BTCC 2011 - Rounds 4, 5 & 6 - Donington Park

[Julie B]

QUALIFYING

Neal on pole as red flags fly
Matt Neal shattered the qualifying lap record to secure pole position for round two of the Dunlop British Touring Car Championship at Donington Park.

Neal set a best time of 1m10.129s in his Honda Civic for his second pole in a row in what was an incident-filled session which was disrupted by three red flag stoppages.

Second fastest, just 0.043s behind Neal, was his team-mate Gordon Shedden while rising star James Nash was third in his Vauxhall Vectra. Shedden set the pace during the early part of the session but was unable to respond to Neal’s time when his car’s front suspension broke.

Andrew Jordan’s Vectra and Tom Chilton in his Ford Focus completed the top five. Championship leader Jason Plato, his Chevrolet Cruze handicapped with the maximum success ballast of 45kgs, was eighth fastest.

But the session was full of incident. Firstly Mat Jackson span at high speed into the Old Hairpin gravel trap as he took avoiding action to miss a slower car on line.

Soon after the restart, Andy Neate spun at the Craner Curves and knocked an advertising board onto the track forcing another red flag stoppage.

Within seconds of the second restart Tom Boardman’s SEAT Leon and Chris James’s Chevrolet Lacetti were damaged in a collision, although both managed to struggle back to the pit lane.

Then came a third red flag, this time to retrieve Tony Hughes’s Toyota that had spun into the gravel trap at McLeans after a collision with Nash’s Vectra.

1 2 Matt Neal Honda Civic 0
2 52 Gordon Shedden Honda Civic 0
3 14 I James Nash Vauxhall Vectra 0
4 77 I Andrew Jordan Vauxhall Vectra 0
5 5 I Tom Chilton Global Ford Focus 0
6 55 I Jeff Smith Vauxhall Vectra 0
7 7 I Mat Jackson Ford Focus ST 0
8 1 Jason Plato Chevrolet Cruze 0
9 20 Alex MacDowall Chevrolet Cruze 0
10 8 I Robert Collard BMW 320si E90 0
11 29 I Paul O'Neill Chevrolet Cruze 0
12 22 I Tom Boardman SEAT Leon 0
13 34 I Tony Gilham Vauxhall Vectra 0
14 44 I Andy Neate Global Ford Focus 0
15 66 I Liam Griffin Ford Focus ST 0
16 99 I Tom Onslow-Cole VW Golf MK5 0
17 18 I Nick Foster BMW 320si E90 0
18 28 I John George Chevrolet Cruze 0

[Rob]

Well done Neal and Flash!! GP in morning, BBQ for dinner and BTCC all afternoon!!!

be some good racing again, cannt wait.

[Greig]

Cmon Flash, poor Plato

[Rob]

Cmon Flash, poor Plato

poor old Plato never mind. The Hondas may be hard to beat tomorrow.

[Greig]

race 1 about to start on ITV4 for anyone interested in seeing lots of safety cars

[Julie B]

RACE 1 - RESULTS

Matt Neal held off Andrew Jordan to win Donington’s first Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship race as Jason Plato hit problems.

Honda Racing Team driver Neal lost his pole position advantage to a fast-starting James Nash off the grid, but as they completed lap one sprinted back ahead to lead all the way to the line.

Behind, Jordan, in his Pirtek Racing Vauxhall Vectra had passed the Civic of Neal’s team-mate Gordon Shedden for third with a brave move around the outside through Schwantz Curve. He was quickly up to and past Nash’s 888 Racing with Collins Contractors Vectra, too, as Shedden also followed through soon after to take third.

Neal’s maximum score – victory, plus bonus points for pole, leading and setting a new lap record – has in one fell swoop moved him up from fifth into first place in the championship standings ahead of today’s two remaining races.

Jason Plato, who had led the standings going into the race, finished two laps down in 19th after his Silverline Chevrolet Cruze slowed with a deflated tyre while lying in sixth position. Consequently he will start today’s second race from near the back of the 23-car grid.

Neal said: “Nash seemed very good on the brakes so it was important I got him early – it was nice to see some clear air in front. But it was touch and go in the closing stages. Andrew was never far away but I could see where he was strong so played to my strengths and made sure I kept out of his reach.”

Jordan, within half a second of Neal at the line, commented: “I preserved the brakes and tyres for the first few laps and then went for it. In the last four laps my car picked up a vibration and I feared I was getting another flat tyre like I did at Brands Hatch but it all held together.”

And Shedden added: “To be honest I’d hoped for a bit more from that race but I lost too much ground and dropped to fourth in the first few laps. After that it was impossible to make up that ground.”

Fourth-placed Nash, who now finds himself tied for third in the standings with Shedden and Mat Jackson, told btcc.net: “I didn’t put up a fight as I didn’t have the confidence in my car – only when they’d all passed me did I realise I’d accidentally knocked my brake bias one click forward on the grid!”

Finishing fifth was Tom Chilton’s Team Aon Ford Focus and sixth the similar car of Airwaves Racing’s Jackson that had lost places having run wide off the track at the first bend.

Seventh was the spectacularly driven WSR BMW of Robert Collard. He just fended off Tom Boardman’s Special Tuning SEAT Leon which took eighth. Ninth was Paul O’Neill in his GoMobileUK.com with tech-speed Cruze. But he too was under attack in the closing stages, from Plato’s team-mate Alex MacDowall who took tenth after re-passing Pirtek’s Jeff Smith.

Nash’s team-mate Tony Gilham recovered to 16th after a lap one spin exiting of Redgate corner while Aon’s Andy Neate survived a trip over the kerbs and gravel trap at the Fogarty Chicane after a failed overtaking attempt, eventually taking 15th. That followed a startline collision that eliminated O’Neill’s team-mate John George, his Chevrolet spinning into the barriers after clipping Dave Newsham’s Geoff Steel Racing BMW that also stopped with steering damage. Rob Austin, meanwhile, failed to start in his team’s Audi A4 which stopped on the formation lap with a broken propshaft.

1. Matt Neal Honda 19m13.620s
2. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Vauxhall + 0.359s
3. Gordon Shedden Honda + 1.263s
4. James Nash Triple 8 Vauxhall + 2.024s
5. Tom Chilton Arena Ford + 4.532s
6. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford + 10.943s
7. Rob Collard WSR BMW + 14.658s
8. Tom Boardman Special Tuning SEAT + 15.094s
9. Paul O'Neill Tech-Speed Chevrolet + 18.433s
10. Alex MacDowall Chevrolet + 19.110s
11. Jeff Smith Eurotech Vauxhall + 19.550s
12. Tom Onslow-Cole AmD Volkswagen + 25.084s
13. Nick Foster WSR BMW + 25.562s
14. Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford + 29.907s
15. Andy Neate Arena Ford + 30.569s
16. Tony Gilham Triple 8 Vauxhall + 30.658s
17. Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota + 38.660s
18. Chris James ES Chevrolet + 1m02.953s
19. Jason Plato Chevrolet + 2 laps
20. Tony Hughes Speedworks Toyota + 2 laps

Retirements:

John George Tech-Speed Chevrolet 2 laps
Dave Newsham Geoff Steel BMW 0 laps
Rob Austin Austin Audi 0 laps

[Greig]

Sheds got DQ from race 1, totally crazy race 2, thankfully everyone is ok

[Julie B]

Shedden excluded from race 1

Gordon Shedden has been excluded from his third place finish in the first of today's three Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship races at Donington Park, held earlier today.

The exclusion comes about because of a technical infringement (overboost) with his Honda Racing Team Civic.

It means he will have to start race two from the back of the 23-car field with his Civic still carrying the 27kgs of success ballast that a third place finish accrues.

[Julie B]

RACE 2 - RESULTS

Youngster Andrew Jordan has won the second of today’s three Dunlop British Touring Car Championship races at Donington Park but there was disaster for Jason Plato as he rolled his car in a violent crash.

On his local track Lichfield’s Jordan, aged just 21, led fellow Vauxhall Vectra driver James Nash all the way in a race punctuated by safety car periods. Third, having lost his pole position advantage at the start, was race one winner Matt Neal in his Honda Civic.

As a result, Neal continues to lead the championship standings but by the decreased margin of just two points from rising star Nash.

Pirtek Racing star Jordan said: “It was pressure, pressure, pressure all the way although at least the safety car periods gave me an opportunity to cool the brakes and tyres a bit. James gained on me at Coppice and the chicane but I could drop him everywhere else so it was just enough.”

Nash commented: “Andrew drove a very good race – I kept the pressure up as much as I could but he didn’t put a wheel wrong so it was second place.”

Neal commented: “I was hoping for a bit more pace from my car but the success ballast hurt me more than I’d expected. I was flat chat all the way and just happy to see the chequered flag.”

But the race’s big talking point was Plato’s roll on the first lap, caused by contact at an estimated 120mph from Airwaves’ Liam Griffin who had been sent into a spin after a brush with Neal’s team-mate Gordon Shedden.

Instead of turning left down the Craner Curves, Plato’s car veered right over the infield and into a bank before rolling over three times. The reigning Champion was unharmed but the smash, which has wrecked his £250,000 Silverline Chevrolet Cruze, will severely harm his title hopes – having arrived at Donington leading the standings he now finds himself down to third.

And unable to start race three later this afternoon he is almost certain to drop further down the points table.

Elsewhere, Team Aon's Tom Chilton took fourth but only after a controversial incident – one of several during the race – with rival Ford Focus driver, Airwaves' Mat Jackson. The latter had looked to have grabbed the spot entering McLeans Corner but their cars made contact and Jackson was sent off the track.

That enabled the ever spectacular Robert Collard in his WSR BMW to take fifth ahead of Shedden who had come through from the back of the grid following exclusion from race one’s results.

Arguably the biggest cheer on the pit wall at the chequered flag was that of the small AmD Milltek Racing.com outfit as Tom Onslow-Cole gave its VW Golf a first-ever outright points finish in seventh. He just held off a pack of cars headed by Nash’s 888 Racing with Collins Contractors team-mate Tony Gilham who had passed Chevrolet’s Alex MacDowall at the final corner to grab eighth spot. The recovering Jackson was tenth but after his incident with Chilton he had been involved in another scrape.

Exiting Coppice Corner, his Focus and the Vectra of Pirtek’s Jeff Smith had made contact, the latter spinning off onto the infield as a result. Smith himself had only just survived a tangle with Collard’s team-mate Nick Foster, their cars clashing through the Craner Curves which resulted in the latter’s BMW spinning backwards at high speed into a gravel trap.

Joining him in retirement after contact with Collard was Paul O’Neill’s GoMobileUK.com with tech-speed Chevrolet Cruze. Rob Austin’s Audi A4 also retired in another gravel bed while, after several pit visits, the unfortunate Tom Boardman stopped with electrical problems on his Special Tuning SEAT Leon which, when running cleanly, enabled him to set the race’s fastest lap.

1. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Vauxhall 26m54.737s
2. James Nash Triple 8 Vauxhall + 0.776s
3. Matt Neal Honda + 1.359s
4. Tom Chilton Arena Ford + 2.009s
5. Rob Collard WSR BMW + 2.472s
6. Gordon Shedden Honda + 3.155s
7. Tom Onslow-Cole AmD Volkswagen + 8.091s
8. Tony Gilham Triple 8 Vauxhall + 8.800s
9. Alex MacDowall Chevrolet + 8.909s
10. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford + 9.179s
11. Andy Neate Arena Ford + 10.657s
12. John George Tech-Speed Chevrolet + 12.011s
13. Jeff Smith Eurotech Vauxhall + 16.829s
14. Chris James ES Chevrolet + 18.235s
15. Dave Newsham Geoff Steel BMW + 21.041s
16. Tony Hughes Speedworks Toyota + 22.233s

Retirements:

Nick Foster WSR BMW 12 laps
Tom Boardman Special Tuning SEAT 10 laps
Paul O'Neill Tech-Speed Chevrolet 9 laps
Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota 7 laps
Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford 0 laps
Rob Austin Austin Audi 0 laps
Jason Plato Chevrolet 0 laps

[Rob]

wow action packed race 3 aswell!!! all going off. Well done Nash, now leading the standings

[Greig]

great entertainment

[Tifosi]

Fabulous Racing!

Notes to TV director: we'd prefer to see the overtaking live and replays of Plato's family reacting to events, rather than live footage of Plato's family reacting to events and replays of the overtaking. In fact, just stop showing us the reactions of driver's family members altogether please. They are pointless and patronising. Also, external cameras allow you to see what happened a lot more clearly than if you were a fly (albeit with goggles on) on the front bumper of a car 4 places back.

[Rob]

Fabulous Racing!

Notes to TV director: we'd prefer to see the overtaking live and replays of Plato's family reacting to events, rather than live footage of Plato's family reacting to events and replays of the overtaking. In fact, just stop showing us the reactions of driver's family members altogether please. They are pointless and patronising. Also, external cameras allow you to see what happened a lot more clearly than if you were a fly (albeit with goggles on) on the front bumper of a car 4 places back.

very true mate. And how much does Ben Edwards lurve Plato

just checked the fantasy standings....im TOP!!!!! (no idea how done that)

[Tifosi]

very true mate. And how much does Ben Edwards lurve Plato

just checked the fantasy standings....im TOP!!!!!

Even that annoys me and I support the bugger (Plato, not Ben Edwards )

Really pleased for Jordan too

Pleased for you too Rob I feel a change of team coming on!!!

[Greig]

I had Plato, Sheddon and some other crappy guy, I don't even want to look the fantasy league

[Rob]

Even that annoys me and I support the bugger (Plato, not Ben Edwards )

Really pleased for Jordan too

Pleased for you too Rob I feel a change of team coming on!!!

Ben Edwards really aint it Stu

Jordan, great result. He in me fantasy team About time aswell, fingers crossed he keep it up, im just fan of any Vectra drivers, well there is a limit. Like Neal

[Rob]

I had Plato, Sheddon and some other crappy guy, I don't even want to look the fantasy league

i had, Plato, Jordan, Chilton

[Julie B]

RACE 3 - RESULTS

Mat Jackson has won the third of today’s three Dunlop British Touring Car Championship races at the Donington Park circuit but it is James Nash who tonight leaves the Leicestershire circuit as the new series leader

Warwickshire’s Jackson took the lead several laps into the race and from there ran out a comfortable winner on his home track. It was his and his Airwaves Racing team’s first win of the season with its new Ford Focus. Jackson also becomes the fourth different winner from six races so far this season.

Second and third in their Vauxhall Vectras were Pirtek’s Andrew Jordan and 888 Racing with Collins Contractors’ Nash – this pair impressively having finished on the podium in all three of today’s races.

Incredibly, rising star Nash, who has yet to win a BTCC race, leaves Donington the new championship leader as the title race now heads south to the super-fast Thruxton circuit in Hampshire for its next round on Sunday 1 May.

Henley-in-Arden’s Jackson commented: “It’s fantastic for all our team to get that first win, particularly after all the work we’ve put into improving the Focus. But things could have been a lot better – we’ve twice been knocked off the track today. We could so easily have been leaving as the leaders.”

Nash, from Newport Pagnell, said: “It feels unreal to be leading. Last year we really struggled but have transformed the car this year with the new turbo engine.

“I’ve upped my game and made sure we’ve scored in every race and that’s why I’m leading – but I desperately want that first win. Whether it will come at Thruxton I don’t know – I’ve never raced there in the BTCC before.”

Honda Racing Team’s Matt Neal, who had briefly led the standings earlier today, finished the race back in seventh in his damaged Civic and has dropped to second ahead of Jackson and Jordan.

After a high-speed crash earlier today, defending champion Jason Plato was able to take part in race three thanks to a stunning effort by his RML crew to repair his battered Silverline Chevrolet Cruze. He rewarded them with an astonishing sixth place finish and is fifth in the standings.

Taking fourth and fifth spots were Plato’s team-mate Alex MacDowall, who’d started from pole, and Jordan’s team-mate Jeff Smith with his best result to date.

Paul O’Neill, just 0.020s behind Neal at the line in his GoMobileUK.com with tech-speed Cruze, was eighth ahead. Jackson’s team-mate Liam Griffin and Nick Foster, in his WSR BMW, completed the top ten for the first points of their BTCC careers.

A highly satisfied 13th, his team’s new NGTC-spec Audi A4 going the distance for the first time, was Rob Austin.

But it was a race full of attrition with no less than ten retirements. Off the line, Tony Hughes’s Speedworks Toyota Avensis was left stranded at the side of the track after contact with Dave Newsham’s spinning Geoff Steel Racing BMW. Tom Chilton was next to fall, spinning his Team Aon Ford Focus into the Old Hairpin gravel trap after contact from behind. As he spun he also clipped Tom Onslow-Cole’s AmD Racing.com VW Golf that was too badly damaged to continue.

Neal’s team-mate Gordon Shedden then stopped in the pit lane with damage to the front-end of his Civic. Tom Boardman would later join him after his Special Tuning SEAT Leon lost drive.

Finally, on the last lap, Aon’s Andy Neate and 888’s Tony Gilham clashed while battling over sixth. Each had been on course for career-best results but instead Neate crashed into a barrier and Gilham stopped just a couple of corners later with collision damage.


1. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 24m32.921s
2. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Vauxhall + 2.640s
3. James Nash Triple 8 Vauxhall + 3.498s
4. Alex MacDowall Chevrolet + 5.761s
5. Jeff Smith Eurotech Vauxhall + 18.639s
6. Jason Plato Chevrolet + 20.614s
7. Matt Neal Honda + 23.902s
8. Paul O'Neill Tech-Speed Chevrolet + 23.922s
9. Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford + 28.815s
10. Nick Foster WSR BMW + 29.117s
11. John George Tech-Speed Chevrolet + 42.375s
12. Chris James ES Chevrolet + 52.158s
13. Rob Austin Austin Audi + 58.304s

Retirements:

Andy Neate Motorbase Ford 18 laps
Tony Gilham Triple 8 Vauxhall 18 laps
Rob Collard WSR BMW 17 laps
Tom Boardman Special Tuning SEAT 17 laps
Dave Newsham Geoff Steel BMW 14 laps
Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota 9 laps
Gordon Shedden Honda 8 laps
Tom Onslow-Cole AmD Volkswagen 1 lap
Tony Hughes Speedworks Toyota 1 lap
Tom Chilton Arena Ford 0 laps

[Tifosi]

i had, Plato, Jordan, Chilton

Old "basher" Chilton eh?

What happened to Steve and his wobbly giant hand today? You reckon he met up with EJ and they both got drunk?