Halfords Yuasa Racing’s Gordon Shedden was able to retake the lead in the drivers’ title fight at the final British Touring Car Championship race at the Snetterton 300 circuit, but had to fight for the win ahead of another Team BMW 2-3 for the second race in a row.
The three-time champion would finish 0.712 seconds ahead of Rob Collard at the finish for the victory, with Colin Turkington rounding out the podium in third, after BMW Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan suffered a technical issue with his BMW 125i M Sport with just two laps remaining whilst leading.
Motorbase’s Mat Jackson took another Independents’ win with another fourth place finish, with Subaru’s James Cole keeping cool under pressure from Speedworks’ Tom Ingram and Team HARD’s Jake Hill to take his first top five finish of the year.
Hill was the best of the drivers that had opted to use the Dunlop soft tyres for the final race, having started in 11th place, one place behind Ingram.
Jack Goff completed a solid weekend’s performance with an eighth place finish behind Ingram and Hill, which now sees him in the top ten within the drivers’ standings.
The Power Maxed Racing duo of rookie Senna Proctor and veteran touring car ace Tom Chilton had a strong end to their weekend, as the pair closed off the top ten.
Ant Whorton-Eales equalled his best-ever BTCC finish in 11th place, despite his Audi S3 hitting the back of Josh Cook’s MG at Oggies on lap three.
Laser Tools Racing’s Aiden Moffatt came all the way back from 29th place on the grid to score a points finish behind the Team AMD driver, with BTC Norlin’s Dave Newsham taking 13th.
Débutante Brett Smith also made up significant ground due to the various incidents that saw ten cars retire, as the Eurotech Racing driver started 30th, but took his first points finish in the BTCC with 14th. Smith ended up ahead of Team Parker’s Stephen Jelley, whose Focus soldiered on with hefty front end damage caused earlier in the race.
A successful weekend for Subaru’s Ashley Sutton came to an abrupt end on lap two, as he was collected by Handy Motorsport’s Rob Austin on the approach to Williams, with both drivers retiring due to accident damage. Austin had moments earlier been on the receiving end of contact which pitched him across the inside of the corner and into Sutton’s car.
Other retirements included Stewart Lines, Arón Taylor-Smith and Matt Neal, who hit the outside barriers off Hamiltons on lap 5, whilst battling within the top ten.
The results see Shedden lead the drivers’ championship standings by just two points over Turkington, who moves ahead of team-mate Collard by a further two points.
The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship heads north of the border in just a fortnight’s time, as Knockhill hosts Rounds 19, 20 and 21, which take place on the 12th and 13th of August.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN |  |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 12 | 23:53.888 | 1:57.830 | 2 |
| 2 | 5 | M | Rob COLLARD | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 12 | 0.712 | 1:57.858 | 6 |
| 3 | 4 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 12 | 1.007 | 1:58.724 | 7 |
| 4 | 3 | Mat JACKSON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 12 | 7.260 | 1:58.698 | 5 | |
| 5 | 20 | M | James COLE | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 12 | 7.743 | 1:58.542 | 1 |
| 6 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 12 | 7.953 | 1:58.725 | 10 | |
| 7 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
TAG Racing | Volkswagen CC | 12 | 10.260 | 1:58.771 | 11 | |
| 8 | 31 | Jack GOFF | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 12 | 10.559 | 1:57.893 | 4 | |
| 9 | 18 | M | Senna PROCTOR | |
Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 12 | 11.424 | 1:58.483 | 23 |
| 10 | 2 | M | Tom CHILTON | |
Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 12 | 11.763 | 1:58.397 | 12 |
| 11 | 10 | Ant WHORTON-EALES | |
AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 12 | 14.639 | 1:58.186 | 21 | |
| 12 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 12 | 15.345 | 1:58.307 | 29 | |
| 13 | 17 | Dave NEWSHAM | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 12 | 15.588 | 1:59.296 | 20 | |
| 14 | 39 | Brett SMITH | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 12 | 21.982 | 1:58.997 | 30 | |
| 15 | 7 | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 12 | 22.679 | 1:58.111 | 25 | |
| 16 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 12 | 23.101 | 1:59.131 | 24 |
| 17 | 30 | Martin DEPPER | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 12 | 23.817 | 1:59.286 | 22 | |
| 18 | 61 | Will BURNS | |
Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing | Volkswagen CC | 12 | 24.428 | 1:59.190 | 16 | |
| 19 | 28 | M | Josh PRICE | |
A-Plan Academy | Subaru Levorg GT | 12 | 24.788 | 1:59.484 | 26 |
| 20 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 12 | 30.052 | 1:58.101 | 17 | |
| 21 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 12 | 1:02.644 | 1:58.734 | 3 |
| R | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 4 | DNF | 1:57.907 | 9 |
| R | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 4 | DNF | 1:59.773 | 19 | |
| R | 66 | Josh COOK | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 4 | DNF | 2:00.432 | 28 | |
| R | 303 | M | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 4 | DNF | 2:00.197 | 13 |
| R | 12 | Mike EPPS | |
Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing | Volkswagen CC | 3 | DNF | 2:00.865 | 18 | |
| R | 40 | M | Árón TAYLOR-SMITH |  |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 2 | DNF | 2:19.002 | 27 |
| R | 95 | Stewart LINES | |
Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 1 | DNF | N/A | 31 | |
| R | 116 | M | Ashley SUTTON | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 0 | DNF | N/A | 8 |
| R | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 0 | DNF | N/A | 14 | |
| R | 11 | Rob AUSTIN | |
Handy Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 0 | DNF | N/A | 15 |