BTCC: Morgan, Jordan and Jackson winners at Thruxton, sad day for Subaru

Adam Morgan, Andrew Jordan and Mat Jackson are the winners of three races at Thruxton Circuit in the third round of the 2016 British Touring Car Championship. For Jordan, this is the first season’s victory while Morgan and Jackson became the double winners.

The weekend began with Tom Ingram‘s record lap time during qualifying in the Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis. He rounded the 2.36-miles long circuit for 1m 16.161sec, 0.033sec faster than the young Flying Scotsman Aiden Moffat in the Laser Tools Mercedes A-Class.

Subaru Levorgs didn’t race at Thruxton

Subaru withdrew from Thruxton races

On Sunday morning, the disappointing news came from the Silverline Subaru BMR‘s garage. Due to some technical issues, connected with high-pressure fuel rail which was broken at Donington Park round and changed for Thruxton round, the team wasn’t satisfied with new solution and they decided to withdraw from the race. The best Subaru driver in the qualifying was Colin Turkington in 13th place.

Tom Ingram started the first race from pole but lost the lead during the opening lap. Matt Neal, who started third, survived the contact with Ingram and Moffat and took the lead. Josh Cook and Adam Morgan eyed their opportunity and slipped through into second and third respectively. Neal continued to lead few more laps but his balast-laden Honda Civic Type R dropped to second at the end of Lap 4, under the pressure of Morgan’s Mercedes.

Adam Morgan is the first double winner in 2016 BTCC season

Race was red-flagged after multi-car wreck

Moffat also overtook Neal and stayed in second place until Lap 10, when he suffered a puncture and ran wide. Next who had a puncture was Neal and he attempted to pull into the pitlane but was collected by an unsighted Cook. Gordon Shedden, Jeff Smith and Jake Hill also being caught up in the incident. With the track full of wrecked cars the race was stopped and red flagged.

Results were classified with an order from the end of lap 11, so Adam Morgan won ahead of Tom Ingram and Andrew Jordan. Jeff Smith took fourth place, despite the incident, while his teammate Martin Depper scored a career-best fifth place. Three BMWs, driven by Rob Collard, Sam Tordoff and Jack Goff, finished in positions from sixth to eighth. Daniel Welch took ninth place, his first top ten since Silverstone in 2013. Jake Hill completed the top 10.

Andrew Jordan became the seventh different winner in eight races

First season’s win for Andrew Jordan

In the second Thruxton race, Andrew Jordan became the seventh different winners in eight races in the 2016 season. Adam Morgan started from pole and remained in the lead in the first half of the race. Tom Ingram, who started second, was penalized because of a jump start, so he opened the space for Andrew Jordan.

The Pirtek Racing’s driver found the way to leading position on Lap 11. Morgan later lost one more place from Rob Collard and remained in third, defending his podium spot from attacking BMWs of Jack Goff and Sam Tordoff. In the closing laps Gordon Shedden, who started from the back of the grid, caught two BMWs and slipped into fourth place. At the end, Goff and Tordoff finished fifth and sixth, ahead the best rookie Dan Lloyd. Motorbase Performance’s Mat Jackson, Goodestone Racing’s Dan Welch and Handy Motorsport’s Rob Austin completed the top 10.

Mat Jackson scored his second win in 2016

Jackson in the lead from start to finish

Welch’s number was picked at random in the reverse grid draw by Andy Priaulx, so the Proton racer started the third race from pole position. Mat Jackson, who started next to him in the front row, took the lead after the start and remained there for all 12 laps. Welch was defending his second place until lap 5 when he went off to the tires.

Jack Goff and Gordon Shedden was second and third after Welch’s retirement, but just until lap 7 when Matt Neal progressed to the second place. In the last four laps, Neal was chasing Jackson, but Motorbase Performance Ford Focus defended the lead. Adam Morgan finished third and took third Thruxton podium in three races.

Jack Goff lost control of his BMW on lap 10 and collided into Shedden’s Honda, so both dropped out of the points. Two MGs of Josh Cook and Ashley Sutton took fourth and fifth place. Rob Collard, Rob Austin, Sam Tordoff, Daniel Lloyd and Michael Epps completed the top 10.

Matt Neal and Rob Collard are the point leaders

Matt Neal and Rob Collard are tied in the championship lead after nine races, with 101 points collected. With three podiums at Thruxton, including one victory, Adam Morgan is now third in the standings, with 98 points. Matt Jackson had two wins in nine races and sits in fourth place in the drivers’ classification. The next BTCC round is scheduled for June 4-5 at Oulton Park.

Check the full results of BTCC races at Thruxton Circuit

Photos: btcc.net,