Morgan beats Cook to race three Donington win

Mac Tools Racing's Adam Morgan has opened his 2018 British Touring Car Championship victory account after fending off Vauxhall's Josh Cook during the final race at Donington Park.

The Mercedes A-Class driver started the reverse grid race from fifth on the grid but seized the lead on the eighth lap before crossing the line 0.3s ahead of Cook to record his first BTCC win since Thruxton 2016.

In doing so, Morgan becomes the fifth winner out of six races so far this season and leaps up to second the points standings as a result.

Back at the start, MG's Rory Butcher surprisingly retained his lead ahead of the RWD Subaru of defending champion Ashley Sutton. However, having held position ahead of the Levorg, Butcher made a slight error on the exit of Old Hairpin, which handed the initiative by the end of the opening lap.

Having snatched the lead, Sutton retained his position until lap nine of the race throughout the lengthy safety car period as the marshals cleared away the opening lap wreckage, which saw James Cole, Sam Tordoff and Josh Price exit proceedings early on.

Despite running the hard option tyre, Sutton appeared to make an early break from the Mercedes of Morgan at the restart. But the reigning champion soon looked vulnerable at the front and Morgan jumped ahead of the Subaru on lap eight, leaving Sutton to fend off the remainder of the pack.

Sutton's defence on the hard tyre was valiant, but the BMR driver was powerless in keeping the top-runners at bay and eventually had to settle for sixth.

Rob Collard and Andrew Jordan gave BMW some reason to cheer following a disastrous weekend for the West Surrey Racing squad after the pair rose up the field to finish in fourth and fifth.

Colin Turkington's nightmare weekend, however, continued after the two-time champion was forced to start from the pit-lane. West Surrey Racing managed to successfully change his engine in time for the following race, but Turkington's BMW 125i M Sport failed to properly ignite in time for the green flag lap.