BTCC Silverstone 2013

[Rob]

Wow this year is flying by, totally forgot it Silverstone round this weekend. Hope for good racing. And Jordan score more points, and get 1 hand on that crown.

Pace-setter Plato.

Jason Plato fired out an early warning by setting the fastest lap in the opening minutes of free practice one as the penultimate event of the 2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship got underway at Silverstone.

The MG KX Momentum squad took a double at the home of British motorsport in 2012 and many feel the MG6 will again be well-suited to the high-speed nature of the circuit. Plato needs a stellar weekend if he’s to keep his championship challenge on track having slipped down to fifth in the standings, and he's sent out the best possible message with a lap time of 58.498s that is already well under his own lap record from last season.

Plato wasn’t the only driver immediately on the pace as Speedworks Motorsport’s Dave Newsham set the second fastest lap in the early running, whilst his Toyota counterpart Frank Wrathall claimed fourth.

Sandwiched between them was the Honda of reigning champion Gordon Shedden, whilst Tom Onslow-Cole ended a challenging session in fine form by firing his Ford Focus into the top six. The Surrey-based driver was struggling with set-up in the early exchanges but he returned late on to showcase the potential of his Airwaves Racing machine.

Andrew Jordan and Matt Neal have vied for the championship top spot for much of the season but the Honda duo had to settle for sixth and seventh respectively in the first session – the latter also contending with a broken finger from a recent training session.

Sam Tordoff and Colin Turkington were separated by just 0.007 seconds behind, whilst the Ciceley Racing Toyota of Adam Morgan rounded out the top ten.

The Pirtek Honda of Jeff Smith was next up and the following trio deserve praise for their respective impressive runs. In only his second outing of the season, Howard Fuller pushed his RCIB Insurance Racing Vauxhall into the top 12 and he was followed by the Toyota of Ollie Jackson. Warren Scott enjoyed one of his best practice sessions of the season so far by claiming 14th.

Lea Wood won the S2000 duel with Liam Griffin as he bids to extend his unassailable lead in the Jack Sears Trophy.

In an incredibly close session the top 22 drivers were covered by just 1.2 seconds.

2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Silverstone – Free Practice 1

1. Jason Plato (MG KX Momentum Racing): 58.498s
2. Dave Newsham (Speedworks Motorsport): +0.118s
3. Gordon Shedden (Honda Yuasa Racing): +0.417s
4. Frank Wrathall (Dynojet) ¬+0.438
5. Tom Onslow-Cole (Airwaves Racing):+0.447
6. Andrew Jordan (Pirtek Racing): +0.480
7. Matt Neal (Honda Yuasa Racing): +0.482
8. Sam Tordoff (MG KX Momentum Racing): +0.590
9. Colin Turkington (eBay Motors): +0.597
10. Adam Morgan (Ciceley Racing): +0.725
11. Jeff Smith (Pirtek Racing): +0.751
12. Howard Fuller (RCIB Insurance Racing):+0.847
13. Ollie Jackson (Speedworks Motorsport): +0.852
14. Warren Scott (Team BMR Restart): +0.858
15. Mat Jackson (Airwaves Racing): +0.896
16. Rob Austin (WIX Racing): +0.976
17. Andy Neate (Team Club 44): +1.006
18. Will Bratt (WIX Racing): +1.104
19. Aron Smith (Airwaves Racing): +1.136
20. Jack Goff (RCIB Insurance Racing): +1.175
21. Dan Welch (Welch Motorsport with Sopp + Sopp): +1.234
22. Robert Collard (eBay Motors): +1.238
23. Nick Foster (eBay Motors): +1.556
24. Lea Wood (Wheel Heaven/Houseman Racing): +1.722
25. Liam Griffin (Addison Lee Motorbase): +2.092
26. Aiden Moffat (PPCGB/Kraftwerk Racing): +2.926

[Rob]

oyotas top FP2
Dave Newsham topped an incredibly tight free practice two at Silverstone for Speedworks Motorsport. The Inverness-based driver had been second fastest in the first session of the day, but went one better in the final session before qualifying that saw the top 18 cars covered by less than a second.

Newsham, who had been fastest in FP2 at Rockingham last time out, was delighted with the pace of his car, and said, “It’s going really well today and we didn’t really expect it. We’ve made some personnel changes, come into the weekend with a fresh pair of eyes and put a completely different setting on the car. It’s working brilliantly – we’re quick on qualifying and race runs, so I'm feeling great for the rest of the weekend.”

For much of the session it was a Toyota 1-2-3 with Newsham leading from the Dynojet Avensis of Frank Wrathall and Adam Morgan's Ciceley Racing car. MG KX Momentum Racing's Sam Tordoff just edged out Morgan late in the session to post the third fastest time.

Tordoff's team-mate Jason Plato rounded out the top five after setting the absolute fastest time of the day in FP1 earlier today. Plato is still in with a shot of the overall title, but needs to score highly this weekend to stay in the running for the season finale at Brands Hatch in two weeks’ time.

Rounding out the top six was an impressive Warren Scott who, on his 42nd birthday, put in a fantastic lap in the Team BMR Restart VW Passat CC to finish a BTCC session inside the top ten for the first time. He said after the session, “We were hopeful that we’d go well here – it’s the first time I've felt really comfortable in the car right from the start and I know this circuit very well. It’d be great if we can keep up this pace for the whole weekend.”

There were in fact three Team HARD-built cars inside the top ten, with the RCIB Insurance Racing pair of Howard Fuller and Jack Goff in eighth and ninth in their respective Vauxhall Insignias. Dan Welch rounded out the top ten in his Proton Gen2.

Matt Neal was the fastest Honda Civic in seventh position after 40 minutes – his Honda Yuasa Racing team-mate Gordon Shedden was 12th, and championship leader Andrew Jordan was 14th in his Pirtek Racing Civic. Title challenger Colin Turkington struggled in his eBay Motors BMW posting the 19th fastest time, but the Ulsterman has been consistently strong when the qualifying stopwatch has come out so far this year.

2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Silverstone – Free Practice 2

1. Dave Newsham (Speedworks Motorsport): 58.694s
2. Frank Wrathall (Dynojet) ¬+0.021
3. Sam Tordoff (MG KX Momentum Racing): +0.170
4. Adam Morgan (Ciceley Racing): +0.214
5. Jason Plato (MG KX Momentum Racing): +0.272
6. Warren Scott (Team BMR Restart): +0.388
7. Matt Neal (Honda Yuasa Racing): +0.414
8. Howard Fuller (RCIB Insurance Racing): +0.573
9. Jack Goff (RCIB Insurance Racing): +0.582
10. Dan Welch (Welch Motorsport with Sopp + Sopp): +0.615
11. Aron Smith (Airwaves Racing): +0.644
12. Gordon Shedden (Honda Yuasa Racing): +0.666
13. Ollie Jackson (Speedworks Motorsport): +0.710
14. Andrew Jordan (Pirtek Racing): +0.725
15. Jeff Smith (Pirtek Racing): +0.726
16. Rob Austin (WIX Racing): +0.738
17. Mat Jackson (Airwaves Racing): +0.833
18. Robert Collard (eBay Motors): +0.994
19. Colin Turkington (eBay Motors): +1.287
20. Tom Onslow-Cole (Airwaves Racing): +1.293
21. Will Bratt (WIX Racing): +1.363
22. Nick Foster (eBay Motors): +1.448
23. Lea Wood (Wheel Heaven/Houseman Racing): +1.674
24. Liam Griffin (Addison Lee Motorbase): +1.687
25. Andy Neate (Team Club 44): +1.794
26. Aiden Moffat (PPCGB/Kraftwerk Racing): +2.120

[Rob]

Plato's treble top.

MG KX Momentum Racing streaked to its fourth qualifying one-two of the season as Jason Plato and Sam Tordoff produced a stellar performance at Silverstone. The session turned out to be one of the closest in BTCC history with the top twenty cars sensationally covered by less than a second.

The MG duo drafted in tandem during the early running with each racer getting an opportunity to push for the ultimate lap, and it was Plato who edged out his young team-mate by the miniscule margin of just 0.009s to claim his third pole position of the 2013 campaign.

"I think we're in pretty good shape," said Plato. "Our race pace was really good last year here so we're well placed for tomorrow. I'm pleased to get another one-two for the MG KX Momentum Racing team, but we've got to convert it to results in all three races tomorrow."

Dave Newsham backed-up his practice pace from earlier in the day with an impressive run to third on the grid – his and Speedworks Motorsport’s best qualifying performance of the season so far.

"It's been good to have a strong qualifying because we haven't been able to hook it up this season so far," beamed Newsham. "We came here with a completely different car and we've been on it from the word go."

Championship challenger Colin Turkington will steal a march on his main title rivals by completing the second row for tomorrow's opener in his eBay Motors BMW, as Honda endured its most difficult qualifying session of the season.

The fastest Honda Civic driver has qualified in either the first or second rows in the previous eight events this season, but incredibly Matt Neal produced the best performance for the Japanese marque down in ninth place here at Silverstone. Championship leader Andrew Jordan could only manage tenth while reigning supremo Gordon Shedden qualified in 15th – his lowest position of 2013.

Despite the challenging session for all the Honda drivers, Jordan remained upbeat: "I'm actually really pleased with my lap – I was really smooth and the car felt great. It's good to be so close to Matt Neal with maximum ballast, and to be ahead of Shedden is really important. Turkington will be really strong from his grid spot tomorrow, but I've got to run my own race."

Three young guns took maximum advantage of the woes experienced by the main contenders with Frank Wrathall being particularly impressive. Despite running in the top five early on Wrathall's Dynojet Toyota failed a mid-session ride height test and the stewards removed his lap times from the leader board. Undeterred by the set-back, Wrathall returned and fired himself back into fifth late on after his team had corrected the issue.

Jack Goff completed the best qualifying display of his short BTCC career when he hauled his Vauxhall Insignia into sixth ahead of the ever-consistent Adam Morgan in the Ciceley Racing Toyota Avensis. The eBay Motors BMW of Rob Collard did enough to edge out the aforementioned Neal and Jordan to claim eighth.

Andy Neate narrowly missed out on a top ten qualifying berth but the Team Club 44 squad will be hugely buoyed by the potential shown in its Chevrolet Cruze, particularly after the unfortunate shunt in the recent Rockingham opener that forced the car out of the remainder of the event.

Lea Wood continued his dominant day in the Jack Sears Trophy by cruising around comfortably quicker than the Ford Focus of Liam Griffin.

2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Silverstone – Race one

1 Jason Plato (MG KX Momentum Racing) 58.210s
2 Sam Tordoff (MG KX Momentum Racing) +0.009
3 Dave Newsham (Speedworks Motorsport) +0.148
4 Colin Turkington (eBay Motors) +0.388
5 Frank Wrathall (Dynojet) +0.491
6 Jack Goff (RCIB Insurance Racing) +0.539
7 Adam Morgan (Ciceley Racing) +0.540
8 Robert Collard (eBay Motors) +0.578
9 Matt Neal (Honda Yuasa Racing) +0.587
10 Andrew Jordan (Pirtek Racing) +0.611
11 Andy Neate (Team Club 44) +0.624
12 Mat Jackson (Airwaves Racing) +0.675
13 Aron Smith (Airwaves Racing) +0.690
14 Daniel Welch (Welch Motorsport with Sopp + Sopp) +0.716
15 Gordon Shedden (Honda Yuasa Racing) +0.722
16 Howard Fuller (RCIB Insurance Racing) +0.778
17 Will Bratt (Rob Austin Racing) +0.804
18 Jeff Smith (Pirtek Racing) +0.889
19 Rob Austin (WIX Racing) +0.894
20 Ollie Jackson (Speedworks Motorsport) +0.972
21 Tom Onslow-Cole (Airwaves Racing) +1.056
22 Nick Foster (eBay Motors) +1.281
23 Aiden Moffat (PPCGB/Kraftwerk Racing) +1.597
24 Lea Wood (Wheel Heaven/Houseman Racing) +1.635
25 Liam Griffin (Addison Lee Motorbase) +1.870
26 Warren Scott (Team BMR Restart) No Times Set

http://www.btcc.net/html/generalnews...m=&searchterm=

[Rob]

Plato cruises to victory
Jason Plato claimed a lights-to-flag victory in the opening Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship race at Silverstone after fending off an early challenge from his MG team-mate Sam Tordoff.

Matt Neal produced a fantastic drive to complete the podium although the eBay Motors BMW of Colin Turkington crossed the line side-by-side with the Honda, and missed out on third by just 0.008s. The sister eBay car of Rob Collard took fifth ahead of championship leader Andrew Jordan.

Tordoff looked to have got the jump on Plato as the MGs ran down to Copse for the first time but the young gun lost the rear of the car mid-corner, which forced Plato wide in avoidance. Plato held his lead while Tordoff was passed by Turkington before he had a chance to fully regain control of his MG6.

The lap one incidents continued as the Toyota of Dave Newsham slid wildly on the approach to Luffield and slipped down the order, whilst Jack Goff nearly spun in sympathy. There was still time for Nick Foster and Will Bratt to have a coming together before the first lap was out, which also took out Andy Neate and resulted in the safety car being deployed.

Critically Tordoff had re-passed Turkington before the deployment of the safety car and the MGs scarpered off into the distance when the race restarted.

Honda Yuasa Racing’s Matt Neal was arguably the star of the show as he picked off cars one after another. The three-time champion made Maggots Corner his own as he first passed Dynojet’s Frank Wrathall before going on to pull the same moves on Collard and Turkington later in the race. Having started ninth, Neal had made his way into third with ten laps still remaining. He could do little about the MGs, however, and was forced to defend from Turkington in the closing stages.

Third through to eighth were covered by just over two seconds at the chequered flag with the trio of Andrew Jordan, Adam Morgan and Aron Smith following the BMW of Collard. Mat Jackson lost places after his Airwaves Racing Ford Focus ran wide on the exit of Luffield, but he held on to take ninth ahead of the recovering Newsham.

Reigning champion Gordon Shedden had real difficulty fighting his way through the order but the Honda racer made a late move by the Proton of Welch to claim 11th. WIX Racing’s Rob Austin also passed Welch in the same melee that forced the Proton down to 13th.

Wrathall ran as high as fourth in the early stages but he plummeted down the order late on as he struggled for grip and he eventually came home in 14th position.

Jason Plato said: "We’ve hit the spot before but we’ve made mistakes or things have gone wrong. Today the MG is definitely in the zone and we’ve got to be looking to score as many points as possible. The championship isn’t over until it’s over but we need to have an epic end to the year."

Sam Tordoff said: "We were side-by-side and I thought I had the place but I just lost the rear end. Jason had to run wide and I managed to just gather it all back up. Luckily Jason kept his lead but I had some work to do then to fight my way back through. The car is great here though and we're delighted to get a one-two."

2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Silverstone – Race one

1 Jason Plato (MG KX Momentum Racing) 25 Laps
2 Sam Tordoff (MG KX Momentum Racing) +1.477
3 Matt Neal (Honda Yuasa Racing) +6.072
4 Colin Turkington (eBay Motors) +6.080
5 Robert Collard (eBay Motors) +6.453
6 Andrew Jordan (Pirtek Racing) +7.114
7 Adam Morgan (Ciceley Racing) +7.511
8 Aron Smith (Airwaves Racing) +8.206
9 Mat Jackson (Airwaves Racing) +8.494
10 Dave Newsham (Speedworks Motorsport) +9.227
11 Gordon Shedden (Honda Yuasa Racing) +13.243
12 Rob Austin (WIX Racing) +13.398
13 Daniel Welch (Welch Motorsport with Sopp + Sopp) +14.092
14 Frank Wrathall (Dynojet) +14.381
15 Tom Onslow-Cole (Airwaves Racing) +14.732
16 Warren Scott (Team BMR Restart) +19.698
17 Howard Fuller (RCIB Insurance Racing) +22.463
18 Jeff Smith (Pirtek Racing) +30.327
19 Ollie Jackson (Speedworks Motorsport) +30.475
20 Lea Wood (Wheel Heaven/Houseman Racing) +32.789
21 Aiden Moffat (PPCGB/Kraftwerk Racing) +33.068
22 Will Bratt (Rob Austin Racing) +1 Lap

Not Classified
- Liam Griffin (Addison Lee Motorbase) +10 Laps
- Jack Goff (RCIB Insurance Racing) +14 Laps
- Andy Neate (Team Club 44) +24 Laps
- Nick Foster (eBay Motors) +24 Laps

[Rob]

Shedden reigns supreme

Reigning BTCC champion Gordon Shedden won the final thrilling encounter at Silverstone to keep his hopes alive of retaining the title going into the grand finale at Brands Hatch in two weeks’ time.

Young Andrew Jordan will go into the showdown leading the standings, but he has four former champions chasing him down for the championship crown.

The five title contenders had mixed fortunes in race three, none more so than Colin Turkington who led the early running. The eBay Motors BMW shot by pole-sitter Matt Neal off the line, which left the Honda embroiled in a fierce battle with MG’s Sam Tordoff over the first few laps.

The scrap soon came to an abrupt end when Neal slid wide exiting Brooklands. The two-time champion recovered well but as Tordoff closed in the pair went side-by-side through Luffield and Woodcote and inevitable contact followed. Tordoff’s MG spun off the track, whilst Neal dropped behind Airwaves Racing’s Aron Smith and the charging Shedden.

The next major move at the front of the field came when Shedden slipped by Smith at Brooklands on lap seven, with his Honda Civic showing positive signs of having the pace to catch Turkington over the remainder of the race. As it happened his chance came sooner than expected when a brief one-lap behind the safety car was called on lap 13 in order to retrieve debris from the circuit.

Turkington’s world fell apart at the restart as Shedden and Smith immediately passed him on the run down to Maggotts. The Ulsterman’s fortunes worsened further when Neal forced him down to fourth and the second Ford Focus of Mat Jackson also closed in with the BMW seemingly struggling to maintain his front-running pace for the full race distance. Then on the penultimate lap Jackson and Turkington touched once while running side-by-side across the start/finish line and seconds later the BMW spun wildly at Copse with broken suspension after further contact. The 2009 champion was out of the race, seriously denting his title chances in the process.

Smith went on to complete another good day for Airwaves Racing by taking second ahead of Neal, who himself had battled back well after his early fracas with Tordoff. Jackson also showed the pace of the Ford Focus by claiming fourth despite his late scare with Turkington.

Championship leader Andrew Jordan reignited his sensational race two battle with Jason Plato as the pair tussled for position in the final contest. Plato touched Jordan twice through Luffield at one stage, before the Honda Civic wriggled clear to take fifth. Plato had to settle for seventh after the Toyota Avensis of Dave Newsham made a late pass, which rounded off a good run for the Inverness-based racer.

Adam Morgan took eighth and the fastest lap for Ciceley Racing, whilst Jack Goff equalled his best ever BTCC finish with ninth. The Proton of Daniel Welch rounded out the top ten.

Lea Wood completed a hat-trick of wins in the Jack Sears Trophy.

The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship now moves on the legendary Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit for the final three races of the season. Jordan holds a 34-point advantage at the top of the standings but the 24-year-old will have to fend off the challenge from Neal, Shedden, Turkington and Plato on 12/13 October.

2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Silverstone – Race three

1 Gordon Shedden (Honda Yuasa Racing) 23 Laps
2 Aron Smith (Airwaves Racing) +2.045
3 Matt Neal (Honda Yuasa Racing) +3.710
4 Mat Jackson (Airwaves Racing) +4.935
5 Andrew Jordan (Pirtek Racing) +5.647
6 Dave Newsham (Speedworks Motorsport) +5.920
7 Jason Plato (MG KX Momentum Racing) +6.412
8 Adam Morgan (Ciceley Racing) +6.737
9 Jack Goff (RCIB Insurance Racing) +7.241
10 Daniel Welch (Welch Motorsport with Sopp + Sopp) +7.581
11 Nick Foster (eBay Motors) +7.856
12 Robert Collard (eBay Motors) +8.009
13 Tom Onslow-Cole (Airwaves Racing) +8.378
14 Sam Tordoff (MG KX Momentum Racing) +11.101
15 Howard Fuller (RCIB Insurance Racing) +14.761
16 Warren Scott (Team BMR Restart) +15.904
17 Rob Austin (WIX Racing) +16.484
18 Andy Neate (Team Club 44) +18.241
19 Aiden Moffat (PPCGB/Kraftwerk Racing) +20.171
20 Lea Wood (Wheel Heaven'Houseman Racing) +27.278

Not Classified
- Colin Turkington (eBay Motors) +2 Laps
- Ollie Jackson (Speedworks Motorsport) +10 Laps
- Will Bratt (Rob Austin Racing) +16 Laps