Jason Plato, who came into this weekend with no expectations of his freshly built MG6, has won the third race of the day at Brands Hatch. Jason Plato managed to hold off the Honda of Andrew Jordan to take the MG to its first ever victory, despite it not having completed any miles of testing.
2011 driver Paul O’Neill was ready and waiting to select the driver who would be starting on pole for the race – and it was Ollie Jackson for AmD Miltek who was chosen. Jeff Smith would start behind him in second, with Rob Collard and Rob Austin sharing the second row.
After his dramatic exit from Race Two, Nick Foster would not be starting the third race due to the damage it sustained. Meanwhile, Speedworks Motorsport had fixed the Toyota of Adam Morgan, which allowed the 2011 Ginetta GT Supercup champion to compete in the final race. Dynojet had also solved the gearbox issues for Frank Wrathall’s car, allowing him too to compete.
A bad start from Ollie Jackson saw him lose the lead early on to Rob Collard, with Pirtek driver Jeff Smith also falling back. With Collard now leading, he was followed by Mat Jackson, who’d made a great start in his Redstone Racing Ford Focus and Rob Austin in the NGTC Audi. Dave Newsham, for the second race in concession, was making good progress through the field.
Dan Welch and Tom Onslow-Cole continued their battle from the second race for tenth on the grid, while Gordon Shedden’s weekend continued to go downhill as another electric cut-out in his NGTC Civic caused him to fall down the order.
As is the way with the BTCC, chaos is always just around the corner...
With Ollie Jackson lying in fourth position, his Volkswagen Golf slid into Druids and hits the barrier, closely followed by Tom Onlsow-Cole, Tony, Gilham, Adam Morgan, Dan Welch and finally Tony Hughes in a huge pile-up. Oil had been spewed on to the track after Mat Jackson went wide coming out of Clearways, resulting in his front splitter breaking and letting the oil spread across the braking line of Druids. The red flag was brought out so that the track could be cleared.
Of the cars that had been involved, Tony Gilham and Tony Hughes were able to restart the race, whereas for the other five drivers, their weekend came to an abrupt halt. With the cars now in Park Ferme conditions on the grid, teams were not allowed to do any work on the cars. Dave Newsham’s Vauxhall Vectra was seen to be being taped up by the ES Racing crew, something that the stewards of the course had given the go-ahead to.
For Gordon Shedden, it looked like this weekend was over, but after visiting the pits, he was ready to restart after a lengthy delay to proceedings.
The race was restarted after the drivers and done a two lap warm up, with Collard pulling out another good start off the line. Matt Neal ran wide at Paddock Hill Bend, whilst Dave Newsham was making up the places he had lost.
Jeff Smith was having a good fight with Lea Wood for sixth place, whilst Jason Plato – who made a bad start in the MG was looking to find a way past Newsham. A slight lock-up from the Vauxhall Vectra, allowed Plato through for fourth place.
Rob Collard was still leading the race, with Rob Austin in a strong second place and Andrew Jordan in third, who was now challenging the Audi for second. Going into Paddock, Jordan took the place, leaving Austin – who had more bodywork damage – in the clasps of Jason Plato. Plato was on the ball, and took third place shortly after.
Gordon Shedden was doing well with his Civic’s issues and was running ninth place, with team mate Matt Neal down in 11th after his incident at the restart. Running with 35 kilos of success ballast having finished the second race in second position, takes the lead from Rob Collard on lap 9 of the race, leaving the eBay Motors driver to defend from Jason Plato, who goes onto to take the position – and off to fight for the lead. A handful of laps later and Dave Newsham moves up the field again to take third from Collard – could the ES Racing driver be on for his first BTCC podium?
Going into Druids, Jason Plato was getting closer and closer to the NGTC spec Honda Civic of Jordan, and was leading coming out of Graham Hill Bend, with Jordan fighting back going into the final stages of the race.
The battle for fourth was heating up between Collard, Jeff Smith, Gordon Shedden and Rob Austin. A slide from Collard’s BMW allowed Jeff Smith and Gordon Shedden to pass. Smith was now under pressure from the Scot, who took fourth from the identical Honda in a head to head encounter.
The MG of Jason Plato seemed to be managing its tyres and was now leading by 1.1 seconds entering the final laps. A quiet last lap saw Jason Plato take the chequered flag – the first win for MG on its return to the championship. He was followed over the line by Andrew Jordan and Dave Newsham – who drove a great race to achieve Team ES Racing’s first podium finishing position.
Gordon Shedden drove a great race despite his issues to finish in fourth position. However, a little later on in the day, he was disqualified from the final result, as his Civic has been worked on in park ferme conditions during the red flag. This promoted Jeff Smith to his best ever finishing position, ahead of Rob Austin and Rob Collard.
Matt Neal recovered from his earlier skirmish to finish in 7th – taking into account Shedden’s disqualification – and Tony Gilham, who was involved in the Druids pile-up, finished in a strong 10th place in his Team HARD Honda Civic.
Jason Plato now leads the championship with 52 points going into the Donington outing in two week’s time, behind Matt Neal with 48 and Andrew Jordan with 45.
2011 driver Paul O’Neill was ready and waiting to select the driver who would be starting on pole for the race – and it was Ollie Jackson for AmD Miltek who was chosen. Jeff Smith would start behind him in second, with Rob Collard and Rob Austin sharing the second row.
After his dramatic exit from Race Two, Nick Foster would not be starting the third race due to the damage it sustained. Meanwhile, Speedworks Motorsport had fixed the Toyota of Adam Morgan, which allowed the 2011 Ginetta GT Supercup champion to compete in the final race. Dynojet had also solved the gearbox issues for Frank Wrathall’s car, allowing him too to compete.
A bad start from Ollie Jackson saw him lose the lead early on to Rob Collard, with Pirtek driver Jeff Smith also falling back. With Collard now leading, he was followed by Mat Jackson, who’d made a great start in his Redstone Racing Ford Focus and Rob Austin in the NGTC Audi. Dave Newsham, for the second race in concession, was making good progress through the field.
Dan Welch and Tom Onslow-Cole continued their battle from the second race for tenth on the grid, while Gordon Shedden’s weekend continued to go downhill as another electric cut-out in his NGTC Civic caused him to fall down the order.
As is the way with the BTCC, chaos is always just around the corner...
With Ollie Jackson lying in fourth position, his Volkswagen Golf slid into Druids and hits the barrier, closely followed by Tom Onlsow-Cole, Tony, Gilham, Adam Morgan, Dan Welch and finally Tony Hughes in a huge pile-up. Oil had been spewed on to the track after Mat Jackson went wide coming out of Clearways, resulting in his front splitter breaking and letting the oil spread across the braking line of Druids. The red flag was brought out so that the track could be cleared.
Of the cars that had been involved, Tony Gilham and Tony Hughes were able to restart the race, whereas for the other five drivers, their weekend came to an abrupt halt. With the cars now in Park Ferme conditions on the grid, teams were not allowed to do any work on the cars. Dave Newsham’s Vauxhall Vectra was seen to be being taped up by the ES Racing crew, something that the stewards of the course had given the go-ahead to.
For Gordon Shedden, it looked like this weekend was over, but after visiting the pits, he was ready to restart after a lengthy delay to proceedings.
The race was restarted after the drivers and done a two lap warm up, with Collard pulling out another good start off the line. Matt Neal ran wide at Paddock Hill Bend, whilst Dave Newsham was making up the places he had lost.
Jeff Smith was having a good fight with Lea Wood for sixth place, whilst Jason Plato – who made a bad start in the MG was looking to find a way past Newsham. A slight lock-up from the Vauxhall Vectra, allowed Plato through for fourth place.
Rob Collard was still leading the race, with Rob Austin in a strong second place and Andrew Jordan in third, who was now challenging the Audi for second. Going into Paddock, Jordan took the place, leaving Austin – who had more bodywork damage – in the clasps of Jason Plato. Plato was on the ball, and took third place shortly after.
Gordon Shedden was doing well with his Civic’s issues and was running ninth place, with team mate Matt Neal down in 11th after his incident at the restart. Running with 35 kilos of success ballast having finished the second race in second position, takes the lead from Rob Collard on lap 9 of the race, leaving the eBay Motors driver to defend from Jason Plato, who goes onto to take the position – and off to fight for the lead. A handful of laps later and Dave Newsham moves up the field again to take third from Collard – could the ES Racing driver be on for his first BTCC podium?
Going into Druids, Jason Plato was getting closer and closer to the NGTC spec Honda Civic of Jordan, and was leading coming out of Graham Hill Bend, with Jordan fighting back going into the final stages of the race.
The battle for fourth was heating up between Collard, Jeff Smith, Gordon Shedden and Rob Austin. A slide from Collard’s BMW allowed Jeff Smith and Gordon Shedden to pass. Smith was now under pressure from the Scot, who took fourth from the identical Honda in a head to head encounter.
The MG of Jason Plato seemed to be managing its tyres and was now leading by 1.1 seconds entering the final laps. A quiet last lap saw Jason Plato take the chequered flag – the first win for MG on its return to the championship. He was followed over the line by Andrew Jordan and Dave Newsham – who drove a great race to achieve Team ES Racing’s first podium finishing position.
Gordon Shedden drove a great race despite his issues to finish in fourth position. However, a little later on in the day, he was disqualified from the final result, as his Civic has been worked on in park ferme conditions during the red flag. This promoted Jeff Smith to his best ever finishing position, ahead of Rob Austin and Rob Collard.
Matt Neal recovered from his earlier skirmish to finish in 7th – taking into account Shedden’s disqualification – and Tony Gilham, who was involved in the Druids pile-up, finished in a strong 10th place in his Team HARD Honda Civic.
Jason Plato now leads the championship with 52 points going into the Donington outing in two week’s time, behind Matt Neal with 48 and Andrew Jordan with 45.
Final results:
1) Jason Plato
2) Andrew Jordan
3) Dave Newsham
4) Jeff Smith
5) Rob Austin
6) Rob Collard
7) Matt Neal
8) Aron Smith
9) Lea Wood
10) Tony Gilham
11) Liam Griffin
12) Chris James
13) Frank Wrathall
14) Andy Neate
15) Tony Hughes
1) Jason Plato
2) Andrew Jordan
3) Dave Newsham
4) Jeff Smith
5) Rob Austin
6) Rob Collard
7) Matt Neal
8) Aron Smith
9) Lea Wood
10) Tony Gilham
11) Liam Griffin
12) Chris James
13) Frank Wrathall
14) Andy Neate
15) Tony Hughes
Fastest Lap: Jason Plato – 49.083 – Lap 6
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