Aron Smith becomes 12th winner of 2016 BTCC season at Rockingham

The Team BKR VW CC man held off race-long pressure to record his win after three safety car periods left Honda's Gordon Shedden and Subaru's Colin Turkington, up from 16th on the grid, in his mirrors.

"The car came alive for the last race," he said. "I had to nail the restarts and I did, which helped.

"I had pressure. Once I saw Colin Turkington in to third, I knew I would be OK because he would fight Gordon Shedden pretty hard.'

Championship challenger Matt Neal brought his Honda home in fourth place on the less favourable harder Dunlop tyres, and Mat Jackson followed him home, also on the harder rubber.

The second safety car had been caused when Ash Sutton's MG, which had been defending hard in seventh pace, was knocked out of contention after contact with Dave Newsham's Chevrolet.

Rob Collard was run wide on the opening lap but recovered for sixth spot ahead of the Mercedes of Adam Morgan and Jake Hill in the Toyota Avensis.

Aiden Moffat (Mercedes) and Jason Plato (Subaru) completed the top 10.

Championship leader Sam Tordoff struggled with 75kg onboard his BMW 125i M Sport and slid down the order to 16th, just outside of the points.

He still maintains a five-point buffer at the head of the table over Neal.

Shedden is now just 20 points from the top of the standings in third spot.

RACE THREE RESULT

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS