James Thompson has won the third of today’s HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship races at the Oulton Park circuit in Cheshire.
Yorkshireman Thompson led all the way to achieve his third win of the season in his Team Dynamics Honda Civic. Finishing second was the VX Racing Vauxhall Vectra of Andrew Jordan to equal his previous best-ever result.
Third and re-taking the lead of the championship standings by just two points was VXR’s Matt Neal. Colin Turkington, who won the two earlier races in his Team RAC BMW to briefly pass Neal at the top of the standings, this time finished outside of the points in 11th.
As a result he has dropped back to second as the BTCC now moves to the Croft circuit in North Yorkshire for its fifth round of the season on Sunday 14 June.
Race-winner Thompson, who has now won three times in 2009, said: “That was very hard work even though I ended up with a decent gap at the end. Andrew really kept the pressure up in the early stages and only towards the end, once I’d built a cushion, did I choose to wind it off. Unlike Donington Park two weeks ago we’ve not quite been on the pace here so to still come away with a race win is very satisfying.”
For full race results click on this link: www.btcc.net/html/raceresults_detail.php?race_id=59&season_id=52
Images from the day's action can be viewed in the Fans section.
Neal’s third place finish came after a scrape at Island Hairpin with Airwaves BMW’s Jonathan Adam who half-spun and lost places as a result. In the end Neal's mirrors were full of the other Airwaves car, that of Robert Collard who, having started last on the grid, had miraculously come through to an eventual fourth spot. Collard also set the race’s fastest lap for a bonus point.
Jason Plato in his Racing Silverline Chevrolet Lacetti was fifth ahead of VXR’s Fabrizio Giovanardi, the Briton having got past the Italian when the latter found himself badly delayed by the half-spinning Adam.
Collard aside, there was another strong comeback drive from Silverline’s Mat Jackson. From the rear of the grid he took a fighting eighth but his car bore several battle scares afterwards – one after contact with Turkington’s BMW which crossed the line with broken rear suspension.
The final lap ended in tears for both Turkington’s team-mate Stephen Jelley and Dynamics’ David Pinkney, their cars colliding first with one another and then the barriers as they climbed Clay Hill.
Morrison’s team-mate Tom Chilton and Martin Johnson in his Boulevard Vauxhall Astra also both retired but due to mechanical problems with their cars.
