Jason Plato, Matt Neal and James Thompson were the winners of Sunday's three Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship rounds at the Croft circuit in North Yorkshire. Neal, whose win came in his 300th BTCC race, leaves having extended his championship lead to 39 points over young Northern Irish star Colin Turkington, but the day has ended in some controversy.
Reigning champion Neal has lost the third place result he achieved in race three. The BTCC’s Clerk of the Course initially reprimanded Neal for overtaking Plato at the final corner by placing all four wheels off the circuit. A subsequent appeal by Plato’s SEAT team was then upheld by the BTCC Stewards who judged Neal’s actions had gained him an unfair advantage. He was thus demoted a place to fourth while Plato was elevated to third. That means Plato, third in the championship, has today gained five points on Neal in the title race which now heads to Donington Park, Leicestershire on 30 July.
Team Halfords driver Neal said: “It was just one of those things – there was certainly no malice in it. I’m just sorry Jason took it so badly, but I’m not going to get upset about it. I tried but it wasn’t to be. Overall, I’m really pleased with the way my day has gone. I’ve still pulled four points on Colin and Jason’s only made up five on me. To win in my 300th race was also bit special but above all we’re still well clear at the top of the table. Again, my car will go into the next meeting with maximum success ballast and at a place like Donington that could hurt us quite a bit. We won there last year but it was the first round and I think we simply caught the others on the hop. This time I think it’ll be a lot harder, although on saying that I thought Croft today might cause us a few problems…”
Team RAC driver Turkington said he was disappointed not to have trimmed the gap to Neal. Turkington added: “It’s been a bit of an odd weekend for me – my car’s been fast but not quite fast enough to do anything startling. Losing points is not what I wanted this weekend, but our car’s got great consistency and that can still count for a lot. We’re only now half way through the season and it’s usually in the second half that the racing starts to get a bit frantic so I need to make sure I’m in a position to capitalise when that does happen.”
SEAT star Plato, now just five points behind Turkington, said: “We need to be gaining more than that on Matt at each circuit if we’re to nick the title off him. Our car is phenomenal around the corners but as everyone’s seen today as the races wear on and the tyres start to lose their grip it turns into a horsepower game and the Hondas have got us licked down the straights. On saying that, I think Donington should suit our car – it’s got lots of medium to fast turns and that’s where we can give the others a proper race. There’s still a long way to go.”
Meanwhile, Thompson, contesting only six of the BTCC’s ten meetings due to clashing World Touring Car Championship commitments with SEAT, is now a clear fourth in the championship, still followed by Neal’s Team Halfords team-mate Gordon Shedden who displayed great pace at Croft but was out of luck.
As a result of his race three demotion, Neal’s Team Halfords squad has dropped to second in the Teams’ championship, two points behind SEAT Sport UK – Team Halfords had been in front by 27 points arriving at Croft. SEAT has also increased its lead in the Manufacturers’ table over Vauxhall from 34 to 77 points. But Neal and Team Halfords have consolidated their respective leads in the Independents Trophy’s Drivers’ and Teams’ standings.
Round 13, 15 laps (31.905 miles)Weather/Track: Sunny & Hot/Dry
Plato’s last lap gloryHaving fought his way through from fifth at one point, Plato took victory after passing team-mate and long-time leader Thompson on the final lap. Thompson had led from pole position but three corners from home found himself demoted to second where he stayed to complete a SEAT 1-2 result behind Plato.
Plato had trailed Thompson, Vauxhall team-mates Tom Chilton, who’d started from second, and Fabrizio Giovanardi plus Shedden during the opening stages. But then the race started to come to him as both Shedden and then Chilton came into the pit lane, the former for repairs to his car’s bodywork, the latter to retire permanently with broken suspension.
Plato then found a way past Giovanardi before going on to pass Thompson and open the day with a victory. In fact, Giovanardi’s Astra Sport Hatch was slowing with engine problems and in the dying stages the luckless Italian fell to an eventual sixth behind Neal, Turkington and his Team RAC team-mate Robert Collard who themselves had been embroiled in a furious mid-race battle.
Arguably the star of the race was Irish driver Eoin Murray – his Quest Racing-run Alfa Romeo was handicapped with maximum ballast for starting the season late, but he still made up four positions to finish tenth and score a point on his BTCC debut.
Result:1. Jason Plato (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon, 22m08.206s2. James Thompson (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon, +0.795s3. Matt Neal (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Integra, +5.045sFastest Lap: Thompson, 1m26.332s
Round 14, 15 laps (31.905 miles)Weather/Track: Sunny & Hot/Dry
Neal wins in 300th race Neal celebrated his 300th BTCC race in spectacular style with victory after passing Plato for the lead with a successful late lunge at the hairpin. Plato, taking part in his 200th BTCC race, had led all the way from pole and defended hard throughout from the ever-present Neal. But just two laps from home, Neal sensed an opportunity at the hairpin and dived inside the SEAT driver.
Neal said: “Until then Jason hadn’t made one mistake – I just couldn’t crack him. But this time he braked a bit earlier than normal and I was perhaps a bit closer. Two laps from the end… I didn’t need asking twice. I’m sure he wanted to win because it was his 200th race, but I’m older and have done another 100 races than him so he’ll have to wait his turn!”
There was more drama in the battle for third. Thompson had held the position from the start, but two corners from home he slid wide and instantly both Turkington and Shedden, who set the fastest lap time as he moved up from 12th on the grid, overtook him.
Result:1. Matt Neal (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Integra, 22m10.7912. Jason Plato (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon, +0.966s3. Colin Turkington (GBR), Team RAC/MG ZS, +6.055sFastest lap: Gordon Shedden (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Integra, 1m26.930s
Round 15, 14 laps (29.778 miles)Weather/Track: Sunny & Hot/DryThompson all the wayOnce he’d deposed Vauxhall’s Gavin Smith – who’d started from pole thanks to the reversed grid draw – Thompson quickly established a comfortable lead that he held to the chequered flag.
A spin for Smith then dropped him to an eventual eighth and allowed Shedden to take over second for the middle part of the race. But he was also to hit problems when his car suffered a punctured tyre, although not before he’d again set the race’s fastest lap time.
This enabled Turkington to finish a clear second, while behind, through the final corner, Neal again dramatically dived past Plato at the hairpin to take third position. Neal, though, would later be relegated back to fourth behind Plato after it was judged he’d short-cut the hairpin and gained an unfair advantage.
Fifth, having produced a sensational drive from the back of the grid and at who one point challenged Neal for fourth, was Giovanardi. His VX Racing team-mate Chilton completed the top six.
Result:1. James Thompson (GBR), SEAT Sport UK, 20m42.518s2. Colin Turkington (GBR), Team RAC/MG ZS, +2.952s
3. Matt Neal (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Integra, +5.408sFastest lap: Shedden, 1m26.898s
Leading BTCC points after Croft (provisional):
Drivers:1. Matt NEAL 165pts
2. Colin TURKINGTON 128pts
3. Jason PLATO 125pts
4. James THOMPSON 114pts5. Gordon SHEDDEN 86pts
6. Tom CHILTON 75pts
7. Gavin SMITH 59pts
8. Robert Collard 58pts9. Fabrizio GIOVANARDI 52pts
10. Mike JORDAN 49pts
Manufacturers:1. SEAT 327pts
2. Vauxhall 250pts
Teams:
1. SEAT Sport UK 239pts
2. Team Halfords 237pts
3. Team RAC 183pts
4. VX Racing 160pts
