Adam Morgan charges to dominant Race 1 win at Donington Park
Adam Morgan scored his second win of the British Touring Car Championship season after dominating the opening race of the day at Donington Park GP.
The CPRL driver started the contest from pole position and never looked troubled as he cruised to victory ahead of four-time champion Ash Sutton and three-time title winner Gordon Shedden.
No sooner had the race begun, the safety car made an appearance after Lewis Gilbert was involved in a scary high-speed incident on the run down to the Melbourne Hairpin.
The WSR driver had been dicing with Tom Chilton towards the rear of the field but right rear contact from the Hyundai driver speared the Scotsman into the armco barrier, and the subsequent impact sent the BMW into a barrel roll.
Gilbert thankfully walked away from the incident, however his rear-wheel-drive machine sustained a vast amount of damage.
Racing would resume, albeit but just for one lap before the safety car again appeared. This time it was for Chilton who momentarily ground to a halt approaching Schwantz Curve.
On the second restart, Morgan quickly set about breaking clear of the chasing pack while Cook kept a watching brief, although he soon encountered his own troubles as he suffered a gear linkage issue and was forced into the pit lane.
Cook’s demise allowed Sutton and the second Mercedes of Dan Rowbottom to move up the order. Rowbottom initially challenged Sutton for runners-up laurels however as the laps ticked by, he soon began to drop into the clutches of Shedden.
With two laps remaining, Shedden finally found a way past as he placed his Toyota Corolla down the inside of the CPRL driver at the Old Hairpin. Once clear, the Scotsman cruised to the third step of the podium.
Rowbottom drop further down the order two corners from the chequered flag as Dan Cammish muscled his way past to take fourth exiting the Melbourne Hairpin. Completing the top six behind Rowbottom was the sister MB Motorsport car of Aron Taylor-Smith.
Dexter Patterson enjoyed a strong showing by hustling his Power Maxed Racing Audi to seventh. Rounding out the top ten was Ricky Collard, reigning champion Tom Ingram and Mikey Doble.
