Team BMW’s Colin Turkington had a perfect end to Croft with his reverse grid pole being translated to a win in a lights-to-flag effort on Sunday evening.
The only move which put Turkington under pressure saw Josh Cook go for glory from outside the front row on the opening lap, but he couldn’t make it stick and Tom Ingram then picked him off who started the weekend six points behind Ash Sutton.
He leaves Croft six points behind Sutton, as, despite the utter dominance from NAPA Racing UK, Sutton again hit strife in Race Three just as he did last time out.
Team BMW’s Stephen Jelley had slight contact with the trio of NAPA Racing UK Ford Focus cars, but a further incident saw Sutton come off worse of all three as his car hobbled towards the pits. At first, with a Safety Car for Dan Lloyd, Sutton could’ve rejoined if it was a puncture.
But he stopped it on the pit entry and got out and had to walk back as his car was towed back denting his point-scoring opportunity.
Turkington was able to control the race from the restart from Ingram and Cook, while Cammish and Rowbottom ended a superb weekend in fourth and fifth. One Motorsport who saw an upturn in form had Aiden Moffat also in the top six, with Jade Edwards again narrowly missing out on points.
Another again saw Jake Hill spin for the second race running and he had to recover again to take seventh ahead of Rory Butcher, George Gamble, and Aron Taylor-Smith. Michael Crees also finished 11th on his return to the Championship, while rookie Daryl DeLeon initially benefited from the opening lap carnage caused by oil being spilled from Ricky Collard’s car and the previous legends’ race to sit 12th in the early going.
But having a mechanic on the grid too late saw a 10-second drive-through applied to stop any potential maiden points score. The action resumes in two weeks at Knockhill.
2023 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Race 3 – Croft
1. Colin Turkington, Team BMW 18 Laps
2. Tom Ingram, BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 +3.242s
3. Josh Cook, One Motorsport with Starline Racing 5.287s
4. Dan Cammish, NAPA Racing UK +5.886s
5. Daniel Rowbottom, NAPA Racing UK +7.192s
6. Aiden Moffat, One Motorsport with Starline Racing +10.402s
7. Jake Hill, Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport +12.336s
8. Rory Butcher, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK +13.152s
9. Árón Taylor-Smith, CarStore Power Maxed Racing +21.699s
10. George Gamble, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK +22.819s
11. Michael Crees, Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils +23.309s
12. Mikey Doble, CarStore Power Maxed Racing +26.774s
13. Dexter Patterson, Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD +27.021s
14. Andrew Watson, CarStore Power Maxed Racing +27.721s
15. Ricky Collard, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK +27.843s
16. Jade Edwards, One Motorsport with Starline Racing +28.425s
17. Sam Osborne, NAPA Racing UK +32.011s
18. Daryl DeLeon, Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD +36.409s
19. Ronan Pearson, BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 +40.420s
20. Nick Halstead, BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 +42.603s
21. Jack Butel, Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown +7 Laps
22. Tom Chilton, BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 +8 Laps
23. Stephen Jelley, Team BMW +15 Laps
24. Adam Morgan, Team BMW +15 Laps
25. Ashley Sutton, NAPA Racing UK DNF
26. Daniel Lloyd, Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils DNF