Colin Turkington retires from Brands finale, Ash Sutton is champion

Team BMR’s Ash Sutton is the newly-crowned BTCC champion after West Surrey Racing’s Colin Turkington retired from the final race at Brands Hatch.

Turkington had made progress into the top six on lap two and was ahead of Sutton, when Speedworks Motorsport’s Tom Ingram made contact with Motorbase Performance’s Mat Jackson into Graham Hill Bend just in front of him.

As Jackson ran wide and Turkington went down the inside, Jackson clipped the right rear wheel of Turkington’s BMW 125i as he rejoined, breaking the suspension upright.

Speaking on the circuit radio from the West Surrey Racing pit, Turkington said: “We fought to the end and I’m disappointed for everyone here. The guys made the right choice to go on wets, we made the right call.

“It was just unlucky how things unfolded. Mat Jackson was coming back onto the track and he wouldn’t have known I was there. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“It’s bitterly disappointing but I gave it my best.”