Robert Collard has won the third of today’s three HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship races at the Donington Park circuit in Leicestershire. Airwaves BMW driver Collard put in a strong first lap on a damp, greasy track to quickly build an unassailable lead and secure his second race win of 2009. It is also the first victory for a BMW at Donington since 1993.

Finishing second was rival BMW driver, Team RAC’s Colin Turkington while Jason Plato in his Racing Silverline Chevrolet Lacetti was third. Series leader Matt Neal crossed the line in eighth in his Vauxhall Vectra. As a result, he continues to lead the championship standings but by the reduced margin of 13 points from Turkington as the BTCC next heads to the Oulton Park circuit in Cheshire for its fourth round on Sunday 31 May. Collard and Vauxhall’s Fabrizio Giovanardi, who finished the race in fifth after a spin, are tied on points for third.

Collard, from Hampshire, said: "I made the most of the BMW’s rear-wheel-drive at the start to get a good lead into the first corner and then just got my head down. I looked in my mirror at the end of lap one and saw I’d got a big gap. From there it was all about managing it and also nursing the wet weather tyres as the racing line started to dry out. It’s a fantastic result for the Airwaves team and it gets us right back into championship contention."

Finishing fourth was Silverline’s Mat Jackson – he was involved in the incident that effectively settled who would finish second behind the runaway Collard. Demonstrating great pace, he had made it up to fourth and started challenging Tempus Sport Chevrolet driver Harry Vaulkhard who himself was trying to pass Giovanardi, at that stage in second. But Vaulkhard’s and Giovnardi’s cars collided exiting McLeans Corner, Giovanardi spinning across the track and causing chaos behind. Both Vaulkhard and Jackson were delayed as Turkington and Plato made it past to go on and complete the top three.

Jackson was able to close back up to Plato, but had to settle for fourth at the line ahead of Giovanardi and James Thompson, the winner of the day’s earlier first and second races. Thompson had gambled on using slick, dry weather tyres on his Team Dynamics Honda Civic and, having fallen almost half a minute behind in the early, greasy stages, he gradually came into play as the racing line started to dry out. In the end, he was just ten seconds behind winner Collard. Vaulkhard was seventh ahead of Neal in eighth.

Ninth and tenth were Tom Chilton and Thompson’s team-mate David Pinkney. It marked both drivers’ first points finishes of 2009 and for Chilton in particular it meant a huge amount, for it was also the first top ten result for Team Aon and its new Ford Focus ST.

Martin Johnson put in yet another great performance in his eight-year-old Vauxhall Astra Coupe – the Boulevard team driver, running on a tiny budget compared to the bigger teams, was 12th, less than four seconds away from a first points finish and with a fastest race lap less than a second off race-winner Collard’s best.

The race’s fastest outright lap was set by Paul O’Neill who, like Thompson, had gambled on slick tyres on his Sunshine.co.uk Honda Integra and was making his way through the field until an off-track excursion dropped him to 16th.

Several other drivers also suffered poor luck in the tricky conditions, notably Airwaves’ Jonathan Adam who, having initially run second to team-mate Collard, slumped to an eventual 13th with a spin following contact during the usual early exchanges. Adam Jones, normally a front-runner in such changeable conditions, retired at the first corner after contact sent his Cartridge World SEAT Leon into a gravel trap.