Jason Plato has won the first of today’s three HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship races at the Knockhill circuit in Scotland.
Oxford driver Plato led all the way in his Racing Silverline Chevrolet for his second win of the season. He also set the race’s fastest lap and has moved up to third in the standings ahead of Matt Neal who crashed out of the race.
And Plato later admitted: “My car had a battery problem half way through so I had to switch off the power steering from there on. But I thought it’d be a good opportunity to tell the team on the radio that the engine had died. There was silence from their end so I thought I’d then better tell them I was only joking!”
Finishing second much to the cheer of the home crowd was Scot Gordon Shedden in his Cartridge World team SEAT Leon. Third was Plato’s team-mate Mat Jackson.
Of the title protagonists, series leader Colin Turkington recovered to finish fourth in his Team RAC BMW having earlier been barged off the track and down to seventh. Reigning champion, Italian Fabrizio Giovanardi, second in the standings, was sixth after starting 11th on the grid in his Vauxhall Vectra.
It means that Turkington leads Giovanardi by the increased margin of 20 points going into this afternoon’s second race. Plato is third, 46 points (equivalent to three race wins) behind Turkington.
The race’s big talking point was the crash that accounted for Vauxhall driver Neal and Robert Collard. Neal was out of control as he came into Clark Curve – having being squeezed onto the grass by Collard’s Airwaves BMW team-mate Jonathan Adam. The Vauxhall then slithered sideways back across the track and into the side of Collard’s BMW, eliminating them both on the spot.
The incident triggered a safety car period. At the re-start, the rear of Plato’s Chevrolet was snagged by Shedden’s SEAT but was undamaged and from there they ran first and second to the flag. Shedden, though, did come under intense pressure in the late stages from Jackson, up from sixth on the grid. Turkington, having been knocked off the track by Collard before the latter’s smash with Neal, was fourth to consolidate his series lead.
Behind, Giovanardi had exited the final bend in fifth but an unsuccessful attempt to pass Turkington had cost him momentum and on the run to the line he was demoted to sixth by Adam – disappointed to be off the podium after making a poor start from third on the grid.
Andrew Jordan (VX Racing), Stephen Jelley (Team RAC), Paul O’Neill (sunshine.co.uk Honda Integra and Harry Vaulkhard (bamboo Chevrolet) completed the top ten. Jordan’s position was well deserved after he produced arguably the passing move of the race, skilfully and successfully braving it around the outside of Jelley all the way from Duffus Dip to the chicane where he finally nosed ahead.
And Jelley only just held off O’Neill for eighth, their cars crossing the line side-by-side. Vaulkhard had spent much of the race fending off the attentions of Tom Chilton (Team Aon Ford Focus ST) who finished 11th. Twelfth was a distant Martin Johnson (Boulevard Vauxhall Astra) while John George (JAG/TH Honda Integra) completed the runners after recovering from a first lap spin at Scotsman corner.
The race was a disaster for Team Dynamics. James Thompson looked set for eighth when his Honda Civic suddenly slowed and stopped on the final lap. That was after team-mate David Pinkney had already retired his car in the pit lane.
