Rob Collard ended his two season-long wait for victory in the British Touring Car Championship as he won the final race of the day at Knockhill from Dave Newsham – who scored a phenomenal maiden podium for his AmD Tuning team – and championship leader Colin Turkington.
The eBay Motors team had extra reason to be cheerful with Nick Foster following championship leader Turkington home to complete a 1-3-4 for the team, but while Collard’s victory was richly deserved, Newsham’s drive to second was the highlight as the 47-year-old fended off the BMWs with a determined drive made all the more poignant after the loss of his mother on Thursday night.
It was Foster who held onto his first place off the line when the race started, and with everyone seemingly on their best behaviour, Collard’s jump from sixth to third was the only noteworthy change in the order on the opening lap.
Fabrizio Giovanardi followed Foster closely in the opening two laps, but as he looked to get a good exit from the hairpin, Collard snuck up the inside of the Italian and began his pursuit of his teammate.
A lap later and Newsham used his nous to pass Giovanardi at the same spot, learning from Collard’s example to perfect a forceful but fair move up the inside, which also allowed Tom Ingram to grab fourth.
Over the next couple of laps the front four began to pull away as Giovanardi struggled, and Turkington – who had passed Morgan – found himself increasingly frustrated behind the Ford Focus, and the championship leader was eventually forced into a risky move at Clark which resulted in both drivers running into the gravel on the outside of the corner. Turkington did make his way past Giovanardi, but as he regained speed on the run down to the hairpin, Morgan pounced and got back in front of the BMW driver.
Collard had closed right onto the back of his teammate by this point and on lap eight made his move into Duffus at the end of the straight to take the lead, with Newsham and Ingram taking a lap more to get past the BMW driver and move into the podium positions.
Giovanardi lost further places to Rob Austin, Jason Plato and race two winner Mat Jackson in the incident with Turkington, and found himself on the end of a punt from Matt Neal on lap nine when the Honda driver hit his rear into Clark, pitching the Italian into the air and forcing him further down the order. There was more contact at the hairpin a lap later when Plato whacked Austin’s rear, sending the Audi into a spin and retirement.
Further ahead, Turkington again found himself frustrated as stout defending from Ingram meant that the Northern Irishman was forced to bide his time, before making a move at the hairpin on lap 13 with Foster following him through.
And the top four remained in that order until the end of the race, with Newsham defending for six laps from the BMW duo to clinch his first podium since Silverstone in 2012, while Turkington was made to work for his third place in the closing laps as teammate Foster kept him honest.
Andrew Jordan came home in fifth, finishing ahead of Gordon Shedden as the pair enjoyed a feisty battle for much of the race, including a slight coming together at the hairpin on lap 17. Morgan came home in seventh, ahead of Menu, Ingram and Plato, who rounded out the top ten.
Top ten result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 10 | I | Rob COLLARD |  |
eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 24 | 21:21.475 | 52.694 | 6 |
| 2 | 17 | I | Dave NEWSHAM | |
AmD Tuning.com | Ford Focus ST | 24 | 6.083 | 52.857 | 3 |
| 3 | 5 | I | Colin TURKINGTON | |
eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 24 | 6.294 | 52.496 | 7 |
| 4 | 18 | I | Nick FOSTER | |
eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 24 | 6.441 | 52.842 | 1 |
| 5 | 1 | I | Andrew JORDAN | |
Pirtek Racing | Honda Civic | 24 | 11.057 | 52.793 | 11 |
| 6 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Tourer | 24 | 11.495 | 52.283 | 12 |
| 7 | 33 | I | Adam MORGAN | |
WIX Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 24 | 14.501 | 52.933 | 5 |
| 8 | 9 | I | Alain MENU |  |
CHROME Edition Restart Racing | Volkswagen CC | 24 | 15.157 | 52.787 | 15 |
| 9 | 80 | I | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 24 | 16.962 | 52.865 | 4 |
| 10 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save | MG6 | 24 | 20.409 | 52.839 | 9 |