Turkington takes impressive first win of 2021 at Snetterton
Team BMW's Colin Turkington has opened his 2021 British Touring Car Championship victory account after winning the opening race of the day ahead of Hyundai driver Tom Ingram at Snetterton.
The four-time champion led every lap from pole position and was able to control the gap back towards the second placed Excler8 Hyundai of Ingram to around a second for the majority of the race.
Turkington's lead did appear to be under threat at one stage when Ingram set the fastest lap of the race on lap six. But the BMW 330i M Sport driver responded immediately with a new fastest lap of his own to reassert his authority on the race.
That burst in pace ultimately broke Ingram's resolve with Turkington marching away to an almost three-second lead to record his 57th career BTCC race victory.
Turkington's eighth victory around Snetterton has also moved the 39-year old to within five-points of the championship lead, currently held by MB Motorsport Ford driver Jake Hill.
Ingram's position in second was just as untroubled with Toyota Gazoo Racing's Rory Butcher following a further five-seconds behind to record his podium finish in third in the Toyota Corolla.
Stephen Jelley consolidated a strong opening race for the West Surrey Racing squad to secure his best finish since returning to the factory BMW outfit in fourth ahead of MB Motorsport's Ollie Jackson in fifth.
Following what proved to be a difficult opening round for the Ciceley Motorsport squad, Adam Morgan bounced back for a sixth place finish ahead of Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall's Dan Lloyd in seventh.
Eight position for Tom Oliphant meant almost half of the top-ten order was comprised of BMW machinery.
Championship leader Jake Hill battled valiantly with maximum ballast to retain his position in the top-ten with a ninth place finish, while Chris Smiley held off the charging Infiniti of reigning champion Ash Sutton for tenth.
Having been disqualified from yesterday's qualifying session, Gordon Shedden produced a magnificent charge from 28th to move himself back into contention with a points finish in 15th.
