ashley Sutton and knocked into the barriers towards Graham Hill bend and left stranded in the middle of the circuit, bringing out the safety car, with Neal’s championship challenge effectively, although not mathematically over.

When the race restarted, Honda team-mate Shedden quickly passed Josh Cook’s MG for fourth, while Jason Plato moved ahead of Rob Austin’s Toyota at Surtees with Shedden following him through on lap eight, with Plato then quickly closing down team-mate Turkington.

With no team orders seemingly in play, Plato harried his team-mate for the lead throughout the next five laps, which allowed the pack to close in and for them both to be threatened by the Honda of Shedden.

Austin’s Toyota slowed with two laps to go, promoting Cook to fourth and West Surrey Racing’s Sam Tordoff to fifth, helping the BMW driver to score critical points in the championship.

Turkington went on to win the race by just over a second ahead of Plato, who fell back in the final two laps, Shedden completing the podium for Honda.

In the championship, the number of potential champions is down to four, with Sam Tordoff still leading the championship, but is now just two points ahead of Gordon Shedden, with Turkington ten behind and Matt Neal 20 behind, with just 22 points remaining from the final race of the day.

The top seven will be reversed for Race 3, with Mat Jackson starting on pole position in the Motorbase Ford ahead of Aiden Moffat’s Mercedes, with championship leader Sam Tordoff third on the grid, while Turkington starts seventh, again on the maximum ballast of 75kg.