Colin Turkington wins opening race as championship battle tightens

Colin Turkington took a crucial victory in the opening British Touring Car Championship race at Donington Park, getting the jump on pole-sitter Josh Cook at the start to keep his title challenge alive.

At the start, Turkington used his BMW’s start-line prowess to leap into the lead before the first corner, then moving over on the Speedworks Toyota to defend his line into Redgate.

Cook immediately came under pressure from the fast-starting NAPA Racing UK car of Ash Sutton, as behind them Power Maxed Racing’s Mikey Doble had to defend his place from EXCELR8 Motorsport’s Tom Ingram.

At the Fogarty Esses, Ingram had to cut across the gravel when trying to take fourth from Doble, but went inside the Vauxhall at the Melbourne hairpin to claim the place.

However, at the Goddards hairpin at the end of the lap Doble missed the apex and clattered into the side of Ingram on the outside of the corner, costing Ingram eight places down to 12^th, as Doble also lost a handful of places with his lost momentum. Doble was later reprimanded for the contact.

That incident allowed Laser Tools Racing’s Jake Hill to slip into fourth, whilst Doble’s Power Maxed team-mate Árón Taylor-Smith moved into fifth.

The second lap saw a crash at the Fogarty Esses, when Toyota’s Andrew Watson, at the time running directly in front of rookie Dan Zelos, entered into the chicane sideways and hit the temporary tyre stack on the inside hard, breaking his front-left wheel and shifting the substantial bundle of tyres.

With Watson’s car substantially beached, the safety car was required for four laps, before racing could resume on lap eight.

Turkington made a good restart and broke clear of Sutton early on, but four laps later the Ford was all over the back of the leading BMW.

However, Turkington kept his cool at the front and went on to extend the gap again before the chequered flag, winning his 72^nd BTCC race by just under two seconds.

Sutton took second, helping him also close in on the series lead, whilst the podium was completed by the BMW of Hill after he got by Cook when the latter made a mistake into the chicane on lap 12 and clipped the tyre stack.

Cook was fourth in his lightly damaged Corolla, ahead of a charging Ingram in fifth. Having dropped to 12^th at the end of the opening lap, Ingram had recovered to ninth just before the safety car came out, then took a two places on the restart lap.

The Hyundai driver wasted no time in getting by BMW’s Adam Morgan two laps later, and within a further three laps had caught and passed Toyota’s Rob Huff for fifth.

Morgan was sixth, having had a battle with Huff for the position on lap 14 which saw the duo go side-by-side at McLeans, leaving Huff to take seventh.

NAPA Racing’s Dan Cammish struggled to make progress and was eighth, with the top ten completed by Taylor-Smith, who lost four places due to a slide at the chicane on the restart lap, and NAPA Racing’s Sam Osborne.

Speedworks’ Aiden Moffat took 11^th, with EXCELR8’s rookie Zelos an impressive 12^th in his first-ever BTCC race.

Restart Racing’s Chris Smiley was 13^th and second in the Independents’, ahead of the recovering Daniel Rowbottom in 14^th. The latter had been running in seventh before picking up a front-left puncture on the third lap, which pitched him off into the gravel at Redgate half a lap later and required him to pit for new rubber.

Race two is scheduled to get underway at 14:35 BST.

Race result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	20	M		Colin TURKINGTON	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	17	29:43.663	1:33.973	2
2	1	M		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	17	1.863	1:34.333	4
3	24	M		Jake HILL	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	BMW 330e M Sport	17	6.416	1:34.609	7
4	66	M		Josh COOK	LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	17	7.693	1:34.437	1
5	80	M		Tom INGRAM	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	17	10.188	1:34.390	5
6	33	M		Adam MORGAN	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	17	10.817	1:34.765	8
7	12	M		Rob HUFF	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	17	13.884	1:35.029	11
8	27	M		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	17	14.655	1:34.978	9
9	40	I		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	17	15.259	1:35.206	6
10	77	M		Sam OSBORNE	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	17	16.212	1:35.040	12
11	16	M		Aiden MOFFAT	LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	17	18.402	1:35.398	18
12	45	M		Dan ZELOS	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	17	19.718	1:35.003	16
13	222	I		Chris SMILEY	Restart Racing	CUPRA Leon	17	20.140	1:35.610	14
14	32	M		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	17	20.935	1:34.666	15
15	88	I		Mikey DOBLE	Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	17	21.323	1:34.979	3
16	3	M		Tom CHILTON	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	17	22.539	1:35.302	10
17	18	I		Daryl DELEON	Duckhams Racing with Bartercard	CUPRA Leon	17	23.098	1:35.503	13
18	29	I		Scott SUMPTON	Restart Racing	CUPRA Leon	17	34.502	1:36.242	20
19	22	M		Nick HALSTEAD	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	17	42.108	1:37.077	17
R	11	M		Andrew WATSON	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	2	DNF	1:37.037	19