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British Touring Car Championship
Croft - Race 1 Report - 23/6/13

By MJP Media | 23 June 2013

Colin Turkington wins the first race from Croft having dominated from lights to flag whilst Jake Hill impresses in his debut BTCC race.

Colin Turkington celebrates with Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden

With just 7 points separating the top 3 drivers in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship and the weather likely to throw a few spanners into the works, today's racing in run-up to the halfway stage of the season was bound to be frantic. Colin Turkington set a lap record yesterday on his way to qualifying in pole position in the eBay Motors BMW 125i M Sport. Currently 3rd in the Independents Trophy standings, both he and the team are desperate to capitalise on the steady improvements that they have made.

Joining Colin Turkington on the front row of the grid was Jason Plato in the MG KX Momentum Racing MG6 with the two Honda Yuasa Racing Civics of Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden immediately behind. As the race commenced and the cars headed down to the tight first corner it was Turkington in the lead however the big mover was Rob Collard in the eBay Motors BMW who went from 3rd from 6th. Collard then had contact with Jason Plato at the second corner and as a result of a spin went from 3rd to 23rd! At the end of the first lap it was Turkington leading from Matt Neal in 2nd Jason Plato in 3rd, Gordon Shedden in 4th, Andrew Jordan in 5th and Sam Tordoff in 6th.

A 'lights to flag' victory for Colin Turkington and eBay Motors

On lap 2 Gordon Shedden passed Jason Plato for third place and set about chasing down his team-mate Matt Neal. Elsewhere in the field Frank Wrathall had a big moment in the Dynojet Toyota Avensis and went off at the complex losing fifteen places in the process. Rob Collard was starting his charge back up the field and team-mate Nick Foster was showing that all 3 of the eBay Motors BMWs were really on the pace.

At the front, Colin Turkington was extending his lead lap by lap. By the end of lap 4 his lead was up to 3.2 seconds over Matt Neal with Gordon Shedden a further 4 seconds back in third. On lap 6 there was major drama as Mat Jackson had a huge moment leading to a big impact with the tyre markers and his race was over. Ollie Jackson also retired with a serious engine issue.

Jake Hill impressed in his debut BTCC race

On lap 7, Nick Foster took Andrew Jordan for fifth place and at the halfway point Colin Turkington had extended his lead to 4.8 seconds, although the field were hoping that his decision to use the soft tyres would bring him back to them later in the race. Towards the end of the race, the BMWs were all still flying as Rob Collard continued to scythe through the field and on lap 12 Foster took Jason Plato for fourth place.

At the flag it was victory for Colin Turkington having led from start to finish in a completely dominant drive, winning by an incredible 9.3 seconds over Matt Neal in 2nd, Gordon Shedden 3rd and Nick Foster a well-deserved 4th. Rob Collard was able to get from 23rd to 9th by the end of the race in a storming drive showing the genuine pace that is now in the BMW 125i M Sport. The other performance of note was 19 year old Jake Hill winning the Jack Sears Cup for S2000 specification cars on his BTCC debut in the Addison Lee Motorbase Ford Focus.

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