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Rob
8th June 2013, 16:20
Andrew Jordan leaves it late
Andrew Jordan set a late flyer to top the timesheets in free practice two of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Oulton Park. The session was much closer than FP1, with the top ten cars covered by just over a second.

The Pirtek Racing driver went on a last dash qualifying simulation - setting his fastest time on the first lap of his final run - before looking likely to go even quicker one tour later.He hit traffic in the final sector, however, and had to settle for a time that eclipsed FP1 pace-setter Jason Plato by 0.039s. After the session, Jordan commented, “I think Plato will be strong in qualifying but for us to be up there with the weight we have on is good. It’s great fun out there and the car felt really strong. There’s a bit more left in the car as the next lap could have been quicker. I’d still think the MG’s will have a great chance of pole but we’ll see how we get on.”

Plato had led the way for much of the session, setting his fastest time of the session on his fourth lap of the circuit. The MG driver still holds the fastest lap of the day from the first session.

The top three were covered by less than a tenth of a second with Honda Yuasa Racing's Gordon Shedden also setting his best time in the latter part of the running. The 2012 champion has had a lot of success at this circuit in the past and will be hoping for another good run here to close the gap on team-mate and current championship leader Matt Neal.

Colin Turkington had an impressive session, going out almost as soon as the session began and running an impressive pace for 13 flying laps. He ended the session a strong fourth, just 0.385 seconds from Jordan’s fastest time, and with Rob Collard also edging into the top ten, things are beginning to look consistently more positive in the eBay Motors garage. Colin said after the session, “It’s really just to get my eye in as it’s been three years since I have been here. It’s all good data but I was just pushing to get the mileage. We’ve definitely made a small step forward but the car is still quite difficult to drive and it’s not easy to piece a lap together. We should be strong towards the end of a race as the long run was pretty good, so hopefully it’ll play into our hands.”

Sam Tordoff, Matt Neal and Dave Newsham took identical positions to the first session in fifth, sixth and seventh respectively, and local driver Frank Wrathall was pushing hard to go seventh fastest.

After leading by some margin in the first session, Lea Wood was bested in FP2 by Addison Lee Motorbase driver Liam Griffin who was the fastest S2000 driver by just 0.041 seconds. Both the main championship battle and the fight for Jack Sears Trophy honours are looking incredibly close this weekend, and we’ll see how the cars line up in qualifying at 15:15 today.


Don't forget that you can watch qualifying live online at www.itv.com/btcc/live

2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Oulton Park - Free Practice 2

1. Andrew Jordan (Pirtek Racing): 1:26.605
2. Jason Plato (MG KX Momentum Racing): +0.039
3. Gordon Shedden (Honda Yuasa Racing): +0.096

4. Colin Turkington (eBay Motors): +0.385
5. Sam Tordoff (MG KX Momentum Racing): +0.424

6. Matt Neal (Honda Yuasa Racing): +0.520
7. Dave Newsham (Speedworks Motorsport): +0.617

8. Frank Wrathall (Dynojet): +0.737
9. Mat Jackson (Airwaves Racing): +0.884

10. Robert Collard (eBay Motors): +1.068
11. Adam Morgan (Ciceley Racing): +1.072

12. Ollie Jackson (Speedworks Motorsport): +1.193

13. Tom Onslow-Cole (PPCGB/Kraftwerk Racing): +1.301

14. Aron Smith (Airwaves Racing): +1.624
15. Jeff Smith (Pirtek Racing): +1.641
16. Daniel Welch (Welch Motor sport with Sopp + Sopp): +1.660

17. Jack Goff (RCIB Insurance Racing): +1.679
18. Rob Austin (WIX Racing): +1.791
19. Nick Foster (eBay Motors): +1.968

20. James Cole (RCIB Insurance Racing): +2.086

21. Will Bratt (WIX Racing): +2.330
22. Liam Griffin (Addison Lee Motorbase): +2.396

23. Lea Wood (Wheel Heaven/Houseman Racing): +2.437

24. Aaron Mason (AmDTuning.com): +3.261
25. David Nye (Welch Motorsport with Sopp + Sopp): +4.189
26. Warren Scott (Team BMR Restart) +4.340

Rob
8th June 2013, 16:20
Front row lockout for MG
Jason Plato claimed his first pole position of the 2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship after setting a blistering pace at Oulton Park during qualifying.

KX MG Momentum locked out the front row as Sam Tordoff left it late to set his own quickest lap – still nearly half a second behind his team-mate. Plato completed fewer laps than any other driver – just four – as the two-time champion pitted early, confident that his pace would not be matched. That decision proved prudent as Plato comfortably held on to score his second successive Oulton Park pole position, having done so for the MG squad last season. Such has been the development of the MG6 over the last 12 months that today’s benchmark of 1:26.130s was more than seven tenths of a second quicker than his 2012 lap record.

"It’s been an historic day actually – it’s the first ever all-MG KX Momentum Racing front row," said Plato. "Both Sam and myself and everybody in the team are really pleased with that. I was quietly confident after free practice that we had the pace in the car. Our expectations are for wins. When the planets align and things are going well you’ve got to maximise it. We appear to have a bit of pace over the opposition, so we’ve got to make hay while the sun shines!"

Gordon Shedden responded well after having his early quickest lap excluded for exceeding the track limits. He did, however, produce a similar effort late on to get himself back up to third on the grid for tomorrow’s opener. His Honda Yuasa Racing team-mate Matt Neal endured a difficult session and could only manage eighth after a spin at Knickerbrook scuppered what looked to be his fastest lap. Championship leader Neal, with maximum ballast on board his Honda Civic, will now have to attempt to wrestle his car up the order tomorrow afternoon.

Speedworks Motorsport driver Dave Newsham had a beaming smile on his face when the chequered flag waved as a last ditch dash pushed him from ninth on the grid up to fourth – his best qualifying result of the season so far.

"It’s great to get this result in the team’s back yard," Newsham told btcc.net. "Coming into this round we made a lot of progress in the car, it’s much more to my liking now. We knew we’d moved forward but we didn’t know how far it would be in comparison to the other cars, so this is great. This is where we should be. I thought maybe Jordan would have got ahead of us, so to be the fastest of the Independents is brilliant. I was still surprised when I crossed the line though!"

Such has been the form of Andrew Jordan that the Pirtek Racing driver will be disappointed to only take fifth. The 24-year-old’s driving style again wowed the fans, however, holding on to a stunning slide through Cascades as he pushed hard to improve on his position.

Frank Wrathall and Colin Turkington performed well in their Toyota Avenis and BMW 125i M Sport respectively. Wrathall set his quickest lap in the early running, whilst Turkington completed his in the final ten minutes, both separated by just 0.059s at the finish in sixth and seventh.

Adam Morgan’s Ciceley Toyota and Tom Onslow-Cole’s PPCGB/Kraftwerk VW rounded out the top ten, ahead of a rather sombre Mat Jackson who was expecting more from the Airwaves Racing Ford Focus. Such was the competitiveness of the session, however, that second position through to Jackson in 11th were covered by less than half a second.

Ollie Jackson's Speedworks Toyota will start 12th for the first race tomorrow ahead of encouraging efforts from Daniel Welch and Jack Goff, who will both occupy the seventh row in the Proton Gen-2 and Vauxhall Insignia respectively.

The duel between Lea Wood and Liam Griffin for Jack Sears Trophy honours went in favour of the Vauxhall Vectra driver, with Griffin’s Ford Focus less than two tenths behind. Debutant Aaron Mason performed admirably, setting the third fastest time of the S2000 runners in his AmDTuning.com VW Golf.


2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Oulton Park - Qualifying

1. Jason Plato (MG KX Momentum Racing): 1:26.130
2. Sam Tordoff (MG KX Momentum Racing): +0.431
3. Gordon Shedden (Honda Yuasa Racing): +0.500
4. Dave Newsham (Speedworks Motorsport): +0.576
5. Andrew Jordan (Pirtek Racing): +0.598
6. Frank Wrathall (Dynojet): +0.612
7. Colin Turkington (eBay Motors): +0.671
8. Matt Neal (Honda Yuasa Racing): +0.701
9. Adam Morgan (Ciceley Racing): +0.701
10. Tom Onslow-Cole (PPCGB/Kraftwerk Racing): +0.927
11. Mat Jackson (Airwaves Racing): +0.946
12. Ollie Jackson (Speedworks Motorsport): +1.245
13. Daniel Welch (Welch Motor sport with Sopp + Sopp): +1.287
14. Jack Goff (RCIB Insurance Racing): +1.305
15. Jeff Smith (Pirtek Racing): +1.419
16. Robert Collard (eBay Motors): +1.478
17. Aron Smith (Airwaves Racing): +1.504
18. Rob Austin (WIX Racing): +1.806
19. Lea Wood (Wheel Heaven/Houseman Racing): +1.938
20. James Cole (RCIB Insurance Racing): +2.073
21. Liam Griffin (Addison Lee Motorbase): +2.130
22. Nick Foster (eBay Motors): +2.248
23. Will Bratt (WIX Racing): +2.440
24. Aaron Mason (AmDTuning.com): +2.918
25. David Nye (Welch Motorsport with Sopp + Sopp): +3.282
26. Warren Scott (Team BMR Restart) +3.743

Julie B
9th June 2013, 12:19
Race 1 - Results
Jason Plato took a commanding victory in race one at Oulton Park ahead of his young team-mate Sam Tordoff - securing the team's first ever one-two finish.

The MG duo got away cleanly from the front row and despite Tordoff having to hold off an early challenge Gordon Shedden, they both maintained position throughout the 15 lap contest. Similarly Shedden took a fairly comfortable third place ahead of Andrew Jordan and Colin Turkington.

1. Jason Plato MG
2. Sam Tordoff MG + 1.107s
3. Gordon Shedden Honda + 3.167s
4. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda + 4.104s
5. Colin Turkington WSR BMW + 4.563s
6. Matt Neal Honda + 10.946s
7. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford + 11.551s
8. Dave Newsham Speedworks Toyota + 15.381s
9. Adam Morgan Ciceley Toyota + 23.909s
10. Rob Collard WSR BMW + 23.942s
11. Jeff Smith Eurotech Honda + 24.308s
12. Nick Foster WSR BMW + 29.815s
13. Rob Austin Austin Audi + 31.869s
14. Daniel Welch Welch Proton + 32.030s
15. Tom Onslow-Cole Hard VW + 33.044s
16. Jack Goff Hard Vauxhall + 36.220s
17. Will Bratt Austin Audi + 36.608s
18. James Cole Hard Vauxhall + 37.550s
19. Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford* + 44.170s
20. Lea Wood Wood Vauxhall* + 44.297s
21. Aaron Mason AmD VW* + 51.291s
22. David Nye Welch Ford* + 54.394s
23. Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota + 1 lap
24. Ollie Jackson Speedworks Toyota + 2 laps


Retirements:

Aron Smith Motorbase Ford 10 laps
Warren Scott BMR SEAT* 13 laps

Rob
9th June 2013, 12:25
oh no, didnt see race but have it recorded, but looks going to be another bad weekend for my fantasy team.:-(

Julie B
9th June 2013, 16:21
Race 2 - Results

MG KX Momentum Racing’s Jason Plato drove another perfect race in the second outing of the day at Oulton Park. The double BTCC champion has led every competitive lap so far today – and has now matched Alain Menu’s record of nine victories around the Cheshire circuit.

Plato made a solid start from pole position, and pulled an early lead over team-mate Sam Tordoff who finished second in race one. A traffic jam quickly formed behind the No.88 MG which further aided his Plato's getaway, before a safety car on lap three bunched everyone back up. A master of the safety car restart, Plato wasted no time in recreating his comfortable lead, and brought the car home 2.6 seconds clear of the field.

After the race, Plato said, “It’s just been a fantastic weekend. A big thanks to everyone at the team. This hasn’t been an easy programme to put together when you think about where we were last year and this makes it all worthwhile. Once you find the sweet spot in the car, which I think we have now, then we’re looking strong. We’ve got another one to go but the soft tyre isn’t quicker over a race run – I don’t think we’ll be winning the third race but it’s important that we score some good points.”

Behind Plato, Honda Yuasa Racing’s Gordon Shedden went one better than he had in race one to finish second. An opportunistic move past Colin Turkington into Lodge Corner on lap three moved him up to third, and as Sam Tordoff began to struggle on the soft option Dunlop tyre, the 2012 champ pulled an impressive manoeuvre into turn one on lap eight to take second. Despite Tordoff holding up the field early on, there was nothing Shedden could do to close the gap to Plato, and he settled into a comfortable second for the latter part of the race. Shedden commented, “I’m trying everything I can to get that win – I’m throwing everything at it. In truth, the MGs are just really quick today. I managed to get past Sam Tordoff early, which was nice, but we’re just losing out coming out of the hairpin and running up Clay Hill. I can’t really get much more out of the car – to split them in one race is great. We’ve got some good solid points and hopefully some more will come later on.”

eBay Motors driver Colin Turkington claimed his second podium of 2013 in third place. The Northern Irishman made a fantastic start and jumped from fifth to third off the line, and after losing out to Gordon Shedden made his way past Tordoff with a great piece of tactical driving, holding back into the final corner in order to get better drive down the start-finish straight and into turn one. In the final few laps Turkington was closing fast on Shedden but ultimately didn’t have enough laps to challenge for second place. It was not such a positive race for the other two eBay Motors drivers, as Nick Foster touched the back of Rob Collard at Island Hairpin causing damage to both cars.

There was drama late on in the race, as Tordoff’s MG continued to drop back down the order. He was passed by the Honda Civics of Matt Neal and Andrew Jordan, and as the only other front-runner on the soft tyre Mat Jackson attempted to get by for sixth place on the penultimate lap, the two made contact that resulted in significant damage to both cars. They both managed to limp around the final lap to finish the race, with Jackson in 20th and Tordoff in 21st. This leaves both drivers with it all to do in race three.

Lea Wood was once again the standout performer in the S2000 class, and although Liam Griffin stayed in sight of Wood’s Vauxhall Vectra throughout the race, he could do nothing to stop the Herefordshire driver extending his lead in the Jack Sears Trophy by another cup.


2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Oulton Park – Race 2

1 Jason Plato (MG KX Momentum Racing) 17 Laps
2 Gordon Shedden (Honda Yuasa Racing) +2.691
3 Colin Turkington (eBay Motors) +3.285
4 Matt Neal (Honda Yuasa Racing) +5.591
5 Andrew Jordan (Pirtek Racing) +9.354
6 Dave Newsham (Speedworks Motorsport) +10.326
7 Adam Morgan (Ciceley Racing) +10.849
8 Rob Austin (WIX Racing) +13.396
9 Daniel Welch (Welch Motorsport with Sopp + Sopp) +16.078
10 Jeff Smith (Pirtek Racing) +16.270
11 Tom Onslow-Cole (PPCGB/Kraftwerk Racing) +17.222
12 Frank Wrathall (Dynojet) +18.733
13 Will Bratt (Rob Austin Racing) +22.368
14 Aron Smith (Airwaves Racing) +22.913
15 Nick Foster (eBay Motors) +30.994
16 Ollie Jackson (Speedworks Motorsport) +31.633
17 James Cole (RCIB Insurance Racing) +32.595
18 Lea Wood (Wheel Heaven / Houseman Racing) +33.833
19 Liam Griffin (Addison Lee Motorbase) +35.787
20 Mat Jackson (Airwaves Racing) +45.237
21 Sam Tordoff (MG KX Momentum Racing) +1:00.564
22 David Nye (Welch Motorsport with Sopp + Sopp) +1:20.279


Not Classified
- Robert Collard (eBay Motors) +6 laps
- Aaron Mason (AmDTuning.com) +11 laps
- Jack Goff (RCIB Insurance Racing) +16 laps

Julie B
9th June 2013, 17:29
Race 3 - Results

Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan won the final BTCC race of the day at Oulton Park after a truly pulsating 15-laps of racing.

Jordan’s team-mate Jeff Smith spun away the lead with just three laps remaining, which also allowed Colin Turkington through in his eBay Motors BMW and the Ciceley Racing Toyota of Adam Morgan to complete the podium – Morgan’s first in his BTCC career.

Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan won the final BTCC race of the day at Oulton Park after a truly pulsating 15-laps of racing.

Jordan’s team-mate Jeff Smith spun away the lead with just three laps remaining, which also allowed Colin Turkington through in his eBay Motors BMW and the Ciceley Racing Toyota of Adam Morgan to complete the podium – Morgan’s first in his BTCC career.

1. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda 22m17.987s
2. Colin Turkington WSR BMW + 1.358s
3. Adam Morgan Ciceley Toyota + 4.523s
4. Matt Neal Honda + 4.601s
5. Rob Austin Austin Audi + 7.605s
6. Will Bratt Austin Audi + 8.712s
7. Sam Tordoff MG + 15.018s
8. Nick Foster WSR BMW + 15.798s
9. Aron Smith Motorbase Ford + 16.761s
10. Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota + 17.876s
11. Rob Collard WSR BMW + 18.491s
12. Jack Goff Hard Vauxhall + 19.731s
13. James Cole Hard Vauxhall + 20.813s
14. Dave Newsham Speedworks Toyota + 25.507s
15. Ollie Jackson Speedworks Toyota + 30.114s
16. Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford* + 33.473s
17. Gordon Shedden Honda + 1m03.583s
18. Jeff Smith Eurotech Honda + 1 lap
19. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford + 1 lap
20. Tom Onslow-Cole Hard VW + 1 lap
21. Lea Wood Wood Vauxhall* + 2 laps
22. David Nye Welch Ford* + 3 laps

Retirements:

Daniel Welch Welch Proton 7 laps
Jason Plato MG 3 laps
Warren Scott BMR SEAT* 0 laps

Rob
10th June 2013, 11:50
Plato on fire at Oulton Park!
MG KX Momentum racer Jason Plato scored a flawless double BTCC victory at Oulton Park today (9 June) before a dramatic fire put him out of the final contest, handing his Honda Yuasa Racing rival Matt Neal the championship lead.

Two-time champion Plato is no stranger to winning at the Cheshire venue, having taken seven victories at the circuit prior to this weekend, and he duly added to his impressive tally.

He was in dominant form throughout the event – claiming pole position before securing two lights-to-flag wins in commanding fashion. But for the agony of race three, the Oxfordshire driver was still pleased with his weekend’s work, “I’ve been on fire – literally,” he said in reference to both his fine form and later misfortune!

Plato’s young team-mate Sam Tordoff starred in race one by claiming second – the best result in his short BTCC career so far and the first ever one-two for MG KX Momentum Racing.

Reigning champion Gordon Shedden took third in the opener before going one better in race two in his Honda Civic, whilst 2009 champion Colin Turkington claimed third in his eBay Motors BMW 125i M Sport.

The dramatic final encounter was won by Andrew Jordan in his Pirtek Racing Honda Civic after his team-mate Jeff Smith spun away the lead with just three laps remaining. Turkington scored another podium, rounding out an extremely encouraging weekend for the eBay Motors driver.

The impressive Adam Morgan took his first ever Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship podium in the final race, which was just reward for the Ciceley Racing driver and continues his fantastic form so far in 2013.

Matt Neal finished just 0.078s off the rostrum after hounding down Morgan in the closing stages but his race results of sixth and two fourth places were enough for him to leave Oulton Park with the championship lead. Such is the competitiveness of the 2013 BTCC season that Neal, Jordan and Plato are separated by just seven points at the top of the standings.

Other notable results belonged to the Rob Austin Racing-run Audis of Rob Austin and Will Bratt – the duo finished fifth and sixth respectively in race three.

Lea Wood looked set to claim a first ever treble in the Jack Sears Trophy but after taking two wins he was forced into retirement in the final contest, which handed Liam Griffin’s Ford Focus his fourth win of the season. Wood heads the S2000 order with five victories.

Further to Neal’s lead in the overall Drivers’ standings, Honda lead the Manufacturers’ Championship and Honda Yuasa Racing also top the Teams’ Championship. Andrew Jordan and his Pirtek Racing squad hold the advantage in the Independents’ Drivers’ and Teams’ standings respectively.

Rounds 13, 14 and 15 of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship take place at Croft on the 22/23 June.

Jason Plato said: “I’ve been on fire – literally! It has been a fantastic weekend. What happened in the final race was just one of those things. The most important thing for me is that we’ve got the performance and we’ve sent a shockwave down the pit lane. There’s a long way to go but we’ve put on a pretty dominant display here, which bodes well for Croft and beyond.”

Andrew Jordan said: “If you’d asked me how my day was going after race two I’d have been a lot less happy than I am now. To pull that result off has made my weekend – you can never be sure what’s going to happen in race three and it was only once I got up into fourth that I thought I could actually win it. It’s a shame that we couldn’t get a one-two for the team – there were no team orders, Jeff (Smith) just lost the rear going into the chicane and didn’t quite manage to save it. Consistency is key for me this year and while I didn’t get great results in the first two races, we scored big in the last one while Shedden and Plato didn’t finish, so that makes it an even better result.”

Colin Turkington said: “That’s the first podium (race two) that we’ve had on raw pace. We didn’t have any luck or a reverse grid to be there so we’re definitely moving forward, but we have to keep our feet on the ground. We’ve still got more performance to find in the car and it’s not there yet. I didn’t expect two podiums, especially with the speed of the Hondas and the MGs, so to take those results when they're in the kind of form they are is absolutely fantastic.”

Adam Morgan said: “It’s absolutely amazing to get that result, not just for myself but for my team, my family and all the sponsors that support me. The race was pretty hectic – I didn’t get a second to catch my breath, but I just kept pushing and to get my first BTCC podium at my home circuit – it’s brilliant. The car felt really really good, and now I've got one, I'll be pushing harder than ever to get up there again.”

Penalties:
Liam Griffin received a one second time penalty in race one for gaining an unfair advantage

Andrew Jordan received three penalty points and a £500 fine for an incident relating to driving standards in race three

Jeff Smith received three penalty points and a £500 fine for an incident relating to driving standards in race three