Turkington’s West Surrey Racing BMW team-mate Jake Hill charged his 330e M Sport from the back of the grid to eighth, but has now fallen out of championship contention.
With Ash Sutton finishing third behind Tom Ingram, that means Sutton and his Motorbase Performance Ford Focus ST take a 45-point lead to the Brands Hatch finale over Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N driver Ingram.
Turkington had to work for it in the early going from fifth on the grid.
Reversed-grid poleman Michael Crees got beaten into Copse Corner by Ronan Pearson, and then was duffed up on the opening lap.
As Crees ran side by side along Wellington Straight with Adam Morgan and Rory Butcher, Morgan got turned across the polesitting Team Hard Cupra Leon and wiped out the innocent Butcher, whose Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla got clobbered into the barriers and out of the race.
Pearson’s Excelr8 Hyundai got a bit loose through the stadium section on the opening lap, allowing Dan Rowbottom up the inside and into the lead in his Motorbase Ford, while Dan Lloyd (Team Hard Cupra) and Turkington also got past.
The race went under the safety car to clear up the damaged Toyota, and on the first lap of the restart Turkington passed Lloyd around the outside of Brooklands for second place.
Tom Ingram, Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 Hyundai i30 N Fastback
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
He then hunted down Rowbottom – the Ford defended through Brooklands and Luffield, but the compromised line allowed Turkington to accelerate into the lead.
Turkington built up a gap at the front while Ingram, who had unsurprisingly passed rookie team-mate Pearson without too much difficulty, squeezed his way past Rowbottom for second.
Sutton was also on the move, and Pearson did a terrific job to fend off his team-mate’s title rival before succumbing to the inevitable. He then stayed glued to the Motorbase Fords before Sutton got ahead of Rowbottom with two laps remaining.
Rowbottom just beat Pearson to fourth, with Josh Cook sixth in his One Motorsport Honda Civic Type R.
Ricky Collard (Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla) was seventh ahead of Hill.
Dan Cammish’s rotten luck continued – after a puncture in race two, he worked his Motorbase Ford from the back to ninth before slowing with a problem on the final lap. Aron Taylor-Smith (Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra) and Morgan therefore completed the top 10.
BTCC Silverstone – Race 3 results
