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British Touring Car Championship
Oulton Park (Island) - Race 3 Report - 5/6/16

By MJP Media | 5 June 2016

Matt Neal wins the final race of the day from Oulton Park whilst Sam Tordoff leads the Drivers' Championship after a podium finish in all three races. Jason Plato also takes his 3rd podium finish of the day.

Matt Neal wins the third race from Oulton Park

The reverse grid draw for the final BTCC race of the day from Cheshire's Oulton Park circuit put Matt Neal's Halfords Yuasa Racing Honda Civic Type R in pole position alongside the MG Racing RCIB Insurance MG6GT of Josh Cook. Tom Ingram started on row two in his Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis with Gordon Shedden' Halfords Yuasa Racing Honda Civic Type R. Row three saw Silverline Subaru team-mates Jason Plato and Colin Turkington in their Levorg GTs with Sam Tordoff and Andrew Jordan on row four.

With Jack Goff's Team IHG Rewards Club BMW 125i M Sport talking to the pit lane on the formation lap the race got under way and there was an immediate battle for 3rd place with Gordon Shedden edging his way past Tom Ingram before muscling his way past Josh Cook to join team-mate Matt Neal at the front of the field. Cook also lost out to Tom Ingram, ending the first lap in 4th place as Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden started to extend their lead.

Matt Neal in his Halfords Yuasa Racing Honda Civic Type R

Behind the Halfords Yuasa Racing duo, an intense battle was developing for 3rd place with Tom Ingram defending from Josh Cook who was in turn being pursued by Jason Plato and Colin Turkington. Meanwhile at the front, Matt Neal posted the fastest lap of the race so far as he and team-mate Gordon Shedden continued to increase their lead over the rest of the field. As the race progressed an ever increasing queue was building behind Tom Ingram who was defending his 3rd place.

As in the previous race, Rob Collard was charging hard. Having started from 25th on the grid due to a puncture in race two, the Team JCT600 with GardX driver had already made his way up to 11th place by lap 10 but he wasn't satisfied with that and by lap 12 had climbed to 8th. Ahead, Jason Plato was battling with Tom Ingram while Sam Tordoff was challenging Josh Cook for 4th place. A puncture on Gordon Shedden's Honda Civic Type R on the penultimate lap denied Halfords Yuasa Racing a 1-2 finish.

Matt Neal on the podium with Sam Tordoff (right) and Jason Plato (left)

On the final lap, Sam Tordoff moved up to 2nd after passing Tom Ingram's Toyota Avensis. Ingram would have finished 3rd had Jason Plato not taken the place in the closing seconds, crossing the line 0.098 seconds ahead of the Speedworks Motorsport driver. The race ended with a victory for Matt Neal with Sam Tordoff 2nd and Jason Plato 3rd. Tom Ingram finished 4th ahead of Josh Cook and Rob Collard who completed the top six. Colin Turkington, Andrew Jordan, Jake Hill and Adam Morgan completed the top ten.

After a fabulous day's racing at the picturesque Oulton Park circuit, Sam Tordoff leads the Drivers' Championship table on 139 points with Matt Neal just 1 point behind on 138. Rob Collard leaves the Cheshire venue in 3rd place on 113 points with Gordon Shedden 4th on 112, Adam Morgan 5th on 108 and Andrew Jordan 6th on 102. We now head to North Yorkshire and the Croft circuit on June 18th and 19th for rounds 13, 14 and 15 of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.

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