Chris Smiley joins BTCC winners list in Rockingham finale

Chris Smiley became the latest new winner in the BTCC with victory in the final race of the weekend at Rockingham.

The BTC Norlin driver had started the final race of the weekend from fifth on the grid but emerged from a chaotic opening lap at the head of the field after a number of those cars ahead slid wide in damp conditions at Deene.

Motorbase Ford driver Tom Chilton had been the man who led the field away from pole but was one of those to run wide dropping down off the banking and lost his advantage – eventually being forced to retire due to contact from both Matt Simpson and Andrew Jordan.

After a safety car to retrieve Brett Smith’s Honda from the final corner after he clashed with Michael Caine at the end of the opening lap, Smiley was able to pull away from the pack behind on the prime Dunlop tyre and was never under serious threat as he secured his first win.

Behind, Butcher ran second until losing a spot to Matt Simpson in his Eurotech Honda, with the Scot then dicing for position with Colin Turkington before losing his chance of a podium with a mistake at Deene.

That left Turkington to chase down Simpson for second spot but with Tordoff putting him under huge pressure behind at the wheel of his pink Ford Focus.

Simpson looked like holding on until the final lap when he made a mistake at the final corner that allowed Turkington get through, with Simpson only just holding on to third on the run to the line.

Tordoff missed his first podium of the year by just 0.031secs with Tom Ingram taking fifth in his Toyota – results that mean Turkington now jumps back ahead of the Speedworks driver by four points.

Butcher was sixth in his MG after his earlier error, with Bobby Thompson coming through the field on the prime tyre to take seventh for Team Hard. Adam Morgan, Ollie Jackson and Dan Cammish rounded out the top ten.

After his earlier success in race two, Ash Sutton was amongst those who failed to score – dropping him ground in the title race.

Colin Turkington returns to the lead of the standings by four points over Tom Ingram, while Sutton is third, 32 points behind heading to the next round of the championship at Knockhill in two weeks’ time.