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British Touring Car Championship
Brands Hatch (Indy) - Race 3 Report - 30/3/14

By MJP Media | 30 March 2014

Crash, bang, wallop! Safety cars and drive-through penalties shape the final race from Brands Hatch as Colin Turkington wins the last race of the day.

Colin Turkington on the podium with Jason Plato (left) and Matt Neal (right)

Confusion reigned supreme after incidents in earlier races left no fewer than 5 drivers with grid penalties for the 3rd and final race of the day! Marc Hynes was excluded from the result of race 2 for his crash with Martin Depper and had to start from the back of the grid. Aron Smith was penalised 5 places for his crash in race 1 and all three of the Chrome Edition Restart Racing cars were given grid penalties for overtaking under a yellow flag. Fortunately this didn't impact on the cars at the front of the grid and everyone was ready for action.

The eBay Motors trio of Rob Collard, Nick Foster and Colin Turkington got away cleanly at the front, however there was action elsewhere in the first three corners with Fabrizio Giovanardi, Marc Hynes and Martin Depper all going off. Turkington was able to get up to 2nd ahead of Foster and by lap 4 was all over the back of Rob Collard. Behind the BMWs were the two Honda Yuasa Racing Civic Tourers of Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden with Adam Morgan in 6th for Wix Racing. Sam Tordoff was running in 7th with Mat Jackson, Jason Plato and Andrew Jordan making up the top 10.

Colin Turkington leading team-mates Rob Collard and Nick Foster

On lap 8, 2 drive-through penalties were announced for false starts by Laser Tools Racing's Aiden Moffat and Nick Foster who was running in 3rd place. Foster stayed out for 2 laps before serving his drive-through penalty, handing 3rd place to Matt Neal. Lap 12 saw a huge crash when the Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis of Tom Ingram was shunted off by Alain Menu just after Graham Hill bend, causing the safety car to be deployed which made a huge impact on the race by immediately bunching everyone back up.

At the restart it was Colin Turkington from Rob Collard followed by the two Honda Yuasa Civics and Adam Morgan. Jason Plato was able to pass his MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save team-mate Sam Tordoff and then Morgan to move up to 5th. Adam Morgan was now 6th with Mat Jackson 7th and Tordoff 8th. On lap 20, Plato passed Gordon Shedden for 4th then set about catching Matt Neal. Meanwhile, Dave Newsham was having his best race of the day, moving into the top 10 on lap 21.

Andrew Jordan leaves Brands Hatch heading the championship

Heading into the final 5 laps the BMWs were slowing slightly and Matt Neal was closing on Rob Collard who had dropped back from Colin Turkington whilst he defended his position. With Jason Plato behind Neal, a battle royal was raging for 5th between Gordon Shedden and Mat Jackson. With 2 laps to go, Neal took Collard then Plato followed him through to drop Collard to 4th. At the chequered flag it was a win for Colin Turkington and eBay Motors with Matt Neal 2nd and Jason 3rd. Rob Collard finished 4th ahead of Alain Menu and Gordon Shedden with Mat Jackson, Jack Goff, Dave Newsham and Adam Morgan completing the top 10. Following his earlier successes, Andrew Jordan was only able to finish 13 as the combination of success ballast and soft tyres proved difficult to manage.

After the first meeting of the 2014 season, Andrew Jordan leads the BTCC Drivers Championship on 47 points with Matt Neal 2nd on 45 and Colin Turkington 3rd on 44. Gordon Shedden is 4th in the standings on 40 points with Jason Plato 5th on 38 as the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship heads to Donington Park in three weeks. What a fantastic start the season - it is no wonder that the BTCC is Britain's premier motorsport series!

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