Turkington builds BTCC points lead with race one victory at Snetterton

Team BMW's Colin Turkington produced a measured drive to secure his 62nd British Touring Car Championship race victory ahead of West Surrey Racing stable mate Jake Hill in race one at Snetterton.

The four-time champion strengthened his new found championship lead after leading every lap from pole position ahead of the ROKiT MB Motorsport BMW of Hill.

Turkington had to contend with two safety-car periods, which neutralised the race and gave Hill two fresh opportunities to launch an attack for the race lead.

However, on both occasions, Turkington controlled the restart to perfection with his BMW 330e M Sport seemingly switching on faster than Hill's.

In typical fashion, Turkington hit his marks on every lap, which meant Hill was unable to get close enough to put the four-time champion under any real pressure.

Turkington eventually crossed the line just over a second ahead of Hill to secure his second BTCC race victory of the season.

With the BMWs once again proving to be the class of the field in the ultra-hot conditions, Hyundai's Tom Ingram was the nearest FWD challenger in third position.

The EXCELR8 Motorsport Hyundai driver held off BMW duo Adam Morgan and Stephen Jelley to secure his place on the podium, albeit almost four-seconds adrift of Turkington and Hill.

Behind the top-five runners, two-time champion Jason Plato produced his equal best finish of the 2022 campaign so far in sixth position.

Following what has been a difficult last few BTCC weekends for the BTC Racing Honda squad, Plato kept tabs with the leading group, despite his title-contending team mate Josh Cook languishing further down the pack in 20th.

The NAPA Racing UK and Team Dynamics Honda squads completed the remainder of the top-ten order, with Dan Cammish finishing in seventh ahead of Dan Rowbottom, Ash Sutton and Gordon Shedden in eighth, ninth and tenth.