The rain having eased after the morning’s downpour, round 14 of the 2008 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship was able to get underway with a track that had been partially cleared of water by the preceeding SEAT Cupra race.

Colin Turkington started from pole position after his first race victory and it was the Team RAC driver who led through Clervaux on the opening lap. Gordon Shedden was running second despite running wide at Tower the first time round. Behind Shedden was Vauxhall’s Matt Neal, who found himself under early pressure from Motorbase’s Rob Collard. Collard was up to fourth after passing reigning champion Fabrizio Giovanardi away from the line.

Enjoying his strongest run of the season in ninth position, Micky Doyle was the first driver in this race to run through the Tower crops when he overshot the corner on lap two.

With Turkington looking comfortable at the front, Gordon Shedden slid sideways as he exited the chicane on the third lap. That was enough to allow former teammate Matt Neal to draw alongside the Civic and Shedden ended up in the tyre barrier on the outside of Tower as Neal nudged him on to the slippery grass.

The safety car was deployed when it looked like Shedden was stranded, but it was only out for a single lap as the Scot managed to hobble back to the pits under his own power. Shedden commented: “That was unnecessary. I left loads of room and he still came across the front of me.”

Restarting the race after a lap behind the safety car, Mat Jackson had already moved up from 18th on the grid to 11th and was emerging as one to watch over the remainder of the race. The Motorbase BMWs were also looking strong. Both running inside the top five, Rob Collard was pressuring Matt Neal for second while Steven Kane was hot on the tail of Fabrizio Giovanardi in fourth.

Continuing his rapid progress through the field, Mat Jackson used the BMW’s extra grip through Tower to take ninth position away from Jason Plato on lap seven. It then took Jackson a couple of laps to pass Adam Jones, but the Team Aircool SEAT Leon was duly dispatched at the chicane on lap nine. Lap ten saw Jackson pass Mike Jordan to move up to sixth and he was soon up to fifth after passing Fabrizio Giovanardi at Clervaux.

Jackson’s pace was unmatchable in the second half of the race and he passed fellow BMW drivers Steven Kane and Rob Collard on successive laps as he honed in on what would be a sensational victory if he could find a way to the front. Matt Neal looked like he might be able to keep the BMW behind him, but once again it was the inside line at Tower that allowed Jackson to find a way past on the penultimate lap.

So with a lap and a half remaining, Jackson had race leader Colin Turkington in his sights. As they started the final lap, the Team RAC driver’s lead was 1.2 seconds. Jackson looked beaten unless Turkington made a mistake. Sure enough, there was a little slide for Turkington as he made his way through the Complex for the final time. That gave Jackson the momentum, but the slow left-hand hairpin allowed Turkington to block the racing line. Jackson was the quicker of the two out of the corner, but the run to the chequered flag was not quite long enough for him to find a way past and Turkington hung on to win by a tenth of a second.

Behind the lead pair, third position went to Matt Neal, ahead of Rob Collard, scoring the best finish for Motorbase Performance since David Pinkney was third at Knockhill in 2006. Fabrizio Giovanardi finished fifth ahead of Adam Jones in sixth. Mike Jordan was seventh, Jason Plato eighth and Darren Turner ninth. Stephen Jelley was next, making it a Team RAC BMW at either end of the top ten.