BTCC

Turkington wins to extend championship lead as Cammish hits trouble

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Turkington was pursued by Ingram throughout but resisted the pressure to win for the second time this season. Photo credit: Btcc.net media

Colin Turkington took his second win of the 2020 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship and in doing so strengthened his grip on the championship lead. His position was further bolstered when his chief rival Dan Cammish slowed three laps from the end with a mechanical issue.

As the lights went out Turkington made a good start and charged into the lead, whilst pole sitter Cammish made an awful start and dropped to fourth behind Ollie Jackson and Tom Ingram. At the end of the first lap Ingram dived down the inside of Jackson and set off in pursuit of Turkington.

By lap three, Ingram in the Toyota was all over the BMW of leader Turkington and looking for a way through. Behind them, Cammish pressurised Jackson into a mistake at Stirling’s and swept around the outside of him into third.

Further down the field there was contact between Michael Crees and Bobby Thompson which ended with them both in the gravel trap at Westfield and out of the race. Both men were furious, slamming their doors and exchanging angry gesticulations on their way to the marshall’s post.

This incident brought out the safety car for several laps as both cars were extricated from the gravel trap. With the field bunched up, it meant that the battle for the lead became a three way affair with Cammish tagging onto the back of Ingram and Turkington’s squabble.

Behind them, there was a huge train of cars stuck behind Jackson who was starting to struggle with his ballast laden Ford. Tom Chilton in the BTC Racing Honda made a brave lunge at Paddock Hill Bend and relieved Jackson of fourth. However, no sooner had Chilton set off after the top three, he slowed with a technical problem and retired from the race. Jake Hill and Matt Neal also stopped as the heat began to take its toll on some of the cars.

Rory Butcher, meanwhile was on a charge, and by lap ten had moved into ninth position from 25th on the grid. He wasn’t finished there though and scythed his way past Tom Oliphant at Hawthorns on lap 13 and then passed the Mercedes of Adam Morgan a lap later. His final overtake of the race was more straightforward as he got a good exit out of Clark Curve to breeze past his team-mate Jackson over the line with three laps to go.

At the front, Turkington had built a one second gap to Ingram with Cammish third. Then suddenly at Surtees Cammish’s Honda slowed and the rest of the field streamed past him; a bitter blow to his championship hopes.

In contrast, Turkington was untroubled in the closing stages and nursed his BMW home for his second win of the season. Ingram was a comfortable second with Ash Sutton third in the Infiniti.

Butcher was a tremendous fourth, a gain of 21 places on his grid position, ahead of Jackson in fifth.

Morgan was sixth from Oliphant, Senna Proctor and Stephen Jelley who all scored points again just as they had done in race one. James Gornall was a personal best tenth in the Audi S3.

For the full race classification see here.

The final race of the day is at 17:30 and will be broadcast live on ITV4. Aiden Moffat will start from pole position.

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Freelance sports journalist with an immense passion for motorsport. I will be focusing on the BTCC this season and I look forward to bringing the latest news, analysis and features from the paddock.
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