Reigning BTCC champion Gordon Shedden won the final thrilling encounter at Silverstone to keep his hopes alive of retaining the title going into the grand finale at Brands Hatch in two weeks’ time.
Young Andrew Jordan will go into the showdown leading the standings, but he has four former champions chasing him down for the championship crown.
The five title contenders had mixed fortunes in race three, none more so than Colin Turkington who led the early running. The eBay Motors BMW shot by pole-sitter Matt Neal off the line, which left the Honda embroiled in a fierce battle with MG’s Sam Tordoff over the first few laps.
The scrap soon came to an abrupt end when Neal slid wide exiting Brooklands. The two-time champion recovered well but as Tordoff closed in the pair went side-by-side through Luffield and Woodcote and inevitable contact followed. Tordoff’s MG spun off the track, whilst Neal dropped behind Airwaves Racing’s Aron Smith and the charging Shedden.
The next major move at the front of the field came when Shedden slipped by Smith at Brooklands on lap seven, with his Honda Civic showing positive signs of having the pace to catch Turkington over the remainder of the race. As it happened his chance came sooner than expected when a brief one-lap behind the safety car was called on lap 13 in order to retrieve debris from the circuit.
Turkington’s world fell apart at the restart as Shedden and Smith immediately passed him on the run down to Maggotts. The Ulsterman’s fortunes worsened further when Neal forced him down to fourth and the second Ford Focus of Mat Jackson also closed in with the BMW seemingly struggling to maintain his front-running pace for the full race distance. Then on the penultimate lap Jackson and Turkington touched once while running side-by-side across the start/finish line and seconds later the BMW spun wildly at Copse with broken suspension after further contact. The 2009 champion was out of the race, seriously denting his title chances in the process.
Smith went on to complete another good day for Airwaves Racing by taking second ahead of Neal, who himself had battled back well after his early fracas with Tordoff. Jackson also showed the pace of the Ford Focus by claiming fourth despite his late scare with Turkington.
Championship leader Andrew Jordan reignited his sensational race two battle with Jason Plato as the pair tussled for position in the final contest. Plato touched Jordan twice through Luffield at one stage, before the Honda Civic wriggled clear to take fifth. Plato had to settle for seventh after the Toyota Avensis of Dave Newsham made a late pass, which rounded off a good run for the Inverness-based racer.
Adam Morgan took eighth and the fastest lap for Ciceley Racing, whilst Jack Goff equalled his best ever BTCC finish with ninth. The Proton of Daniel Welch rounded out the top ten.
Lea Wood completed a hat-trick of wins in the Jack Sears Trophy.
The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship now moves on the legendary Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit for the final three races of the season. Jordan holds a 34-point advantage at the top of the standings but the 24-year-old will have to fend off the challenge from Neal, Shedden, Turkington and Plato on 12/13 October.
