Jelley 'can't quite believe' maiden Team Parker win

Stephen Jelley admits he ‘can't quite believe’ securing Team Parker Racing's first ever British Touring Car Championship race victory after being declared the Oulton Park race three winner following Jake Hill's post-race penalty.

The BMW 125i M Sport driver finished second on the road during a dramatic final reverse grid encounter but was later promoted to the race win after Trade Price Cars Racing's Hill was handed a 20-second post-race time penalty.

Hill finished round 15 of the series in first but was penalised for sending the Honda of Matt Neal into a spin on lap three of the race when battling the three-time champion for the lead.

Jelley's third career BTCC win was his first triumph in the series in 10 years after his last came at Rockingham 2009. His victory also meant BMW took all three race wins during the Oulton Park meeting.

"I’m very sorry for Jake. His dad came and gave us the trophies and they’re absolutely gutted. He drove well after the incident. I didn’t see it myself so I can’t be a judge," said Jelley.

"I can’t quite believe it to be honest because we didn’t quite cross the line. It’s definitely fallen into our lap a little bit because we weren’t the fastest car out there. Rory [Butcher] was rapid.

"I think if we were on the soft tyre we would have been one of the fastest cars out there. I was hanging onto it to some degree.

"So to convert it into a win now is fantastic. There’s a slight tinge of sadness for the other guys but we’ll take it!"

Jelley had sat in a net second behind the AmD's Rory Butcher for the near entirety of the race, but a late mistake from Butcher, who slipped wide on some fluid at the Island hairpin elevated the BMW driver into what turned into a race winning position.

Unaware of the potential implications of the Hill/Neal incident during, Jelley said he was brought up to speed of the developing situation on the cooling down lap.

"Only on the cooling down my team said to get some pick up on the tyres because there might be a stewards thing going on," Jelley explained.

"When Rory went off, he’ll be kicking himself now. He was pushing on and sent it down the outside and run out of road.

"He was pushing and trying to go for the win. Fair play to him, he had the pace to do it but these things happen.

"I hadn’t gone near it. I wimped out of going over there! It was coolant and it was drying at Cascades. It actually started to go away at Cascades and we gone back to a normal racing line.

"Obviously he sent it down the outside and broke really late and got onto that patch that everyone had been avoiding. Unfortunate, but I wimped out of going near it so I stayed consistent. My eyes were out on stalks trying to convert the third place.

"When that became second and now the win, fantastic!"