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Turkington says his 2019 BTCC title bid is over and accuses Neal

Colin Turkington reckons he is out of the 2019 British Touring Car Championship title fight after being hit by Matt Neal in the second race at Brands Hatch

The WSR driver lined up fifth but made an excellent launch to climb to second ahead of Matt Neal, tucking in behind nearest title rival Dan Cammish.

But on the run to Graham Hill Bend, as Turkington defended his position, he was hit from behind and spun across the track and rejoined down in 28th place.

Turkington only recovered to 25th, meaning Cammish takes an eight-point lead into the final race - which he will start ninth.

"Matt's one of the guys you have a bit more trust with," Turkington told ITV4. "You would have thought he would have respected what I was doing."

"If I was a Honda, not a BMW... would he have hit the Honda? I think he would have held a brake a bit longer.

"It takes me out of the championship."

The reigning champion added that it could have been a deliberate move from Team Dynamics driver Neal to swing the title fight in Cammish's favour.

"It was extremely selfish on his behalf. I don't know what excuse he'll bring to the table but it was lap one," said Turkington.

"The feedback from the team is that he came from a long way back and hit me up the rear.

"I'me sure when he saw me up front and behind Dan he was pretty keen to reverse the situation.

"If it had been a Honda in front of him I bet he wouldn't have hit it. A BMW is a much easier target.

"I feel like I'm out of [the title fight] now."

Turkington did pit under the safety car and gambled for slick tyres, but wet rubber remained the quicker option until the final lap.

Neal reckoned he was without blame for the incident, and that he could have hit Turkington at any point had he wanted to take him out.

"I didn't see anything wrong," argued Neal.

"My car was clearly down his inside and he just turned across me.

"There's no malice between me and Colin at all. I am respectful.

"If I want to do Colin then I would have done it in first place.

"The door was open and he turned across."

In the race, Ash Sutton ran on to his first win of the season by five seconds ahead of Turkington's team-mate Andrew Jordan.

Prior to what is expected to be his final BTCC race, Jordan sits five points off Turkington and 13 behind Cammish.

Leading drivers' standings

Pos Driver Points
1 Dan Cammish 318
2 Colin Turkington 310
3 Andrew Jordan 305
4 Josh Cook 266
5 Rory Butcher 249

Race three grid

Pos Driver Team Car
1 Senna Proctor BMR Racing Subaru
2 Stephen Jelley Team Parker Racing BMW
3 Rory Butcher AmD Tuning Honda
4 Michael Caine Motorbase Performance Ford
5 Jason Plato Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall
6 Ollie Jackson Motorbase Performance Ford
7 Tom Chilton Motorbase Performance Ford
8 Dan Cammish Team Dynamics Honda
9 Andrew Jordan WSR BMW
10 Ash Sutton BMR Racing Subaru
11 Aiden Moffat Laser Tools Racing Infiniti
12 Josh Cook BTC Racing Honda
13 Matt Neal Team Dynamics Honda
14 Carl Boardley Team Hard Volkswagen
15 Daniel Rowbottom Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes
16 Bobby Thompson Team Hard Volkswagen
17 Rob Collard Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall
18 Mike Bushell AmD Tuning Honda
19 Jake Hill Trade Price Cars Racing Audi
20 Rob Smith Excelr8 Motorsport MG
21 Tom Ingram Speedworks Motorsport Toyota
22 Sam Osborne Excelr8 Motorsport MG
23 Michael Crees Team Hard Volkswagen
24 Chris Smiley BTC Racing Honda
25 Colin Turkington WSR BMW
26 Adam Morgan Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes
27 Matt Simpson Simpson Racing Honda
28 Mark Blundell Trade Price Cars Racing Audi
29 Jack Goff Team Hard Volkswagen
30 Tom Oliphant WSR BMW



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