MULLER SLASHES NEAL’S POINTS LEAD
Reigning champion Vauxhall won all three of today’s Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship races at Ireland’s Mondello Park circuit, with lead driver Yvan Muller celebrating two victories and Northern Irish team-mate Colin Turkington the other at his home circuit. As a result, Muller has slashed the gap between himself and championship leader, Team Halfords’ Matt Neal, from 28 points to just 13 as the title race now heads to Snetterton in Norfolk on 7 August.
Race one saw Muller, in his Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch, dominate from pole position – the fifth time in as many years that he has qualified at the front of the grid at Mondello. The Frenchman also set the race’s fastest lap time to earn a bonus point and secure a maximum score. Behind, SEAT’s Jason Plato and Neal, in his Team Halfords Honda Integra, both made it past Vauxhall’s Colin Turkington to finish second and third.
Race two’s result was all down to choosing the right type of tyres on a damp but drying track surface. Turkington’s decision to fit a mixture of slick, dry weather and treaded, wet weather tyres to his Astra Sport Hatch paid off as he swiftly moved through from fourth on the grid into first position. Team Halfords’ Dan Eaves pressured him in the closing stages, but Turkington had the race under control and he took his second victory of the season, having also won at Croft a week ago.
Eaves came home in second with Neal, on slick tyres all-round, moving up to third as the track gradually dried out. Muller and Plato, who started from first and second on the grid, finished sixth and tenth having had to serve pit-lane stop-go penalties after their teams had infringed the rules on the grid.
Race three, shown live on Britain’s biggest commercial terrestrial television channel ITV1, provided some of the most dramatic laps so far of the BTCC season, with plenty of place swapping and side-by-side action throughout the field. From fourth on the grid, Muller quickly rose to second and, at half distance, overtook Tom Chilton’s Arena Motorsports Honda Civic before drawing clear for his second win of the day. Muller, the 2003 BTCC champion, also broke his own lap record.
Chilton finished in second position with Rob Collard, in WSR’s MG, a fighting third after passing Eaves on the last lap. At one point, Collard had fallen down to eighth but, following a Safety Car period to allow marshals to clear debris from the track, put on a fantastic charge in the closing stages.
Behind, there was high drama as both Neal and Eaves became involved in clashes with Plato. First, Eaves ran wide after his and Plato’s cars made contact. At the next corner, Neal dived down the inside of Plato, their cars made contact and ran off the track together. Neal was able to keep going and, after a quick pit stop to change his tyres, rejoined the race and eventually finished seventh. Plato, though, could only crawl back to the pit lane where he retired his damaged Toledo Cupra.
Turkington finished fifth and, allied to his race two victory and fourth position in race one, has closed to within seven points of fourth-placed Plato in the championship. Eaves is third but, having arrived at Mondello a point ahead of Muller in second, leaves Ireland 14 points behind the Frenchman. In the BTCC’s Manufacturers’ title race, Vauxhall has more than doubled its lead over SEAT from 40 points to 86.
Worthy of note at Mondello, meanwhile, was independent driver Jason Hughes’ excellent performances in the three races. On his return to the series at a circuit he enjoys, Hughes, in his small Kartworld team’s MG, finished tenth, seventh and eighth.
Leading BTCC Points (provisional) after Mondello Park:
1. Matt Neal, Team Halfords Honda Integra, 204
2. Yvan Muller, VX Racing Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch, 191
3. Dan Eaves, Team Halfords Honda Integra, 177
4. Jason Plato, SEAT Sport UK Toledo Cupra, 135
5. Colin Turkington, VX Racing Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch, 128
6. Rob Collard, WSR MG ZS, 107
Leading BTCC Manufacturers Points (provisional) after Mondello:
1. Vauxhall, 501
2. SEAT, 415
