Colin Turkington ensured that RAC had plenty of reason to cheer with victory in the 19th round of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Snetterton.

Just half an hour or so from the headquarters of the WSR team sponsors, Turkington stormed to his third win of the season at the wheel of his BMW 320si, although team-mate Tom Onslow-Cole and Team Halfords Gordon Shedden ensured he didn't have an easy run to
the flag.

When the race kicked off on a dry circuit, despite overnight rain, Onslow-Cole made the best start, but the fact the rookie was then on the outside going into Riches meant that Turkington was able to maintain the lead. Behind however, points leader Jason Plato was in trouble as a demon start that saw him get ahead of title rival Fabrizio Giovanardi, came to nothing when he was tagged by Matt Neal at the first corner and took a trip across the grass – dropping down to 17th at the end of the opening lap. Neal meanwhile would be forced to pit with damage to his Honda Civic and would ultimately finish a lap down.

While Onslow-Cole was unable to gain the lead on the run to the first corner, he would lead the race by the end of lap one as he got a run down the Revett Straight to get into the lead at The Esses, with Turkington then forced to defend second from Shedden, with Tom Chilton fourth as the top four broke away from the pack. Mat Jackson was fifth having jumped up from ninth on the grid, with Darren Turner, Giovanardi, Jason Hughes and Dave Pinkney completing the top ten – the A-Tech man having come up from 15th on the grid.

By the end of the second lap, Plato had started to make up places and had climbed up to 15th place in his attempt to minimise the points loss to Giovanardi who was trying to move up the order himself from the fighting pack towards the bottom of the top ten.

While Turkington tried to find a way past his team-mate for the lead, Shedden was being forced to defend from Chilton in the battle for third place. Having produced a solid drive in the opening stages however, Onslow-Cole lost the lead on lap five, with Turkington getting ahead at The Esses and Shedden then following him through into second at Russell to demote Onslow-Cole down to third. Further back meanwhile, Giovanardi was up to seventh having past Mike Jordan for position.

Giovanardi was now running as quick as anyone in the Vectra and on lap six he climbed into sixth place with a strong move on Darren Turner at the Esses, Mike Jordan following him straight through as Turner got bogged down coming out of the corner.

Out front, Turkington continued to lead from Shedden at the half-way point with Onslow-Cole holding off Chilton in the fight for third. Jackson continued in fifth ahead of Giovanardi, Jordan, Turner, Eoin Murray and Plato – who had got himself into the top ten.

On lap eleven, Plato got ahead of Murray into ninth while Turner was starting to pressurise Jordan for seventh, perhaps aware that if he could in front of the Integra then he could help Plato to make up places. However, there wouldn't be enough laps for Plato to climb higher as, despite Turner getting past Jordan, the points leader had to settle for ninth.

Instead it was left to Turkington to take the honours with his third win of the season, just seven tenths ahead of Shedden who continued his impressive recent run of form in the Honda Civic. Onslow-Cole completed the podium ahead of Chilton and Jackson, with Giovanardi completing the top six. Behind Turner, Jordan and Plato, Tom Ferrier completed the top ten – taking his first point of the season at the expense of Eoin Murray who had run in the top ten throughout before a mechanical problem forced him to retire just three laps from the finish.

Jason Hughes finished eleventh after a solid run in the Kartworld MG with Erkut twelfth and Matt Allison 13th – the home favourite having been forced to battle back through the field after an off-track excursion while fighting with Plato dropped him down the order. John George was 14th ahead of Richard Marsh with Martyn Bell in 16th, the Team AllAboutProperty.com driver having stormed from 21st on the grid to 13th on the opening lap before slipping back down the order as the race progressed. Simon Blanckley and Fiona Leggate completed the drivers to finish on the lead lap, with Neal a lap down in 19th.

Alongside Murray, Pinkney retired after being punted off by Matt Allison with the damage to his Alfa Romeo enough to force a retirement while Chris Stockton managed just two laps before his Lexus was forced out. Rick Kerry failed to start due to engine problems with the diesel BMW 1 Series, the team now working to get the car ready for the second race instead.

STOP Press!
Colin Turkington has been excluded from the opening race of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship meeting at Snetterton – handing victory in the 19th round of the year to Team Halfords driver Gordon Shedden.

Turkington had started from pole in the race but lost the lead to team-mate Tom Onslow-Cole on the opening lap before getting back ahead of the rookie on lap five – then fending off the challenge of Shedden to secure what looked like being a third win of the season in the Team RAC BMW 320si.

However, Turkington was then excluded from the results due to his car being underweight at the finish, which hands victory to Shedden and promotes the rest of the field up a place – putting Onslow-Cole second and Tom Chilton into third.

As well as losing his win, Turkington will now start the second race of the weekend from the back of the grid and will still have to carry the maximum success ballast he would have carried as race winner.