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British Touring Car Championship
Croft - Race 3 Report - 28/6/15

By MJP Media | 28 June 2015

Rob Collard completes a three race clean sweep for West Surrey Racing by winning the final race of the day from Croft Circuit. Andy Priaulx takes 2nd place and the 6th podium of the day for the team.

Rob Collard wins the 3rd race from Croft Circuit

The random reverse grid draw from race three put Rob Collard in pole position alongside Gordon Shedden on the first row. Row two was taken by Andy Priaulx and Colin Turkington with Jason Plato and Sam Tordoff on row three. Rob Austin and Tom Ingram started on row four, Adam Morgan and Jack Goff on row five with Matt Neal and Hunter Abbott on row six.

As the lights went out to start the 50th BTCC race to be run at Croft Circuit it was the BMWs that once again got the best starts with Andy Priaulx passing Gordon Shedden at the first corner to take 2nd place behind pole-sitter Rob Collard. Shedden quickly regained the place from Priaulx and proceeded to attack Collard for the lead which he took on lap three. Meanwhile, former BTCC champion Andrew Jordan limped back to the pits with rear suspension damage to his MG 888 Racing MG 6GT.

Gordon Shedden defending the lead from Rob Collard

At the front, Rob Collard and Andy Priaulx were catching Gordon Shedden's Honda Yuasa Racing Civic Type R whilst Shedden's team-mate Matt Neal was setting the fastest lap of the race. At 1/3rd race distance Shedden was leading Rob Collard and Andy Priaulx in their WSR-prepared BMW 125i M Sports with Colin Turkington and Jason Plato 4th and 5th respectively for Team BMR. In the mid stage of the race it was Matt Neal who was on a charge, having moved up to 7th place from 11th on the grid by lap seven. A couple of laps later Neal passed Sam Tordoff to take 6th place.

In the closing stages, Rob Collard was putting pressure on Gordon Shedden who was suffering on the soft Dunlop tyres. Collard finally found a way past the Scot on lap twelve and started to extend a lead. With two laps to go, Andy Priaulx was pushing Shedden hard for 2nd place however Shedden defended valiantly until he ran wide on the last lap allowing Priaulx's Team IHG Rewards Club BMW 125i M Sport through into 2nd place.

Andy Priaulx takes the 6th podium finish of the day for WSR

At the chequered flag it was a victory for Rob Collard and JCT600 Racing with GardX with team-mate Andy Priaulx 2nd and Gordon Shedden 3rd. Colin Turkington finished 4th with Jason Plato 5th and Sam Tordoff 6th. Tom Ingram, Jack Goff, Matt Neal and Warren Scott completed the top 10. This result means that West Surrey Racing took 6 out of the 9 podium places available from the three races at Croft Circuit with each of their three drivers earning 2 podium finishes and an outright race win - a fantastic achievement for all the team.

At the half way point in the 2015 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season, Gordon Shedden leads the Drivers' Championship on 195 points, 10 points ahead of Jason Plato on 185. Matt Neal is 3rd in the standings on 173 with Sam Tordoff 4th on 162 and Colin Turkington 5th on 161. The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship now takes its summer break and will return to action at Snetterton in Norfolk on the weekend of August 8th and 9th. If the second half of the season is anything like the first, we're in for some fantastic racing from Britain's premier motor sport series.

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