Árón Smith claimed a third British Touring Car Championship career victory at Snetterton in an intense final race, with Airwaves Racing’s Mat Jackson in second and Colin Turkington in third.
The Irishman was defending almost from the get-go but soaked up the pressure with maturity to secure his second victory of the season and his BMR Restart team’s second as an outfit.
Smith’s position looked under threat immediately when second-place man Fabrizio Giovanardi got a better start off the line, but he was forced to tuck in behind the Volkswagen CC, just in front of his teammate Mat Jackson.
The race was started in an impeccable manner by the entire field as every driver completing the first lap cleanly, although Jack Clarke was slow at the end of the Bentley straight.
WIX Racing’s Adam Morgan looked feisty in the opening moments but he was slightly over-zealous in his pursuit of Jackson’s third place, running wide at Agostini and relinquishing positions to Matt Neal and Colin Turkington.
Over the next couple of laps, those in front of Morgan’s Mercedes began to pull away, but that changed when Neal and Turkington caught up to the leading three cars, as they then found themselves backed into a pack including Jason Plato and Gordon Shedden.
There then followed a brief period of calm until lap seven, when Turkington, who had the door shut on him by Neal in front a lap earlier, appeared to be caught out by the Honda driver’s breaking into Montreal and sent the three-time champion into a half-spin, with Neal plummeting down the order and out of contention.
As all eyes were focused on that move, Jackson snuck by his teammate almost unnoticed at the same corner and started his pursuit of Smith’s lead.
Jackson, whose winless run stretched back to the Silverstone meeting in 2012, was keen to get past his former teammate and had a half chance when Smith was slow out of Murrays, but the Volkswagen driver was able to hold his lead onto the pit straight.
Where the final race of the day five weeks ago at Croft had been messy and full of crashes, and championship rivals Turkington, Plato and Shedden were all full of respect for one another knowing that the points scored this weekend could well stand them in good stead come the end of the season.
Jackson had one final attempt to pass Smith for the lead on the final lap, as he held onto the back of the Volkswagen through Riches before giving him a gentle tap into Montreal. With Smith’s superior straight-line speed, however, the 24-year-old was able to maintain his lead in the final half of the lap, eventually finishing 0.444s ahead of Jackson.
Giovanardi was set for third, but he made a small error at the penultimate corner and ran wide onto the grass, losing positions to Turkington, Plato, Shedden before receiving a hit from Rob Collard, sending the Italian down the order to 13th.
With Collard securing sixth, Sam Tordoff, Morgan, Marc Hynes and Jack Goff completed the top ten, with Neal in 11th but securing an extra point for the fastest lap.
Top ten result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 40 | I | Árón SMITH |  |
CHROME Edition Restart Racing | Volkswagen CC | 12 | 24:05.815 | 1:58.628 | 1 |
| 2 | 6 | I | Mat JACKSON |  |
Airwaves Racing | Ford Focus ST | 12 | 0.444 | 1:58.555 | 3 |
| 3 | 5 | I | Colin TURKINGTON | |
eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 12 | 1.16 | 1:58.240 | 7 |
| 4 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save | MG6 | 12 | 2.227 | 1:58.645 | 8 |
| 5 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Tourer | 12 | 2.598 | 1:58.487 | 6 |
| 6 | 10 | I | Rob COLLARD | |
eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 12 | 3.014 | 1:58.419 | 17 |
| 7 | 88 | M | Sam TORDOFF | |
MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save | MG6 | 12 | 3.586 | 1:58.768 | 9 |
| 8 | 33 | I | Adam MORGAN | |
WIX Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 12 | 4.428 | 1:58.352 | 4 |
| 9 | 888 | M | Marc HYNES | |
Quantel Bifold Racing | MG6 | 12 | 5.197 | 1:58.865 | 10 |
| 10 | 31 | I | Jack GOFF | |
CHROME Edition Restart Racing | Volkswagen CC | 12 | 5.315 | 1:58.887 | 11 |