Ebay Motor’s, Colin Turkington secured victory in the first British Touring Car race at Knockhill (today). Turkington, despite admitting that he never got the best of starts, took advantage of a tense Rob Austin to take the lead on the opening lap. The BMW driver, then went on to open up a 3.5 second lead over Gordon Shedden, who also squeezed past Austin in the opening stages.
However, an incident between Nick Forster and Paul O’Neill, which saw the latter crash into the barrier on the main straight, wiped out Turkington’s advantage as the safety was deployed. On the restart, Turkington was able to re-establish his advantage over Shedden, crossing the line 3.452 seconds ahead of the Honda driver.
Shedden had to fight tooth and nail for his second place finish, with Austin’s Audi, pressurising Shedden all the way to the finish line. With Austin charging, and Shedden defending intently, that gave Adam Morgan the opportunity to reel the duo in; but never close enough to challenge for a podium.
“My start didn’t go according to plan, l was looking for a super-human start; but it just never materialised.
“I knew l had to get past Rob before his tyres got up to temperature and managed to make a move into the hairpin. You never want to see the safety car when you are leading, but l managed to open a gap again and I am delighted with the win,” said Turkington.
Second placed man Shedden was happy enough with his podium and had this to say:
“It’s great to finish on the podium. It was a good second place finish, which could easily have been a 4th or 5th, given everything that was going on out there.”
Despite being unable to take his maiden victory, Austin still managed to bring (Sherman) back home in third spot. Although Austin seemed slightly annoyed with himself for his race start, he was no less, delighted with his second podium of the season.
“I was a bit tense at the start and both Colin and Gordon took advantage of that.
“To finish third, shows that car has some real pace,” said Austin.
The top ten finishing order was:
Turkington, Shedden, Austin, Morgan, Plato, Collard, Neal, Jordan, Tordoff and Smith.
The next BTCC race is scheduled to go at 2.14pm and will be broadcast exclusively on ITV4 and ITV online.
If you fancy popping along for the remainder of the afternoon, with 6 races still to go, there is plenty of entertainment on offer. Tickets available at the gate.
Photos courtesy of Dan Jess Photography