Motorbase Performance’s Mat Jackson took victory in the final British Touring Car Championship race of the season, as Honda’s Gordon Shedden took the title after passing and beating WSR’s Sam Tordoff during the race.
Jackson, who had been selected to start the race from pole in the reverse-grid draw, was unchallenged throughout the race, scoring his fifth win of the season which moved him up to third overall in the championship standings.
Ciceley Racing’s Aiden Moffat scored his best-ever result with second, also marking his first and only podium finish of the season.
The big news, though, was that Honda’s Shedden finished in third and in doing so took the 2016 title. The Scot thus becomes the first driver since Fabrizio Giovanardi in 2008 to successfully defend his title, with the key moment having come on lap seven when he passed his main rival Tordoff for third.
Tordoff, who was running with a lighter car in the race, simply did not have the pace, and the WSR driver as passed on lap 13 by the second Ciceley Mercedes of Adam Morgan, leaving the BMW driver to finish in fifth and miss out on the title by just two points.
Speedworks Motorsport’s Tom Ingram continued his progression through the field, taking sixth after starting from ninth, whilst MG’s Josh Cook was seventh.
Team HARD’s Jake Hill secured his sixth top ten finish of the season with eighth, ahead of WSR’s Rob Collard in ninth and Subaru’s Jason Plato in tenth.
Andrew Jordan finished in 11th for Motorbase Performance, with the fact that he finished just behind Plato on the road meaning that seventh in the drivers’ championship standings went to Plato.
Colin Turkington went into the race with a realistic chance of the title, but the Subaru driver ultimately came up short, struggling with maximum ballast on his car to finish in a lowly 12th position.
The race featured two safety car periods, the first of which came when Dan Welch spun Warren Scott into the gravel at Sheene Curve.
The second safety car period was actually at the same corner, with Welch this time ending up beached in the gravel with just two laps of the original distance left to run.
AmD Tuning’s Ollie Jackson retired from the race after eight laps when he was spun into the barriers between Hawthorn and Westfield bend.
Matt Neal had a mathematical chance of lifting the title going into the race, but the Honda driver withdrew before the start due to suffering a concussion as a result of his race two shunt.
The result means that Shedden takes the title with 308 points, ahead of Tordoff on 306 and Jackson on 292. Elsewhere, Collard was victorious in the Dunlop ‘Forever Forward’ award for making the most improvements from his grid position over the course of the season.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 7 | Mat JACKSON |  |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus | 18 | 30:42.447 | 1:32.115 | 1 | |
| 2 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 18 | 1.016 | 1:32.318 | 2 | |
| 3 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 18 | 1.454 | 1:32.080 | 5 |
| 4 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
WIX Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 18 | 1.660 | 1:31.755 | 8 | |
| 5 | 600 | C | Sam TORDOFF | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 18 | 2.600 | 1:32.551 | 3 |
| 6 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 18 | 2.734 | 1:32.143 | 9 | |
| 7 | 66 | M | Josh COOK | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 18 | 3.046 | 1:32.065 | 4 |
| 8 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
RCIB Insurance Racing | Toyota Avensis | 18 | 4.093 | 1:32.535 | 12 | |
| 9 | 100 | C | Rob COLLARD | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 18 | 4.188 | 1:32.509 | 10 |
| 10 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 18 | 5.937 | 1:32.350 | 6 |
| 11 | 77 | Andrew JORDAN | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus | 18 | 6.152 | 1:32.232 | 13 | |
| 12 | 4 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 18 | 6.398 | 1:32.288 | 7 |
| 13 | 31 | C | Jack GOFF | |
Team IHG Rewards Club | BMW 125i M Sport | 18 | 6.823 | 1:31.742 | 20 |
| 14 | 11 | Rob AUSTIN | |
Handy Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 18 | 6.854 | 1:32.258 | 29 | |
| 15 | 30 | Martin DEPPER | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 18 | 8.812 | 1:32.707 | 18 | |
| 16 | 20 | M | James COLE | |
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 18 | 9.221 | 1:32.480 | 21 |
| 17 | 55 | Jeff SMITH | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 18 | 9.460 | 1:32.361 | 11 | |
| 18 | 303 | Matt SIMPSON | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Honda Civic Type R | 18 | 9.833 | 1:33.141 | 19 | |
| 19 | 14 | Alex MARTIN | |
Dextra Racing with Team Parker | Ford Focus | 18 | 10.469 | 1:33.644 | 22 | |
| 20 | 40 | Árón SMITH |  |
BKR | Volkswagen CC | 18 | 11.050 | 1:31.835 | 14 | |
| 21 | 84 | Kelvin FLETCHER | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 18 | 11.625 | 1:33.264 | 24 | |
| 22 | 95 | Stewart LINES | |
Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 18 | 12.175 | 1:33.718 | 25 | |
| 23 | 38 | Mark HOWARD | |
BKR | Volkswagen CC | 18 | 13.020 | 1:34.587 | 26 | |
| 24 | 116 | M | Ashley SUTTON | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 18 | 31.193 | 1:32.570 | 30 |
| 25 | 12 | Mike EPPS | |
RCIB Insurance Racing | Toyota Avensis | 17 | 1 Lap | 1:32.867 | 16 | |
| R | 17 | Dan WELCH | |
Goodestone Racing | Proton Persona | 13 | 5 Laps | 1:34.372 | 27 | |
| R | 34 | Tony GILHAM | |
TLC Racing | Toyota Avensis | 9 | 9 Laps | 1:34.165 | 28 | |
| R | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmD Tuning | Audi S3 | 8 | 10 Laps | 1:32.293 | 15 | |
| R | 39 | M | Warren SCOTT | |
Silverline Subaru BMR Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 2 | 16 Laps | 1:35.265 | 23 |
| R | 53 | Hunter ABBOTT | |
Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 0 | DNF | N/A | 17 | |
| NS | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | – | DNS | N/A | 31 |