Colin Turkington admitted he had fulfilled his dream at Brands Hatch after taking his maiden HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship title.

The Team RAC driver went into the weekend leading the standings by 13 points, but faced a tough challenge from both Fabrizio Giovanardi and Jason Plato in his quest to lift the crown.

With Plato taking victory in the first two races of the day, the fight for the crown went to the final race of the year – with eight points separating the trio.

The season finale proved to be arguably the most dramatic of the season, with Matt Neal leading Turkington and Giovanardi through the opening laps and driving defensively to keep Turkington behind in the hope of aiding his team-mate's championship bid.

Turkington eventually took the lead with a robust move at Druids and was then forced to defend from Giovanardi – with Plato, who had come through the field to join the train for the lead – passing both to hit the front.

While the Racing Silverline man went on to take a third win of the day, Turkington was again forced to defend from Giovanardi and was able to hold on to second, with Giovanardi being passed by Tom Chilton for third, for a result which saw Turkington lift the crown for the first time.

His return to the pitlane saw emotional scenes as four generations of the Turkington family celebrated his first BTCC crown, as well as a first title for West Surrey Racing – the outfit behind Team RAC.

“The Indy title was the stepping stone to the overall crown for me and my ambition in life has been to win this,” the new champion told Crash.net shortly after receiving the coveted BTCC trophy. “To finally conquer your dream is an unbelievable feeling. It's such satisfaction.

“West Surrey Racing has been in the championship from something like 1996 and has been close before and I have been in the BTCC since 2002 – and with them for all but one year. To win it with Dick Bennetts, Mike Ewan and the team is fantastic. It's been my life long dream and I'm so happy for them as well.”