BMW’s Rob Collard won a heavily interrupted second British Touring Car Championship race at Thruxton, which featured two red-flag stoppages due to accidents.
At the first start it was the pair of factory Hondas of Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden who led the way, before a big accident further behind brought out the red flags.
The first red-flag incident was between MG’s Daniel Lloyd, Árón Taylor-Smith and Power Maxed Racing’s Senna Proctor. Approaching the high-speed Church corner, Proctor and Taylor-Smith appeared to make contact, pitching the Vauxhall into the rear quarter of Lloyd’s MG.
Lloyd went backwards into the new barrier on the exit of the corner at high-speed, launching his car into the air, although it didn’t roll. The damage to the barrier and subsequent repairs brought out the red flags for around half an hour, whilst Taylor-Smith and Proctor returned to the pits with more superficial damage. Lloyd’s MG suffered extensive damage and is unlikely to reappear in race three.
When the race eventually resumed, it was BMW’s Collard who got the best start, powering through the pack from sixth on the re-formed grid to be in second by the end of the lap, having made a daring pass on the Honda of Shedden into the final chicane.
Second then became first on the second lap when the leading Honda of Neal pulled into the pits with a trip-out on his Civic’s power steering system.
Collard then held the lead for the next five laps, before the race was stopped again when Motorbase Performance’s Martin Depper had a high-speed spin into the barriers at Village bend, losing a wheel in the process and causing the premature end to the race.
That left Shedden to take second, ahead of the Speedworks Motorsport Toyota of Tom Ingram in third, who had muscled past Eurotech Racing’s Jack Goff for the position on lap four.
Goff finished fourth, ahead of Handy Motorsport’s Rob Austin in fifth and the second factory BMW of Colin Turkington in sixth, who had a lap earlier lost out to Austin.
Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan was seventh, ahead of the leading Subaru of Ash Sutton in eighth, who had moved into the position past the second Ciceley Mercedes of Aiden Moffat when the two team-mates battled at the complex on what turned out to be the last lap of the race.
Moffat and Eurotech Racing’s Jeff Smith completed the top ten, ahead of Matt Simpson in 11th and Tom Chilton in 12th.
BMW Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan was the biggest improver during the race, finishing in 14th place after starting down in 28th as a result of his race one spin.
Neal ended up down in 29t position after rejoining the race, although the Honda driver did pick up a point for the fastest lap when he returned in clear air.
Collard’s win elevates him to third overall in the championship standings on 94 points, seven behind Shedden and 20 behind leader Ingram.
The final race of the day is scheduled to take place at 17:17 BST.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 5 | M | Rob COLLARD |  |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 6 | 7:56.984 | 1:17.789 | 10 |
| 2 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 6 | 0.212 | 1:17.811 | 2 |
| 3 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 6 | 0.507 | 1:18.015 | 4 | |
| 4 | 31 | Jack GOFF | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 6 | 1.575 | 1:18.520 | 3 | |
| 5 | 11 | Rob AUSTIN | |
Handy Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 6 | 2.791 | 1:18.150 | 9 | |
| 6 | 4 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 6 | 2.971 | 1:18.108 | 7 |
| 7 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 6 | 3.327 | 1:18.115 | 5 | |
| 8 | 116 | M | Ashley SUTTON | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 6 | 4.143 | 1:18.324 | 6 |
| 9 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 6 | 5.152 | 1:18.307 | 12 | |
| 10 | 55 | Jeff SMITH | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 6 | 5.623 | 1:18.384 | 11 | |
| 11 | 303 | M | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 6 | 6.255 | 1:18.462 | 13 |
| 12 | 2 | M | Tom CHILTON | |
Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 6 | 6.77 | 1:18.151 | 14 |
| 13 | 17 | David NEWSHAM | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 6 | 7.12 | 1:18.296 | 15 | |
| 14 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 6 | 7.64 | 1:18.650 | 28 |
| 15 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 6 | 8.319 | 1:18.824 | 19 | |
| 16 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmDtuning.com with CobraExhausts | Audi S3 | 6 | 9.591 | 1:18.896 | 18 | |
| 17 | 300 | Luke DAVENPORT | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 6 | 9.867 | 1:18.580 | 17 | |
| 18 | 12 | Mike EPPS | |
Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing | Volkswagen CC | 6 | 10.554 | 1:18.422 | 25 | |
| 19 | 61 | Will BURNS | |
Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing | Volkswagen CC | 6 | 11.617 | 1:19.066 | 26 | |
| 20 | 3 | Mat JACKSON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 6 | 11.83 | 1:18.612 | 8 | |
| 21 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
TAG Racing | Volkswagen CC | 6 | 12.389 | 1:18.446 | 32 | |
| 22 | 7 | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 6 | 13.039 | 1:18.603 | 22 | |
| 23 | 18 | M | Senna PROCTOR | |
Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 6 | 14.693 | 1:18.266 | 16 |
| 24 | 10 | Ant WHORTON-EALES | |
AmDtuning.com with CobraExhausts | Audi S3 | 6 | 16.431 | 1:18.851 | 30 | |
| 25 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 6 | 18.742 | 1:19.556 | 23 |
| 26 | 28 | M | Josh PRICE | |
BMR Racing Academy | Subaru Levorg GT | 6 | 19.115 | 1:19.193 | 29 |
| 27 | 40 | M | Árón SMITH |  |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 6 | 20.19 | 1:19.161 | 20 |
| 28 | 20 | M | James COLE | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 6 | 21.437 | 1:19.529 | 27 |
| 29 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 6 | 39.987 | 1:17.444 | 1 |
| R | 30 | Martin DEPPER | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 5 | 1 Lap | 1:18.569 | 24 | |
| R | 66 | Josh COOK | |
Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 5 | 1 Lap | 1:18.108 | 31 | |
| NS | 23 | M | Daniel LLOYD | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | – | DNS | N/A | 21 |