Halfords Yuasa Racing's Matt Neal secured victory in the final BTCC race at Oulton Park, whilst Sam Tordoff claimed an impressive second place finish to maintain the lead of the overall standings.

Tordoff tops Neal by just one point in the championship, with both drivers now pulling clear of the chasing pack after impressive performances in the final encounter in Cheshire.

Honda originally looked in place to score a one-two finish after Gordon Shedden muscled his way past Josh Cook's MG on the opening lap. The two bright orange Civic Type Rs immediately pulled away from the rest of the field, but reigning champ Shedden was never close enough to challenge his team-mate. Disaster struck for the Scotsman on the penultimate lap when a puncture forced him out of contention.

Cook – already reeling from the earlier attack by Shedden – was now embroiled in a fairly heated debate with Tom Ingram's Toyota, as the pair tapped and nudged their way through the entire contest. The battle would eventually play into the hands of the experienced Jason Plato. Ingram was run onto the grass as the gaggle of cars ran down to Lodge for the final time. The Speedworks star was detemined not to let Cook past, but in holding up his rival he merely opened the door for the Silverline Subaru BMR Racing car of Plato to run around the outside and steal the final place on the podium.

Rob Collard also made his final move on the run to the chequered flag, rounding off a staggering display from the Team JCT600 with GardX driver. The veteran had seemingly carved his way through the field in each of the Oulton Park races but misfortune had so far prevented him from scoring a top result. He would not be denied in race three, however, as he stormed from 25th to sixth - beating Colin Turkington's Subaru to the line by just 0.041s.

Andrew Jordan was eighth for Motorbase Performance, whilst Jake Hill and Adam Morgan were provided with some positives following a bruising day of action. Hill had driven well in the earlier bouts but had to wait until the final race for a well deserved top ten finish, as did Morgan, who had wrestled balance problems with his WIX Racing Mercedes A Class for the entire weekend.

2016 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Round 12 – Oulton Park

1 Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing 22m 18.716s
2 Sam TORDOFF (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX +9.481s
3 Jason PLATO (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +11.662s
4 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +11.760s
5 Josh COOK (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +11.827s
6 Robert COLLARD (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX +12.015s
7 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +12.056s
8 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) Motorbase Performance +12.299s
9 Jake HILL (GBR) RCIB Insurance Racing +12.494s
10 Adam MORGAN (GBR) WIX Racing +12.936s
11 Aron SMITH (IRL) BKR +13.589s
12 Ashley SUTTON (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +13.853s
13 Mat JACKSON (GBR) Motorbase Performance +15.163s
14 Alex MARTIN (GBR) Dextra Racing with Team Parker +15.880s
15 Martin DEPPER (GBR) Eurotech Racing +17.775s
16 Rob AUSTIN (GBR) Handy Motorsport +18.629s
17 Daniel WELCH (GBR) Goodstone Racing +22.670s
18 Matt SIMPSON (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +23.262s
19 Hunter ABBOTT (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +23.457s
20 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +25.925s
21 Chris SMILEY (GBR) TLC Racing +30.492s
22 Kelvin FLETCHER (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +43.085s
23 Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +44.168s
24 Warren SCOTT (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing+58.224s
25 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) AmD Tuning.com +1 lap
DNF Dan LLOYD (GBR) Eurotech Racing +3 laps
DNF Mark HOWARD (GBR) BKR +3 laps
DNF James COLE (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +4 laps
DNF Michael EPPS (GBR) RCIB Insurance Racing +8 laps
DNF Jeff SMITH (GBR) Eurotech Racing +8 laps
DNF Jack GOFF (GBR) Team IHG Rewards Club 0 laps
DNF Stewart LINES (GBR) Maximum Motorsport 0 laps

Sam Tordoff became the ninth different race winner from the opening 11 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship races so far this season after delivering a commanding drive in race two at Oulton Park.

The Team JCT600 with GardX driver blasted his BMW off the line, past pole-sitter Colin Turkington, and never looked back. The unpredictability of the 2016 BTCC campaign continued as the Yorkshireman romped home to add his name to an ever-growing list of drivers to reach the top step of the rostrum. Incredibly Tordoff also now leads the standings despite only being sixth at the start of today's action.

"Getting a good start was probably the difference between winning and coming second to be honest," claimed Tordoff. "The key is consistency and that’s been the aim this weekend, it was all about getting the lead and just consolidating.

"I was cautious of what was going to happen in the second part of the race with Colin (Turkington) behind but he didn’t have an answer for us. We changed a lot in terms of setup between races one and two and the car managed the weight beautifully. Credit to the team and my engineer."

Turkington and his Silverline Subaru BMR Racing team-mate Jason Plato squabbled over second for much of the contest, although the former eventually claimed the place comfortably from the BTCC's most winningest driver. The Levorgs have been in impressive form throughout the weekend with Turkington and Plato making it a brace of double podiums from the first two bouts in Cheshire.

Halfords Yuasa Racing's Gordon Shedden and Speedworks Motorsport's Tom Ingram finished fourth and fifth respectively.

The race had begun in fairly dramatic fashion with a series of incidents leading to a brief early safety car period. Aron Smith's VW ran wide at Cascades on the opening lap, shortly before Rob Austin's Toyota made contact with Jake Hill's identical machine at the Island Hairpin. The knock-on effect speared Hill into Mat Jackson's Ford Focus, although the latter would go on to have a competitive race.

Much of the attention was on the flying Rob Collard following the restart, as the experienced race-winner continued his surge up the order from 23rd on the grid. The West Surrey Racing driver picked off car after car and was soon into the top ten, where he would then relegate his stablemate Jack Goff and Eurotech's Daniel Lloyd further down the order.

Collard then joined Josh Cook and Matt Neal in a three-way tussle for sixth, which would eventually end the BMW man's challenge. Cook and Neal had their own incident at Thruxton last month and the MG Racing RCIB Insurance man was determined to keep triple champion Neal behind him. The pair went side-by-side, making contact into Knickerbrook, but both the Honda and MG continued with only minor cosmetic damage.

WSR's Collard then saw off Neal on lap ten and made his way past Cook's MG two tours later. No sooner had he seemingly secured the move, however, that the BMW 125i M Sport ran wide on the exit of Old Hall. He returned to the circuit immediately in front of Cook and the two touched, which broke the rear-right suspension on Collard's machine – he eventually limped back to the pit lane and into retirement.

Cook held on to take sixth at the finish from Neal, while Motorbase Performance's Andrew Jordan made the most of the melee to nip by Jack Goff's BMW into eighth. Jackson recovered from his own eventful run to take a top ten finish.

2016 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Round 11 – Oulton Park

1 Sam TORDOFF (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX 24m15.404s
2 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +1.638s
3 Jason PLATO (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +2.309s
4 Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +5.544s
5 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +6.217s
6 Josh COOK (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +12.302s
7 Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +12.552s
8 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) Motorbase Performance +13.207s
9 Jack GOFF (GBR) Team IHG Rewards Club +13.848s
10 Mat JACKSON (GBR) Motorbase Performance +13.989s
11 Hunter ABBOTT (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +14.260s
12 Adam MORGAN (GBR) WIX Racing +15.166s
13 Dan LLOYD (GBR) Eurotech Racing +15.841s
14 Martin DEPPER (GBR) Eurotech Racing +16.204s
15 Jeff SMITH (GBR) Eurotech Racing +20.586s
16 Michael EPPS (GBR) RCIB Insurance Racing +21.079s
17 Aron SMITH (IRL) BKR +29.433s
18 Warren SCOTT (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing+29.820s
19 Alex MARTIN (GBR) Dextra Racing with Team Parker +29.844s
20 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) AmD Tuning.com +35.609s
21 Stewart LINES (GBR) Maximum Motorsport +36.117s
22 Chris SMILEY (GBR) TLC Racing +37.117s
23 Kelvin FLETCHER (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +38.700s
24 Daniel WELCH (GBR) Goodstone Racing +44.903s
25 Robert COLLARD (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX +2 laps
26 Jake HILL (GBR) RCIB Insurance Racing +2 laps
27 Ashley SUTTON (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +2 laps
DNF Matt SIMPSON (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +2 laps
DNF Mark HOWARD (GBR) BKR +7 laps
DNF Rob AUSTIN (GBR) Handy Motorsport +10 laps
DNF James COLE (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +10 laps
DNF Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing

Colin Turkington claimed the first ever Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship victory for Subaru after producing a lights-to-flag performance in the opening contest at Oulton Park.

The double BTCC champion made a decent getaway from pole position and was able to resist the attentions of Sam Tordoff's Team JCT600 with GardX BMW in the early running, before gradually stretching away in the latter stages.

It's an historic result for the Japanese marque which had so far endured a baptism of fire on its introduction to Britain's biggest motor sport series. Challenging weekends at Brands Hatch and Donington Park were followed by the team pulling out of the Thruxton event due to safety concerns with its fuel system. Tireless hard work, updates to the car and a two-day test have since led to an impressive turnaround, culminating in this fantastic result at the Cheshire circuit.

"I’m delighted for the team," enthused Turkington. "This result is good for me, but it’s even better for all the guys who have put in so much hard work and until now got nothing back. The performance of the car has really progressed since the first three weekends; we’ve found the Levorg’s sweet spot and the whole package is really moving forward. We know there’s still more work to do and race two will be a bit of a step into the unknown as we’ve never carried any weight before, so I’m not so sure the next one will be quite as easy..."

While Turkington was leading from pillar-to-post, Tordoff was enjoying a similarly trouble free contest, having blasted by Daniel Lloyd's Honda off the line.

"I’m very pleased," said Tordoff. "It’s important to score big points, so this is a solid start. With Colin being on the soft tyres and us the mediums, we thought the race would come back to us a bit and it didn’t, which was a little bit of a shame – the Subaru seemed to have a bit more pace in the bag when it counted. The goal now is to score some more big points in race two and then consolidate in race three."

Lloyd hustled extremely well in only his third BTCC event, although he was shuffled further down the order by more experienced drivers. Gordon Shedden's Halfords Yuasa Racing Honda nipped by the at the Island hairpin on lap two, before Jason Plato followed suit in slightly more aggressive fashion on the seventh tour. Rookie Lloyd eventually finished sixth after Tom Ingram's Toyota pulled up alongside the Eurotech Racing machine on the run to the finish line, and went on to clinch fifth by just 0.139s.

Shedden's third place came under threat from Plato's Silverline Subaru BMR Racing machine shortly after mid-distance and a battle ensued between the two BTCC legends over the next few laps. Reigning champion Shedden defended valiantly on a number of occasions, before Plato was finally able to nudge the nose of his Levorg up the inside of the orange Civic Type R at the end of lap 12. Plato made the move stick into turn one and from there he pulled away to make it a fantastic one-three for Subaru.

"It’s a fantastic achievement for the whole team and I’m absolutely chuffed for Colin and everybody involved," beamed Plato. "This project has been five years in the making and it’s been an epic journey. We’ve got something really special here – BMR isn’t a big team, but everybody has done a fantastic job and what they’ve achieved is the most beautiful piece of engineering I’ve ever seen in a touring car."

Ashley Sutton tumbled down the pack from sixth place on the same lap, as part of an Ingram scrap and the other MG of Josh Cook. The latter took seventh behind Ingram and Lloyd, whilst Aron Smith and Matt Neal followed in eighth and ninth respectively. Andrew Jordan's Pirtek-backed Ford Focus completed the top ten order.

There was great racing throughout the field, highlighted by an eye-catching side-by-side duel between Aiden Moffat's Mercedes and Rob Austin's Toyota in the lower reaches of the top 20. The pair ran alongside eachother for the best part of a lap as a gaggle of cars looked on, proving that no quarter is given in the BTCC regardless of the position being contested.

All 32 cars were classified at the finish although there was one worrying sign for Silverline Subaru BMR Racing on the slowing down lap, when Warren Scott pulled off with what seemed like a fire in his Levorg.

Races two and three will take place at 14:45 and 15:55 respectively with the entire race day now being broadcast live on ITV4.

2016 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Round 10 – Oulton Park

1 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing 21m 56.702s
2 Sam TORDOFF (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX +2.424s
3 Jason PLATO (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +9.954s
4 Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +3.429s
5 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +16.249s
6 Dan LLOYD (GBR) Eurotech Racing +16.388s
7 Josh COOK (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +19.119s
8 Aron SMITH (IRL) BKR +19.312s
9 Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +20.395s
10 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) Motorbase Performance +20.819s
11 Hunter ABBOTT (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +21.064s
12 Jack GOFF (GBR) Team IHG Rewards Club +21.367s
13 Jake HILL (GBR) RCIB Insurance Racing +22.008s
14 Martin DEPPER (GBR) Eurotech Racing +28.017s
15 Rob AUSTIN (GBR) Handy Motorsport +28.401s
16 Mat JACKSON (GBR) Motorbase Performance +29.407s
17 Warren SCOTT (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing+31.797s
18 James COLE (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +32.374s
19 Ashley SUTTON (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +32.514s
20 Daniel WELCH (GBR) Goodstone Racing +32.619s
21 Jeff SMITH (GBR) Eurotech Racing +37.672s
22 Matt SIMPSON (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +39.319s
23 Robert COLLARD (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX +39.893s
24 Adam MORGAN (GBR) WIX Racing +41.874s
25 Michael EPPS (GBR) RCIB Insurance Racing +42.260s
26 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) AmD Tuning.com +45.759s
27 Stewart LINES (GBR) Maximum Motorsport +45.914s
28 Chris SMILEY (GBR) TLC Racing +47.526s
29 Kelvin FLETCHER (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +54.693s
30 Alex MARTIN (GBR) Dextra Racing with Team Parker +1:36.614s
31 Mark HOWARD (GBR) BKR +2 laps
32 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +2 laps

Daniel Lloyd has confessed that he very nearly abandoned the lap that earned him his first Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship front row qualifying performance at Oulton Park this weekend (4/5 June).

Following a one-off, points-scoring BTCC debut at Croft back in 2010, Lloyd returned to the fray at Thruxton after signing to contest the remainder of the season in a third Eurotech Racing Honda Civic Type R.

The 24-year-old Yorkshireman impressed with a double top ten finish in Hampshire and subsequently headed to Oulton keen to build upon that promising form, but he admitted that qualifying second – less than two hundredths of a second shy of pole position – exceeded even his own expectations. Not only that, but it was a lap that he almost didn’t complete at all.

“I was on the back foot until my last new set of tyres,” Lloyd revealed. “I’m still getting used to these Dunlops and understanding how to extract the most from them. It’s a learning curve for me, and it was a bit of trial and error initially.

“After Thruxton, people told me I’d done a good job, but I knew there was a lot more still to come and I’m over the moon to have proved that here. The guys at Eurotech have done a mega job and put in so much hard work, and I’m feeling a lot more comfortable in the car and starting to be able to do what I want.

“My first two runs weren’t ideal, and then on my third run, I messed up the first turn, missing the apex completely. I was tempted to abandon the lap, but from Cascades on, I nailed every single corner. It wasn’t a knife-edge lap by any means – it was all fairly neat and tidy and accurate.

“I’m a bit gutted about the mistake in the first corner, because it almost certainly cost me pole, but to be on the front row only second time out with Eurotech is unbelievable. I was really hoping for a top six position, so this is incredible. I’m over the moon.”

Team boss and driver of Silverline Subaru BMR Racing talks to btcc.net after his squad scored its first pole position of 2016…