Rob Collard has taken victory in a shortened reverse grid race of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Oulton Park heading a BMW one-two-three ahead of Andrew Jordan and Colin Turkington.
The initial start of the race had to be red flagged after the first lap due to an incident involving Tom Oliphant, Mike Bushell, Rory Butcher and the BTC Norlin Racing Honda Civic Type R’s of Chris Smiley and Daniel Lloyd.
The start-line was littered with damaged touring cars and debris, the decision was taken to red flag the race and restart after clearing the carnage. Out of the vehicles involved, only Bushell took the restart.
With a second attempt to keep his lead, pole-sitter Rob Austin lost out to Collard for the second time and dropped into second, possibly heading for the best finish of the Alfa Romeo so far this season.
However, it was heartbreak for the HMS Racing driver as driveshaft issues saw him slow and then be forced into retirement.
This saw Jordan promoted to second and new championship leader Turkington onto the podium.
Fourth saw WIX Racing with Eurotech driver Jack Goff following a stellar drive with ballast. Keeping his championship hopes alive with another fantastic race three performance.
Former championship leader Adam Morgan had a strong battle through to fifth. Pick of the moves was a chance manoeuvre on sixth placed Tom Ingram as he battled with Matt Neal, the latter being pushed out onto the grass towards a fourteenth placed finish.
Tom Chilton rounded out his Sunday with a seventh place ahead of the two Volkswagen CCs of Mike Bushell and Jake Hill. James Cole took tenth despite dropping from a third placed grid start.
Bushell and Ollie Jackson rounded out a strong weekend for both drivers by sharing the Jack Sears Trophy for the Oulton Park weekend.
Next up for the BTCC is Croft in two weeks time. A circuit Colin Turkington is famed for dominating the past few seasons. Who can stop the new championship leader?
