Colin Turkington took the final HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship race victory of the weekend at
Brands Hatch after a race long duel with fellow
BMW man
Mat Jackson.
Turkington made the best start from the front row of the grid and then held off the determined challenge of his fellow Independent runner to secure his first win of the year, with
Matt Neal battling onto the podium for the first time in his Vauxhall Vectra.
From the start, Turkington blasted into the lead on the run to Paddock Hill for the first time, with a stunning getaway from Jackson saw him come through to second from sixth on the grid, reclaiming the position before the end of lap one having briefly allowed poleman Mike Jordan to find a way past at Druids.
However, by the end of the opening lap the race was already under caution after a heavy shunt for
Tom Onslow-Cole on the Cooper Straight. Contact between the Honda of Gordon Shedden and
Jason Plato's SEAT saw Shedden tipped into a spin that collected Onslow-Cole and fired the Vauxhall new boy into the barrier and comprehensively damaging the front of his car.
Racing resumed on lap eight, but by lap nine the Safety Car was back on track after Shedden found himself in the wars again, this time being used as a brake by Adam Jones at Druids and going off into the barriers on the exit of the turn.
Finally on lap eleven, the race proper really got underway, and the winner of the first two races, Fabrizio Giovanardi, was the man making the move early on, passing both Matt Allison and Stephen Jelley in one move going into Surtees. It put the Italian into sixth place, with Turkington leading from Jackson and Jordan, with Matt Neal fourth and Jason Plato fifth.
Further back, Tom Chilton was climbing up the order and by lap 18 he was into seventh place behind Giovanardi although he would remain in the same position to the finish.
