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British Touring Car Championship
Silverstone - Race 3 Report - 27/9/15

By MJP Media | 27 September 2015

Colin Turkington wins the final race of the day at a sunny Silverstone. Rob Collard and Sam Tordoff get 2nd and 3rd while Jason Plato keeps his championship hopes alive with 4th.

Colin Turkington on the top step of the race 3 podium

The reverse grid draw for the final race of the day put James Cole on pole and gave Motorbase Performance their 3rd pole position of the day. Also on the front row of the grid was Rob Collard in the WSR-prepared JCT600 Racing with GardX BMW 125i M Sport with Colin Turkington and Team BMR RCIB Insurance team-mate Jason Plato on row 2 in their Volkswagen CCs. Row 3 was taken by Sam Tordoff and Matt Neal with Gordon Shedden and Aron Smith on row 4. Jack Goff and Andy Priaulx started on row 5.

James Cole got a poor start to the race allowing Rob Collard to take the lead into the first corner. Later in the lap, Cole ran wide allowing Colin Turkington through into 2nd place. Turkington was clearly on a charge and passed Rob Collard on lap 2 to take the lead. Later on lap 2, Dan Welch's Proton Gen-2 was tapped, sending it into a spin and collecting Hunter Abbott's Audi A4 which sustained severe front end damage and required a period under the Safety Car while marshals removed both cars from the circuit.

Colin Turkington leads from Rob Collard and Sam Tordoff

Racing resumed on lap 6 with Colin Turkington in the lead and Rob Collard 2nd, Sam Tordoff 3rd, James Cole 4th, Jason Plato 5th and Gordon Shedden 6th. With the cars bunched up from the Safety Car period, Turkington started to extend a slight lead over JCT600 Racing with GardX team-mates Rob Collard and Sam Tordoff with the BMW drivers locked in a tight battle for 2nd place while defending their positions from James Cole. The battle continued until lap 9 when Cole lost places to Jason Plato and Gordon Shedden. He then lost more places to Matt Neal, Adam Morgan and team-mate Mat Jackson.

By lap 10 Colin Turkington had built a lead of 2 seconds as the battle for 2nd place between Rob Collard and Sam Tordoff continued to rage with a slight gap to Jason Plato in 4th who was being challenged by championship rival Gordon Shedden in 5th. Several drivers received warnings for exceeding the track limits including Andy Priaulx and Tom Ingram with Priaulx receiving a drive through penalty for repeatedly committing the offence.

Colin Turkington celebrates his victory in race 3

With Colin Turkington secure out in front, the battle for 2nd place was intensifying with Sam Tordoff finally passing his WSR team-mate Rob Collard on lap 19 whilst behind them, Jason Plato was coming under pressure from Gordon Shedden. Collard hadn't given up the fight and re-took the position on the final lap. The race ended with a victory for Colin Turkington with Rob Collard 2nd and Sam Tordoff 3rd. Jason Plato finished 4th ahead of championship leader Gordon Shedden in 5th to claw back a couple of championship points. Matt Neal completed the top 6.

After an entertaining day's racing, Gordon Shedden heads to the final meeting of the 2015 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship with a lead of 23 points over Jason Plato. Colin Turkington lies 3rd in the standings a further 9 points behind with Matt Neal 5 points further adrift. With 67 points available from the final 3 races, the championship is still wide open however none of the title contenders can afford to make any mistakes. The finale of the 2015 BTCC season takes place at Brands Hatch in Kent on October 10th and 11th - don't miss it!

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