Plato doubles up in Race 2

Jason Plato came out on top of a memorable duel with championship leader Andrew Jordan to win his second Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship race at Silverstone.

The MG KX Momentum Racing driver made a clean getaway from pole position but immediately came under attack from the fast starting eBay Motors BMW of Colin Turkington. The Ulsterman had already blasted by MG’s Sam Tordoff and Honda’s Matt Neal off the line but he couldn’t quite make a move stick on Plato and had to settle into second during the early running.

A clash involving Frank Wrathall, Rob Austin and Tom Onslow-Cole brought out the safety car with a stricken Toyota and Audi needing to be retrieved, whilst the Ford Focus on Onslow-Cole limped back to the pits and into retirement.

In a completely separate incident there was a coming together between the VW Passat of Warren Scott and S2000 racer Lea Wood. Scott retired on the spot but Wood was able to continue and eventually won his 15th Jack Sears Trophy of the season. The eBay Motors BMW of Rob Collard also retired shortly after with a mechanical problem.

The action at the front provided both high class and high drama after the safety car period as Jordan made his way by Matt Neal’s Honda and into fourth at Maggotts. Turkington’s BMW began to struggle for grip and he lost two places to the MG of Sam Tordoff and Jordan on the same lap. One tour later and Jordan had wrestled his way by Tordoff and the Pirtek Honda immediately began to make strides into Plato’s lead.

Running the Dunlop SportMaxx soft tyre, Jordan was clearly quicker than the MG ahead of him, as was the soft-shod Ford Focus of Aron Smith who had himself surged to third after an eye catching pass on Tordoff at Brooklands.

Jordan hauled in the MG ahead of him and the pair began a quite sensational battle. Jordan threw his Honda down the inside of Plato on the run down to Maggotts and looked to have made the move stick on the exit of the tight right hander. Both cars then ran side-by-side down to Brooklands, but Jordan held the inside line and position. No sooner had Jordan grabbed the lead, however, that Plato had dived his way back through on the inside of Woodcote Corner.

Despite coming under huge pressure for the remaining laps, Plato held on from Jordan, who himself had to fend off the flying Aron Smith late on.

Tordoff and Turkington eventually took lonely fourth and fifth places respectively. Neal claimed sixth and was further boosted after the race when he found out he’d be starting the final contest from pole position thanks to the reverse grid draw.

His team-mate Gordon Shedden missed out after only managing seventh although the Scotsman made some impressive moves along the way from 11th on the grid. The Toyota of Dave Newsham and Proton of Daniel Welch were two of the cars that Shedden made manoeuvres by, but both still held on to encouraging results at the finish.

Airwaves Racing’s Mat Jackson rounded out the top ten after the Ford Focus driver yo-yoed up and down the order in a frenetic race from start to finish.

2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Silverstone – Race two

1 Jason Plato (MG KX Momentum Racing) 25 Laps2 Andrew Jordan (Pirtek Racing) +0.244 3 Aron Smith (Airwaves Racing) +0.410 4 Sam Tordoff (MG KX Momentum Racing) +2.064 5 Colin Turkington (eBay Motors) +4.818 6 Matt Neal (Honda Yuasa Racing) +7.314 7 Gordon Shedden (Honda Yuasa Racing) +7.525 8 Dave Newsham (Speedworks Motorsport) +7.780 9 Daniel Welch (Welch Motorsport with Sopp + Sopp) +9.626 10 Mat Jackson (Airwaves Racing) +12.553 11 Howard Fuller (RCIB Insurance Racing) +17.858 12 Will Bratt (Rob Austin Racing) +20.537 13 Nick Foster (eBay Motors) +21.038 14 Aiden Moffat (PPCGB/Kraftwerk Racing) +24.925 15 Jack Goff (RCIB Insurance Racing) +29.899 16 Lea Wood (Wheel Heaven/Houseman Racing) +32.937 17 Andy Neate (Team Club 44) +38.057

Not Classified- Liam Griffin (Addison Lee Motorbase) +3 Laps - Adam Morgan (Ciceley Racing) +15 Laps - Ollie Jackson (Speedworks Motorsport) +18 Laps - Robert Collard (eBay Motors) +23 Laps - Warren Scott (Team BMR Restart) +23 Laps - Tom Onslow-Cole (Airwaves Racing) +24 Laps - Rob Austin (WIX Racing) +25 Laps - Frank Wrathall (Dynojet) +25 Laps


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