Photo: BTCC

Colin Turkington secures first win of title defence

By

Colin Turkington secured his first win of the 2020 BTCC season in race two at Donington Park with a measured drive that saw him lead from start-to-finish.

Making the most of the starting prowess of his BMW 330i M Sport, Turkington got the jump on pole man Dan Cammish on the run to turn one and wouldn’t be seriously troubled from that point on as he established a handy lead over the chasing pack behind.

Even when the Safety Car was deployed for Nic Hamilton’s VW to be removed from the gravel at Coppice mid-way through the race, Turkington was able to pull away again on the restart to secured a comfortable race win and open his account for the season.

Behind, Cammish was able to run in second through the early stages but the additional weight on his Honda Civic Type R would ultimately leave him under pressure from the field behind.

Rory Butcher was able to find a way ahead on lap four, with Tom Ingram and Tom Oliphant then following suit on the next lap as the race one winner slipped back down the order.

Butcher would ultimately secure second place for a second podium finish of the day and Ingram looked a good bet for third until the penultimate lap when Oliphant saw his chance to take the place at Coppice on the penultimate lap and managed to put his BMW up the inside and secure the place.

That left Ingram in fourth spot, just ahead of a charging Ash Sutton who once again showed fine pace in the Infiniti to storm through the pack as he continued to recover from his race one dramas.

There was brief contact with Stephen Jelley’s BMW on his way through the pack, with the Laser Tools Racing man making up three places late on to end up ahead of Cammish and Matt Neal.

Adam Morgan took eighth ahead of Jelley after the Team Parker man got shuffled down the order late on, with Josh Cook rounding out the top ten having also been firmly embroiled the heated battles in the midfield throughout.

Both Senna Proctor and James Gornall were unable to take the start after problems in race one whilst there was double disappointment for MB Motorsport as Jake Hill and Sam Osborne both retired.