Team BMW’s Rob Collard claimed a dramatic win in a truncated second Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship contest at Thruxton.
The local man had already surged from tenth on the grid up to sixth by the time the race had been red flagged for the first time, following a high speed accident involving Senna Proctor’s Vauxhall and the two MGs of Aron Taylor-Smith and Daniel Lloyd. Contact between Proctor and Taylor-Smith caught up the unfortunate Lloyd, whose MG6 was fired off into the barrier at Church corner. Whilst the three drivers emerged from their vehicles unscathed, the same couldn’t be said Armco barrier which required significant repair.
Collard blasted off the line at the restart and his rear-wheel drive BMW 125i M Sport was immediately up to third and harassing the two manufacturer Hondas ahead of him.
It was three-wide for second into the final chicane as Collard emerged ahead of Eurotech’s Jack Goff and Halfords Yuasa Racing’s Gordon Shedden.
No sooner was Collard into second that the Honda Civic Type R of race leader Matt Neal was seen slowly crawling down the pitlane with steering problems. So Collard inherited the lead, but he had to defend valiantly from reigning champion Shedden after he had disposed of Goff.
With the race seemingly building towards an exciting climax it was cut short following another accident involving the Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo Ford of Martin Depper.
Collard claimed the win from Shedden, as Tom Ingram completed the podium following his own eye catching pass on Goff.
2017 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Round 8 – Thruxton
1 Rob COLLARD (GBR) Team BMW 6 laps
2 Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +0.212s
3 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +0.507s
4 Jack GOFF (GBR) Eurotech Racing +1.575s
5 Rob AUSTIN (GBR) Handy Motorsport +2.791s
6 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +2.971s
7 Adam MORGAN (GBR) Ciceley Motorsport +3.327s
8 Ashley SUTTON (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +4.143s
9 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +5.152s
10 Jeff SMITH (GBR) Eurotech Racing +5.623s
11 Matt SIMPSON (GBR) Simpson Racing +6.255s
12 Tom CHILTON (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +6.770s
13 Dave NEWSHAM (GBR) BTC Norlin Racing +7.120s
14 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) BMW Pirtek Racing +7.640s
15 Chris SMILEY (GBR) BTC Norlin Racing +8.319s
16 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts +9.591s
17 Luke DAVENPORT (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo +9.867s
18 Michael EPPS (GBR) Autoaid/RCIB Insurance Racing +10.554s
19 Will BURNS (GBR) Autoaid/RCIB Insurance Racing +11.617s
20 Mat JACKSON (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo +11.830s
21 Jake HILL (GBR) TAG Racing +12.389s
22 Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport +13.039s
23 Senna PROCTOR (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +14.639s
24 Ant WHORTON-EALES (GBR) AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts +16.431s
25 Jason PLATO (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +16.431s
26 Josh PRICE (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +19.115s
27 Aron TAYLOR-SMITH (IRL) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +20.190s
28 James COLE (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +21.437s
29 Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +39.987s
30 Josh COOK (GBR) Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport +50.217s
31 Martin DEPPER (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo +1 lap
32 Daniel LLOYD (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance 0 laps completed
