Gordon Shedden inherited his third win of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season at
Snetterton after race winner
Colin Turkington was excluded from the 19th round of the year.
Just half an hour or so from the headquarters of the WSR team sponsors, Turkington looked to have stormed to his third win of the season at the wheel of his
BMW 320si, although team-mate
Tom Onslow-Cole and Team Halfords ace Shedden ensured he didn’t have an easy run to the flag. However all his hard work would be in vain when Turkington was excluded from the results after the race due to an underweight car.
When the race kicked off on a dry circuit, despite overnight rain, Onslow-Cole made the best start, but the fact the rookie was then on the outside going into Riches meant that Turkington was able to maintain the lead. Behind however, points leader
Jason Plato was in trouble as a demon start that saw him get ahead of title rival Fabrizio Giovanardi, came to nothing when he was tagged by
Matt Neal at the first corner and took a trip across the grass – dropping down to 17th at the end of the opening lap. Neal meanwhile would be forced to pit with damage to his Honda Civic and would ultimately finish a lap down.
While Onslow-Cole was unable to gain the lead on the run to the first corner, he would lead the race by the end of lap one as he got a run down the Revett Straight to get into the lead at The Esses, with Turkington then forced to defend second from Shedden, with Tom Chilton fourth as the top four broke away from the pack.
Mat Jackson was fifth having jumped up from ninth on the grid, with Darren Turner, Giovanardi, Jason Hughes and Dave Pinkney completing the top ten – the A-Tech man having come up from 15th on the grid.
By the end of the second lap, Plato had started to make up places and had climbed up to 15th place in his attempt to minimise the points loss to Giovanardi who was trying to move up the order himself from the fighting pack towards the bottom of the top ten.
