Colin Turkington’s love affair with Snetterton has continued with an eighth win around the Norfolk circuit claiming Round Four of the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) in a lights to flag victory which sees him cut the gap at the top of the Drivers’ Championship to Jake Hill.
Turkington finished ahead of Tom Ingram who once again claims a best ever result for EXCELR8 and their Hyundai efforts, while Rory Butcher after a torrid opener at Thruxton returned to the podium rounding out the top three.
Turkington’s Team BMW teammate Stephen Jelley finished in the top four ahead of Ollie Jackson, Adam Morgan, Daniel Lloyd, Tom Oliphant, the aforementioned championship leader Jake Hill and Chris Smiley rounding out the top 10.
With defending champion, Ash Sutton down in 11th after a poor qualifying which prompted an engine change for Laser Tools Racing in the Infiniti Q50.
Off the line, Turkington surged off the line and kept the lead for the first lap albeit with Ingram crawling all over him. Further down, Jelley led a battle pack that included Morgan, Lloyd and Hill.
The Team BMW driver led by +0.633 to Ingram but Jelley was tagging back onto the leading pack after Jackson in fourth as he aimed to join the podium group.
But Jackson had to defend from both Jelley and Morgan with the latter picking off the Team BMW driver. The Car Gods with Ciceley BMW driver claimed the fastest lap showing how quick he was running as he aimed for Jackson.
He was holding himself up on Lap 3/12 by having to defend and Turkington, Ingram and Butcher started to get away further up the road.
Turkington was +0.973s ahead as he continued to open up the gap to Ingram who himself was getting away from Butcher.
Morgan after a superb start fell down to 7th with Lloyd gaining from it into sixth. Ingram running on Lap 7/12 was taking chunks out of Turkington’s lead as he aimed for a late surge.
While further down, Sutton in another surge of sorts through the field picked off Jake Hill to head further into the top 10 but the championship leader stood his ground and reclaimed the place. This allowed Smiley and Goff to move past Sutton through the melee to halt the momentum of the defending champion.
Jelley further up finally got into fourth place ahead of Jackson with Lloyd and Morgan aiming to do the same before the Team BMW driver got away.
Shedden who had to come from the back was finally into the points in 15th on Lap 10/12 as he aimed to make further ground towards a reverse grid pole potentially.
With the top four battle pack seemingly sorted, the main battle was with Jackson and Lloyd with the latter going for fifth once more but he couldn’t get through and Morgan claimed the place of the Vauxhall Astra.
Turkington began to slow down knowing he had claimed victory which he did over the line with Ingram, Butcher and Jelley finishing the top five.
This means the four time champion will start on pole for Race Two which begins at around 2:30pm BST with 75kg of success ballast on board, will it be a double win?
2021 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Race 1 – Snetterton
1 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW 12 laps
2 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com +2.932s
3 Rory BUTCHER (GBR) Toyota Gazoo Racing UK +9.451s
4 Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team BMW +13.960s
5 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square +16.921s
6 Adam MORGAN (GBR) Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport +17.572s
7 Daniel LLOYD (GBR) Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing +18.049s
8 Tom OLIPHANT (GBR) Team BMW +18.373s
9 Jake HILL (GBR) MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square +21.951s
10 Chris SMILEY (GBR) Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com +22.583s
11 Ashley SUTTON (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +22.852s
12 Jack GOFF (GBR) Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct +23.759s
13 Daniel ROWBOTTOM (GBR) Halfords Racing with Cataclean +24.993s
14 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +25.415s
15 Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Racing with Cataclean +26.015s
16 Josh COOK (GBR) BTC Racing +27.736s
17 Jason PLATO (GBR) Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing +28.663s
18 Senna PROCTOR (GBR) BTC Racing +29.382s
19 Sam OSBORNE (GBR) Racing with Wera & Photon Group +29.942s
20 Carl BOARDLEY (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +32.857s
21 Tom CHILTON (GBR) Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport +34.464s
22 Árón TAYLOR-SMITH (IRL) Team HARD. with HUB Financial Solutions +35.358s
23 Jessica HAWKINS (GBR) Racing with Wera & Photon Group +38.361s
24 Rick PARFITT (GBR) EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com +40.530s
25 Jade EDWARDS (GBR) PHSC with BTC Racing +41.030s
26 Jack BUTEL (GBR) EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com +41.774s
27 Glynn GEDDIE (GBR) Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct +42.730s
28 Nicolas HAMILTON (GBR) ROKiT Racing with iQuoto Online Trading +43.230s
29 Sam SMELT (GBR) Toyota Gazoo Racing UK +58.734s
