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British Touring Car Championship – opening rounds at Brands Hatch
The 2009 British Touring Car Championship got under way last weekend as Brands Hatch hosted the opening rounds of the UK's premier motor sport series. The BTCC has never failed to produce close and exciting racing and 2009 will be no exception.
Indeed, the excitement started even before a wheel had turned when, only a few days before the first meeting, it was announced that Jason Plato would race in a RML Chevrolet Lacetti. It was thought that the former BTCC champion would sit out the 2009 season following the withdrawal of the SEAT Sport UK team at the end of 2008 but the popular driver secured a last minute entry saying "At the moment, we don't know how long we'll be around. We're trying tremendously hard behind the scenes to put together a full programme for 2009. Right now, I'm just very excited to be teaming back up with some good friends and respected colleagues at RML".
Saturday qualifying honours went to VX Racing with Matt Neal taking pole position ahead of team mate and defending champion Fabrizio Giovanardi in their Vauxhall Vectras. Robert Collard qualified 3rd with an impressive performance in his Airwaves BMW 320si with Colin Turkington 4th for Team RAC, also in a BMW 320si. The VX Racing Vectra of Andrew Jordan qualified in 5th place with Jonathan Adam completing the top 6 in his Airwaves BMW 320si. Considering his late entry to the series and hence lack of preparation, Jason Plato did well to qualify 9th.
From the 2nd row of the grid, the rear wheel drive BMWs of Colin Turkington and Robert Collard took little time in passing the VX Racing Vectras of Matt Neal and Fabrizio Giovanardi with Collard leading the field for 6 laps before dropping back to 3rd. A few laps later the lead was taken by Matt Neal with team mate Andrew Jordan in 2nd, meanwhile Colin Turkington passed Collard for 3rd place. Andrew Jordan retired on lap 18, promoting Turkington to 2nd and Giovanardi, who had steadily gained places, to 3rd. Giovanardi passed Turkington on lap 23 to secure 2nd place and a 1-2 finish for VX Racing, Matt Neal taking 1st victory of the 2009 season. Collard held on for 4th place behind Turkington with Adam Jones 5th for Cartridge World Carbon Zero Racing. Jason Plato completed the top six positions.
Race 2 started in similar fashion to the first race with the BMWs of Colin Turkington and Robert Collard again passing the Vauxhalls of Matt Neal and Fabrizio Giovanardi at the start. This time the BMWs managed to keep the Vauxhalls behind them and it looked like Turkington would take the victory. Collard had other plans and managed to pass Turkington on the penultimate lap to snatch the race win for the Airwaves BMW team, Turkington having to settle for 2nd. Neal came home in 3rd to take the last podium position. Stephen Jelley finished in 4th with Andrew Jordan 5th and Gordon Shedden 6.
The random reverse grid system put Jason Plato in pole position for the start of the last race of the day as the top 10 places from race 2 were reversed. From pole, Plato led the final race for just over a lap until he was nudged and passed by the Airwaves BMW of Jonathan Adam who steadily extended his lead. Behind Adam, Plato was being challenged by the Team Dynamics Honda Civic of Gordon Shedden who in turn was under pressure from Colin Turkington and Matt Neal. Plato held on to 2nd place whilst Neal and Turkington managed to pass Shedden on lap 20. The race ended with Adam crossing the line 1st with Plato in 2nd and Neal in 3rd. Behind them, Turkington finished 4th ahead of Shedden in 5th and Dan Eaves in 6th. Race officials later demoted Adam to 2nd place as a result of his move on Plato in the opening laps, Plato being awarded 1st place – the first time for a Chevrolet since 1975!
After the opening rounds at Brands Hatch, Matt Neal leads the Drivers Championship on 38 points with Colin Turkington 2nd on 32 and Robert Collard 3rd on 29.
The HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship now moves to the high speed Thruxton circuit in Hampshire on 25th and 26th of April.
Report and pictures by www.mjp-media.com
6 April 2009
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Weather for Peterborough
Sunday 12 February 2012
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