With the sun still shining down on the Brands Hatch circuit in Kent, everyone was ready for the second race of the day get underway.
Having found and fixed the Vectra’s electrical issue, Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan would be starting from the back of the grid, whist a disastrous race for Honda saw their drivers starting from rows nine and ten. However, with no extra ballast on board the question was asked as to whether Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal could make up any places in order to salvage their weekend.
A good start from Plato and MacDowall saw that they kept their lead going into the first lap, with Jordan trying to make up grid position further down the track. Bumper damage to Rob Collard saw him lose a couple of places, whereas the Honda boys were living up to their expectations and were making strong progress - Neal now up to tenth place and Shedden up to 12th by the end of lap one.
Tom Onslow-Cole who’d had a cracking start was up to fourth and pressuring Mat Jackson for third position, meanwhile Shedden had made his move on Nick Foster stick and was now up 11th with team mate behind up ahead in ninth. Not long after this, Shedden has made his way up into the top ten having passed WSR racer Rob Collard.
Team Aon driver Andy Neate was running well in eighth position close behind fellow driver whilst upfront, Jason Plato was still leading ahead of Airwaves driver Mat Jackson.
With Neal closing up the Team Aon due of Neate and Chilton, the black and white flag was waved for debut driver Chris Swanick in the second Rob Austin Racing Audi for using too much of the run off areas around the circuit. This wouldn’t be the first time the black and white flag would be shown in the duration of this race as Andrew Jordan, Tony Gilham and Martin Byford were all shown the flag.
Having lost some places early on in the race, MacDowall was now coming under pressure from Paul O’Neill in a replica Chevrolet Cruze. Having lost the place to Paul O’Neill, the engine of the Silverline Chevrolet driver spectacularly blew up on the circuit, losing its oil and leaving the track in a plume of smoke.
Although running in much higher track positions than race one, the Honda Civics of the Dynamics team still seemed to be struggling at Brands Hatch – both Shedden and Neal were in 7th and 8th but seemed unable to improve.
Going into the latter stages of the race, Jackson running wide on the circuit gave Tom Onslow-Cole the chance to push for third – a position he took from the Airwaves racer. Paul O’Neill was too catching the Team Aon driver as they entered the second to last lap.
James Nash who was running well in fifth, was starting to struggle with the performance of his Triple 8 Vauxhall Vectra, allowing Chilton to take the place - the Honda Civic of Matt Neal was too far back to take advantage of this move.
In his second BTCC meeting, Michael Caine took a battle with Frank Wrathall right to the chequered flag, with Jason Plato leading the pack across the line followed by Mat Jackson in the Airwaves Racing BMW and Tom Onslow-Cole – achieving his best result of the season so far. Andrew Jordan made his way through the pack, crossing the line in 16th place.
With Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden finishing overall 7th and 8th respectively, they were in contention of a good reverse grid for the third race, but it did leave Neal slipping down the championship standings to second – 7 points behind Jason Plato.
Having found and fixed the Vectra’s electrical issue, Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan would be starting from the back of the grid, whist a disastrous race for Honda saw their drivers starting from rows nine and ten. However, with no extra ballast on board the question was asked as to whether Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal could make up any places in order to salvage their weekend.
A good start from Plato and MacDowall saw that they kept their lead going into the first lap, with Jordan trying to make up grid position further down the track. Bumper damage to Rob Collard saw him lose a couple of places, whereas the Honda boys were living up to their expectations and were making strong progress - Neal now up to tenth place and Shedden up to 12th by the end of lap one.
Tom Onslow-Cole who’d had a cracking start was up to fourth and pressuring Mat Jackson for third position, meanwhile Shedden had made his move on Nick Foster stick and was now up 11th with team mate behind up ahead in ninth. Not long after this, Shedden has made his way up into the top ten having passed WSR racer Rob Collard.
Team Aon driver Andy Neate was running well in eighth position close behind fellow driver whilst upfront, Jason Plato was still leading ahead of Airwaves driver Mat Jackson.
With Neal closing up the Team Aon due of Neate and Chilton, the black and white flag was waved for debut driver Chris Swanick in the second Rob Austin Racing Audi for using too much of the run off areas around the circuit. This wouldn’t be the first time the black and white flag would be shown in the duration of this race as Andrew Jordan, Tony Gilham and Martin Byford were all shown the flag.
Having lost some places early on in the race, MacDowall was now coming under pressure from Paul O’Neill in a replica Chevrolet Cruze. Having lost the place to Paul O’Neill, the engine of the Silverline Chevrolet driver spectacularly blew up on the circuit, losing its oil and leaving the track in a plume of smoke.
Although running in much higher track positions than race one, the Honda Civics of the Dynamics team still seemed to be struggling at Brands Hatch – both Shedden and Neal were in 7th and 8th but seemed unable to improve.
Going into the latter stages of the race, Jackson running wide on the circuit gave Tom Onslow-Cole the chance to push for third – a position he took from the Airwaves racer. Paul O’Neill was too catching the Team Aon driver as they entered the second to last lap.
James Nash who was running well in fifth, was starting to struggle with the performance of his Triple 8 Vauxhall Vectra, allowing Chilton to take the place - the Honda Civic of Matt Neal was too far back to take advantage of this move.
In his second BTCC meeting, Michael Caine took a battle with Frank Wrathall right to the chequered flag, with Jason Plato leading the pack across the line followed by Mat Jackson in the Airwaves Racing BMW and Tom Onslow-Cole – achieving his best result of the season so far. Andrew Jordan made his way through the pack, crossing the line in 16th place.
With Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden finishing overall 7th and 8th respectively, they were in contention of a good reverse grid for the third race, but it did leave Neal slipping down the championship standings to second – 7 points behind Jason Plato.
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