BMW’s Colin Turkington was victorious in the final British Touring Car Championship race of the day at Silverstone, with third for Ashley Sutton meaning the championship will be decided at Brands Hatch next month.
Team HARD’s Michael Crees started from the reverse-grid pole, but the CUPRA driver lost five places on the opening lap and it was NAPA Racing’s Daniel Rowbottom who emerged in the lead from third on the grid, ahead of the CUPRA of Daniel Lloyd.
The safety car was required for six laps due to an accident on the approach to Brooklands on the opening lap – Rory Butcher and Adam Morgan surrounded Crees on either side, and the slightest of touches from Crees on the left-rear corner of Morgan speared him off to the left, collecting Butcher in the process.
Morgan and Butcher then hit the barriers, with Butcher out of the race on the spot whilst Morgan escaped with a glancing blow, able to continue at the back of the pack.
Racing resumed on lap seven with Turkington, who was third at the restart, passing Lloyd around the outside at Brooklands for second.
The Northern Irishman then wasted little time in dispatching Rowbottom, going around the outside at Woodcote to take the lead.
With no further interruptions to the race, Turkington would go on to claim his fourth win of the season by two and a half seconds from EXCELR8 Motorsport’s Tom Ingram.
From tenth on the grid, Ingram was up to sixth by the end of the first lap, then gaining two places on the restart lap before moving into the podium positions with a pass on Lloyd two laps later.
On lap 14, the reigning champion passed Rowbottom for second at Copse, but couldn’t take the fight to Turkington, who was over a second clear by this stage.
The result keeps Ingram’s title hopes alive heading to the final meeting, although he has a 45-point deficit to Sutton, with only 67 points on offer.
Sutton once again clawed his way into a strong position, completing the podium after gradually climbing from eighth on the lap of the restart.
By lap 17 he was up to fourth behind team-mate Rowbottom, who ultimately took four laps to give him the position.
Rowbottom came home in fourth after forfeiting his podium, ahead of EXCELR8’s Ronan Pearson – who started on the front row of the grid – in fifth.
One Motorsport’s Josh Cook finished where he started in sixth, ahead of the leading Toyota of Ricky Collard in seventh.
MB Motorsport’s Jake Hill came through from 20th on the grid to eighth at the finish with saw him gaining a place a lap in the mid-stages.
Árón Taylor-Smith continued Power Maxed Racing’s resurgent run of form with a sixth top ten in ninth, whilst Morgan recovered to finish in tenth – despite some severely dented panels on the left-hand side of his car after his thump with the wall on the opening lap.
NAPA’s Dan Cammish had looked set to take ninth, before bad luck struck again and he slowed with an issue on the final lap.
Race results
POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP | GD |
1 | 4 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 25 | 26:32.144 | 57.948 | 5 | |
2 | 1 | M | Tom INGRAM | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 25 | 2.559 | 58.091 | 10 | |
3 | 116 | M | Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 25 | 5.541 | 58.092 | 12 | |
4 | 32 | M | Daniel ROWBOTTOM | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 25 | 8.143 | 58.294 | 3 | |
5 | 14 | M | Ronan PEARSON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 25 | 8.583 | 58.125 | 2 | |
6 | 66 | I | Josh COOK | One Motorsport with Starline Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 25 | 9.389 | 58.315 | 6 | |
7 | 37 | M | Ricky COLLARD | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 25 | 10.693 | 58.323 | 14 | |
8 | 24 | M | Jake HILL | Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 25 | 14.564 | 58.293 | 20 | |
9 | 40 | I | Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 25 | 17.090 | 58.610 | 11 | |
10 | 33 | M | Adam MORGAN | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 25 | 17.287 | 58.417 | 8 | |
11 | 123 | I | Daniel LLOYD | Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils | CUPRA Leon | 25 | 17.625 | 58.659 | 4 | |
12 | 16 | I | Aiden MOFFAT | One Motorsport with Starline Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 25 | 18.913 | 58.719 | 13 | |
13 | 12 | M | Stephen JELLEY | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 25 | 19.243 | 58.501 | 18 | |
14 | 88 | I | Mikey DOBLE | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 25 | 20.397 | 58.682 | 15 | |
15 | 42 | M | George GAMBLE | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 25 | 21.072 | 58.547 | 23 | |
16 | 17 | I | Dexter PATTERSON | Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD. | CUPRA Leon | 25 | 21.574 | 58.545 | 19 | |
17 | 77 | M | Sam OSBORNE | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 25 | 21.799 | 58.713 | 17 | |
18 | 11 | I | Andrew WATSON | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 25 | 22.937 | 58.818 | 7 | |
19 | 22 | M | Nick HALSTEAD | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 25 | 23.295 | 58.679 | 21 | |
20 | 99 | I | Jade EDWARDS | One Motorsport with Starline Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 25 | 24.259 | 58.577 | 22 | |
21 | 18 | I | Daryl DELEON | Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD. | CUPRA Leon | 25 | 24.949 | 58.564 | 25 | |
22 | 19 | I | Bobby THOMPSON | Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils | CUPRA Leon | 25 | 31.727 | 58.549 | 26 | |
23 | 27 | M | Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 25 | 45.075 | 58.349 | 24 | |
24 | 96 | I | Jack BUTEL | Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown | CUPRA Leon | 24 | + 1 LAP | 58.723 | 27 | |
R | 3 | M | Tom CHILTON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 20 | DNF | 58.418 | 16 | |
R | 777 | I | Michael CREES | Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils | CUPRA Leon | 13 | DNF | 58.771 | 1 | |
R | 6 | M | Rory BUTCHER | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 0 | DNF | N/A | 9 |