Rockingham BTCC: Rob Austin secures second series win in finale
Rob Austin claimed his second British Touring Car Championship victory in the final race at Rockingham, 12 months on from the scene of his maiden triumph
The Audi A4 driver beat poleman Alain Menu away at the start of the weekend's finale and edged clear to record a comfortable victory.
Menu, the 1997 and 2000 BTCC champion, was a lonely second to clinch the best result of his comeback season while Andrew Jordan held off race-long pressure from Colin Turkington to complete the podium.
Starting from second, Austin's rear-wheel drive Audi was always favourite to lead into the banked first corner and the ex-British F3 race winner duly powered round the outside of Menu's BMR Volkswagen CC to seize the initiative.
He made the most of his soft Dunlop tyres to pull away to an eventual 2.7-second winning margin, as Menu's hard-shod VW could not match the eventual race winner's pace.
The Swiss ace was, however, untroubled on his way to second as Jordan's Eurotech Honda Civic came under pressure from Turkington's WSR BMW, Mat Jackson's Motorbase Ford Focus and Jason Plato's MG, all on softs.
Turkington did not let up his assault on third, but Jordan would not crack and despite his tyre disadvantage managed to hang on for a first podium since his race three win at Croft in June.
Shadowing those throughout was Jackson, and he crossed the finish line less than a second behind Turkington but barely ahead of the Irishman's WSR team-mate Rob Collard, who had jumped from ninth to seventh at the start before passing Plato into Deene three laps from the end.
Plato kept clear of MG team-mate Tordoff to finish seventh, while factory Honda driver Matt Neal came through from 14th to finish ninth.
The sister Civic Tourer of Gordon Shedden had a disastrous race that means he requires a near-miracle to win the title.
The 2012 champion was caught in the opening lap midfield mire that also ended the races of Hunter Abbott and Marc Hynes, and Shedden pulled his Dynamics-run Civic into the pits at the end of the first tour with a front-right puncture and further damage severe enough to force his retirement.
His first non-score of 2014 leaves him 64 points adrift of title favourite Turkington, and puts Plato into a lone second - though the MG man is still 55 from the summit.
Results - 16 laps: Pos Driver Car Time/Gap 1. Rob Austin RAR Audi 22m47.650s 2. Alain Menu BMR VW +2.720s 3. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda +5.862s 4. Colin Turkington WSR BMW +7.382s 5. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford +8.245s 6. Rob Collard WSR BMW +8.440s 7. Jason Plato MG +11.173s 8. Sam Tordoff MG +13.547s 9. Matt Neal Honda +15.977s 10. Dave Newsham AmD Ford +25.037s 11. Tom Ingram Speedworks Toyota +25.103s 12. Aron Smith BMR VW +25.651s 13. Fabrizio Giovanardi Motorbase Ford +28.680s 14. Jack Clarke Motorbase Ford +30.980s 15. Robb Holland Rotek Audi +40.394s 16. Dan Welch Welch Proton +41.026s 17. Ollie Jackson Welch Proton +42.623s 18. Simon Belcher Handy Toyota +42.967s 19. Martin Depper Eurotech Honda +43.421s
20. Chris Stockton BTC Chevrolet -1 lap Retirements: Jack Goff BMR VW 15 laps
Glynn Geddie UA Toyota 14 laps Aiden Moffat Moffat Chevrolet 9 laps James Cole UA Toyota 2 laps Warren Scott BMR VW 2 laps Adam Morgan Ciceley Mercedes 2 laps Gordon Shedden Honda 1 lap Hunter Abbott RAR Audi 0 laps Marc Hynes MG 0 laps
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