Colin Turkington took a commanding victory from pole position in the second Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship race of the day at Knockhill. He made a quick getaway from the line in the eBay Motors BMW and never looked back, pulling out three seconds on the chasing pack after three laps before managing the gap until the finish.
"The car is really on rails today," said a delighted Turkington. "It was good at Croft and we thought that was something like peak performance but it feels even better today. There’s no feeling like being out at the front!"
Podium man from race one Rob Austin also made a good start in his rear-wheel-drive Audi, moving ahead of Gordon Shedden’s Honda Civic before the cars reached turn one. The top three then remained in station all the way to the chequered flag ahead of Rob Collard and Matt Neal.
"Hopefully we can go one better in the third race but that might be a bit of a long shot," beamed Austin. "The car is brilliant, there wasn’t a hope in hell I was going to lift into turn one! There’s nothing to lose in race three for us, we’re not in the championship hunt after our mid-season performance, but the car has good pace and hopefully we can go forward."
Collard’s impressive day continued after he’d taken his BMW 125i M Sport from 12th on the grid up to sixth in the opening race. Another measured performance followed as he powered his way by the Toyota Avensis of Adam Morgan off the line in race two. He then went on to pressure two-time champion Jason Plato before passing the MG in the early stages. The eBay Motors racer gradually hauled in the Civic of Shedden throughout the remainder of the race, but he eventually ran out of laps and had to settle for fourth at the finish.
Matt Neal and Andrew Jordan benefited from a mechanical issue on Morgan’s Ciceley Toyota after eight laps and they both made relatively light work of Plato’s MG6. The two remained inseparable throughout the contest to come home in fifth and sixth – covered by just 0.782s. Neal’s championship lead has been reduced by Shedden, however, while Jordan has fallen to third in the standings, although both will now occupy the front row for the final race of the day after the reverse grid draw.
Incredibly the top four in the standings are now separated by just 13 points with Neal leading Shedden, Jordan and Turkington respectively. With another 25 points on offer in today’s final showdown, the championship table could have a very different look by the time the series leaves Scotland on Sunday evening. Shedden warned: "I'm sure it’ll be all action in the third race, so we’ll see what happens!"
The MGs of Jason Plato and Sam Tordoff finished seventh and eighth but will have seen their gap to the championship summit slip further away, whilst Mat Jackson’s Ford Focus and Dave Newsham's Toyota Avensis rounded out the top ten.
The Proton of Daniel Welch stormed from 24th on the grid to claim 11th at the finish after he came out on top of a late battle with Dynojet’s Frank Wrathall and PPCGB Kraftwerk’s Tom Onslow-Cole.
The Jack Sears Trophy provided its usual pulsating action with the lead duo of Liam Griffin and Lea Wood racing against the NGTC cars of Warren Scott and Mike Bushell, plus the S2000 Ford Focus of Dan Nye. It was Griffin who won his second cup of the day as Wood initially got muscled back behind the faster NGTC cars, whilst Nye ran wide and into the gravel before limping back to the pits with a puncture.
2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Knockhill – Race Two
1 Colin Turkington (eBay Motors) 24 Laps2 Rob Austin (WIX Racing) +1.8213 Gordon Shedden (Honda Yuasa Racing) +4.6584 Robert Collard (eBay Motors) +5.0755 Matt Neal (Honda Yuasa Racing) +8.7386 Andrew Jordan (Pirtek Racing) +9.5207 Jason Plato (MG KX Momentum Racing) +12.4228 Sam Tordoff (MG KX Momentum Racing) +13.7829 Mat Jackson (Airwaves Racing) +13.84010 Dave Newsham (Speedworks Motorsport) +19.72211 Daniel Welch (Welch Motorsport with Sopp + Sopp) +21.42512 Frank Wrathall (Dynojet) +22.40313 Tom Onslow-Cole (PPCGB/Kraftwerk Racing) +23.74714 Nick Foster (eBay Motors) +24.25015 Ollie Jackson (Speedworks Motorsport) +37.44116 Warren Scott (Team BMR Restart) +50.85817 Mike Bushell (Team Club 44) +51.71418 Liam Griffin (Addison Lee Motorbase) +55.89919 Lea Wood (Wheel Heaven/Houseman Racing) +1 Lap20 Kieran Gallagher (RCIB Insurance Racing) +1 Lap21 David Nye (Welch Motorsport with Sopp + Sopp) +2 Laps
Not Classified- Will Bratt (Rob Austin Racing) +12 Laps- Adam Morgan (Ciceley Racing) +16 Laps- Aiden Moffat (Finesse Motorsport) +22 Laps
