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British Touring Car Championship
Thruxton - Race 3 Report - 10/5/15

By MJP Media | 10 May 2015

Adam Morgan wins the final race of the day from Thruxton with a faultless 'lights to flag' drive in his WIX Racing Mercedes Benz A-Class as Matt Neal finishes an impressive 6th from 25th on the grid.

Adam Morgan being congratulated after winning race 3

The reverse grid draw for the final race of the day gave pole position to Adam Morgan with Andrew Jordan 2nd on the front row of the grid. Sam Tordoff was joined by Colin Turkington on row 2 with Jack Goff and Gordon Shedden on row 3. Following their retirement from race 2, Andy Priaulx and Matt Neal started race 3 from the back of the grid in 24th and 25th place respectively.

As the red lights went out, Adam Morgan and Andrew Jordan both got good starts with Morgan holding on to the lead. Tom Ingram also started well and by the end of the first lap had pushed his Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis up to 16th place from 23rd on the grid. Gordon Shedden lost out at the start but had made his way up to 7th by the end of lap 2 ahead of the Exocet AlcoSense Racing Audi A4 of Rob Austin and the Team BMR Volkswagen CC of Jason Plato.

Andrew Jordan chasing Adam Morgan for the lead

While Adam Morgan was extending his lead in the WIX Racing Mercedes Benz A-Class, a battle was developing for 6th place between Rob Collard in the JCT600 Racing with GardX BMW 125i M Sport and Gordon Shedden in the Honda Yuasa Racing Civic Type R. A couple of laps later Shedden passed Collard then set about catching Jack Goff in the MG 888 Racing MG 6GT. Collard lost another place on the next lap, this time to Jason Plato.

The Safety Car was then deployed while marshals dealt with the Volkswagen CC of Team BMR's Warren Scott that had hit the tyre wall. At the same time, Aiden Moffat spun his Laser Tool Racing Mercedes Benz A-Class but managed to get it back on the track, albeit after losing 5 places. By this time, Matt Neal was up to 11th place from 25th on the grid, benefiting from not having to carry any success ballast in his Honda Civic Type R.

Adam Morgan on the podium with Sam Tordoff (left) and Andrew Jordan (right)

With Adam Morgan's lead eroded and Andrew Jordan, Sam Tordoff, Colin Turkington and Jack Goff close behind, racing resumed on lap 12 with Power Maxed Racing's Josh Cook challenging Rob Collard hard for 10th place. Lap 13 saw Jack Goff pushing Gordon Shedden for 5th place. Meanwhile Matt Neal was continuing to make up places and was now running 9th as a battle for 6th place was developing with Jack Goff losing out to Jason Plato on lap 16. Goff then slid wide and lost further places to Matt Neal, Aron Smith, Josh Cook and Tom Ingram.

In the closing laps, Jason Plato came under pressure from Matt Neal for 6th place and when Plato went wide on lap 18, Neal made his move at secured the place. At the chequered flag it was a memorable victory for Adam Morgan and the WIX Racing team with Andrew Jordan 2nd for MG 888 Racing. Sam Tordoff completed the podium positions with Colin Turkington 4th, Gordon Shedden 5th and Matt Neal 6th. Jason Plato, Aron Smith, Josh Cook and Tom Ingram completed the top 10.

Gordon Shedden now leads the Drivers' Championship on 114 points with Colin Turkington 2nd on 106, Matt Neal 3rd on 103 and Jason Plato 4th on 102 as the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship heads to the picturesque Oulton Park circuit in Cheshire for the 4th meeting of the 2015 season on June 6th and 7th.

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