From 11th on the grid Mat Jackson has won the final race of the day at Brands Hatch, fending off second-placed Matt Neal in the final laps to take his first win of the season.
On a drying track Jackson and team-mate Steven Kane, who started from pole position, chose to start the race on wet tyres which proved to be the strongest option in the early stages. However as the race went on, and after a couple of safety car appearances, the wet tyres faded and the drivers on a slicks/wet combination began to make rapid progress. Neal was one of those and he charged through from 13th to 2nd. Neal’s result means he is now the joint points leader with Jason Plato.
Click here for the full race results from Round 9.
Finishing in third was Kane, completing a spectacular turn around in fortunes for the Airwaves BMW squad who had been struggling for pace throughout the weekend.
Rob Collard made up for his disastrous race two by finishing fourth, whilst Andrew Jordan finished in fifth after a late charge that saw him pass two cars in the closing laps.
Tom Chilton came through from the back of the grid to finish in sixth, despite contact with Alex MacDowall. Going into Paddock Hill Bend the Team Aon driver tagged the rear of MacDowall’s Chevrolet, breaking the right-rear wheel and beeching him in the gravel. At the very next corner David Pinkney, who had been running with the duo, understeered off the circuit which brought out the second safety car of the race. The first safety car was deployed as a result of Arthur Forster spinning off, but he was able to get going again.
James Nash took 7th in his Triple Eight Vauxhall Vectra, with early leader Tom Boardman just behind in 8th. Boardman had earlier started alongside Kane on the front row of the grid and got a better start to lead a BTCC race for the first time in his career, but he later slipped back down the order.
Gordon Shedden once again battled hard with Tom Onslow-Cole and the two drivers finished in 9th and 10th places. Just missing out on the points in his first BTCC weekend was Lea Wood, who finished in 11th despite having earlier run inside the top 10.
It was a disastrous race for Team sunshine.co.uk, with neither cars of John George or Paul O’Neill making the start. Mechanical problems on both cars blighted their day and O’Neill, who had been second in the championship standings before the race, ended the day fourth in the driver’s championship.