BTCC Decider Brands Hatch Bound

After a weekend of shadowing each other's every move, Jason Plato has kept his championship battle with Colin Turkington alive until the series finale at Brands Hatch in a fortnight.
 

Previous title contender Gordon Shedden had a tough time at Rockingham dropping him down to 3rd in the standings and the nature of the Silverstone National Circuit made it hard for him to make up ground in his un suited Honda.

The MG's were expected to follow a dominant tradition the have made a certainty since their return to the championship in 2012. Plato and his team mate, Sam Tordoff, topped free practice 1 and 2 respectively to confirm they would be going for wins come Sunday.

 

 

Plato made hay at Silverstone

Championship leader Colin Turkington hooked up a lap good enough for second on the grid alongside Plato for race 1. A Strong performance for Mat Jackson put him at the sharp end with the CC's of Smith and Menu staring to start 5th and 6th respectively. The 3 Honda's were left to play catch up with Jordan, Shedden and Neal all outside the top 15.
 

Race 1 saw Turkington snatch the lead from Jason Plato off the start. Everyone else was 3rd. It wasn't long however before Plato took a lunge down the inside at Brookland's

Luke Hines returned to BTCC action

and took control of the race. Turkington was close to making a move but had to much to loose. Mat Jackson's qualifying form continued into the race as he kept the BMW man honest for the whole race. It stayed like this across the line.

Menu beat Aaron Smith to the line in the BMR battle, Sam Tordoff held on for 4th. Marc Hynes sealed an 8th place finish with Rob Austin behind. Andrew Jordan made the charge into the top 10 with Shedden the best placed works Honda in 14th.
 

Race 2 races towards the end of lap 1

Race 2 was much the same but for 1 thing. The same start of Turkington leading early before Plato took the lead a couple of laps in happened but the race was cut short. Rob Collard was collected by a sideways Jack Clarke on the exit of Becketts and was pitched into a vicious series of roll overs. The car was rolled into a ball and the race red flagged. Collard was cut out of his eBay motors BMW and air lifted to hospital for precautionary X-rays.
 

The top 7 were reversed for the final race of the day which gave Fabrizo Giovanardi another opportunity to start from pole position. The start was delayed after Sam Tordoff who lined up 2nd had a transmission failure while pulling away for the green flag lap. Once the leak was cleaned up the race got underway and Colin Turkington made his way from 6th to 4th thanks to yet another trade mark start. Plato slowly worked his way to be on the bumper of Turkington. Jackson led the race and was breaking away with former team mate Aaron Smith behind who started 3rd on the grid. Giovanardi was holing back a charging Turkington for 3rd place with a defending master class for up until half race distance. This was allowing Jackson and Smith to get away but also Turkington's championship rival, Plato to close in. The train of champions lapped Silverstone nose to tale lap after lap until, in true race 3 fashion, something had to give.

Jackson took his 2nd win of the season

Giovanardi got a poor run out of copse which allowed Turkington to line up an overtake. Fabrizio held the overlap to a minimum which slowed the Ulsterman down which in turn gave Plato a offer he couldn't refuse at Beckets. Plato went too deep on the breaks and nudged the BMW ever so slightly which in turn nudged Giovanardi who was to spin out of the race. The run down the wellington straight saw Turkington and Plato side by side with Turkington holding on with some stunning out breaking into Brooklands to fend off his championship rival for 3rd.
 

This means that yet again Brands Hatch will host the title deciding round. 50 points is the gap between Turkington and Plato, 3rd place man Shedden is as further 100 back, so you'd be a brave to bet against Turkington but we all know what Plato is capable of at Brands Hatch GP.

Full album can be found here - https://www.flickr.com/photos/125463799@N02/
All photos by James Clarke