Adam Jones took the independents trophy in race 1 and finished fourth
Rockingham race 1: Shedden all the way
Scotland’s Gordon Shedden has won the first of today’s HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship rounds at the Rockingham circuit in Northamptonshire.
Shedden, driving a Team Halfords Honda Civic, led all the way from pole position to vault up to third in the driver standings. He dedicated his victory to fellow Scot and former top BTCC driver David Leslie who died in an air crash two weeks ago.
The 29-year-old from Dalgety Bay said: “My pole position yesterday was for David and this is also for him.”
Prior to today’s opening BTCC race all drivers on the grid joined the Rockingham crowds in a period applause for Leslie and also Richard Lloyd, another famous in the BTCC as both a driver and team manager.
Finishing second in the race was the turbo-diesel SEAT Leon TDI of Darren Turner – celebrating his 34th birthday – and third, after fighting back from a minor off, former double champion Matt Neal in his Vauxhall Vectra VXR.
In the closing stages rain started to fall on the track and Neal slid wide at the Deene hairpin, falling behind Adam Jones' Team Air Cool SEAT Leon. Neal, though, pieced together three stunning final laps - each some two seconds faster than those ahead of him - to rescue third from Jones at the same bend on the final lap.
Jones took fourth - the first Independent driver over the line - ahead of championship leaders Fabrizio Giovanardi (Vauxhall Vectra VXR) and Mat Jackson (BMW 320si) who finished fifth and sixth. Seventh after being swiped aside by Jackson was Vauxhall’s Tom Onslow-Cole who set a new race lap record.
Tom Chilton (Halfords Honda), Jason Plato (SEAT Leon TDI) and a rapidly closing Steven Kane (Motorbase BMW 320si) completed the top ten. Plato appeared to struggle for pace during the race after being biffed off the track on the opening lap. He then survived a brush with Robert Collard's Motorbase BMW which went spinning off the track.
Another front-runner in trouble was Team RAC's Colin Turkington - his BMW 320si hobbled to only 16th after contact with other cars.
Father and son Mike and Andrew Jordan, in their John Guest Honda Integras, both retired, the former after running straight on at Deene around the full Rockingham oval lay-out, the latter following contact with Harry Vaulkhard's Robertshaw Chevrolet Lacetti which also stopped with collision damage.
Martyn Bell (Arkas/Sunshine.co.uk Vauxhall Astra), Michael Doyle (In-Tune Honda Civic) and Alan Taylor (Robertshaw Honda Integra) all suffered spins en route to 18th, 20th and 21st repsectively.
Leading positions, BTCC race 1 Rockingham (provisional):
1. Gordon Shedden (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Civic, 16 laps in 23m28.251s
2. Darren Turner (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon TDI, +3.024s
3. Matt Neal (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, +3.575s
Fastest lap: Tom Onslow-Cole (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, 1m24.698s
Mat Jackson took a strong win in race 2
Rockingham race 2: Jackson pounces
Warwickshire’s Mat Jackson has won the second of today’s HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship rounds at the Rockingham circuit in Northamptonshire.
BMW Dealer Team UK driver Jackson (BMW 320si) finished ahead of VX Racing’s Fabrizio Giovanardi (Vauxhall Vectra VXR) and SEAT Sport UK’s Darren Turner (SEAT Leon TDI).
Turner led initially but then lost momentum when he was passed by Giovanardi. Jackson followed past as well into second and soon after overtook Giovanardi for a lead he would not relinquish.
Jackson, aged 26 from Henley-in-Arden, said: “It’s a great result to pull out from sixth on the grid. Fabrizio made a slight mistake and dropped a wheel on the grass and I was able to pounce.”
Giovanardi explained: "There was contact between me and Turner and it damaged my rear wheel so affected the handling slightly. But Mat drove a great race and was very strong. This happens in racing... I cannot complain."
Turner added: "There was a rub with Fabrizio and that damaged both my left front wheel and his right rear. we were probably both lucky to finish the race. After that I had to keep on defending to the flag to keep third."
Notably, Italian Giovanardi, though, set the race’s fastest lap to earn a bonus point. It keeps him one point ahead of Jackson at the top of the championship heading into this afternoon’s third race.
That race will begin with the top eight positions from race two reversed – meaning Adam Jones in his Team Air Cool SEAT Leon will start it from pole position.
Indeed, the battle for the remaining top ten positions was action-packed among a long queue of cars behind Turner.
Having been muscled out from his pole position starting spot, race one winner Gordon Shedden (Team Halfords Honda Civic) took the position, closely followed by Tom Onslow-Cole (Vauxhall Vectra VXR). Sixth was Colin Turkington (RAC BMW 320si), seventh Tom Chilton (Halfords Honda), eighth Jones, ninth Jason Plato (SEAT Leon TDI) and tenth Steven Kane (Motorbase BMW 320si).
Turkington and Plato both drove superb races from towards the tail-end of the field. Turkington had started a lowly 16th after a tough first race, while had Plato initially dropped to the rear following a pit stop to have his car's steering checked over.
Part of the top ten battle for much of the race were Stephen Jelley (RAC BMW 320si) and Matt Neal (Vauxhall Vectra VXR), but mid-race their cars tangled. Jelley kept going but was then tapped into a spin by Kane, eventually finishing 15th. Neal, meanwhile, recovered to take 11th.
Enduring a nightmare race were father and son Mike and Andrew Jordan who both retired their John Guest Honda Integras in the pit lane before mid-distance.
Leading positions Rockingham race 2 (provisional):
1. Mat Jackson (GBR), BMW Dealer Team UK/BMW 320si, 19 laps in 28m51.807s
2. Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, +1.542s
3. Darren Turner (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon TDI, +7.321s
Fastest lap: Giovanardi, 1m25.517s (81.66mph)
The drivers try to find their way though the rain in race 3
Rockingham race 3: Neal splashes to victory
Droitwich's Matt Neal has won the third of today’s three HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship rounds at the Rockingham circuit in Northamptonshire – held in soaking wet conditions.
VX Racing driver Neal (Vauxhall Vectra VXR) led home Tom Chilton (Team Halfords Honda Civic) and Adam Jones (Team Air Cool SEAT Leon).
But the outcome of the race was up in the air until the closing stages.
Heavy rain on the grid forced the race start to be delayed. When it started, Colin Turkington quickly built up a big lead over Chilton and race two winner, BMW Dealer Team UK's Mat Jackson (BMW 320si), but this was eroded during a safety car period - required to clear Darren Turner's SEAT Leon TDI and John George's TH Motorsport/JAG Honda Integra after both had slithered off the track in separate incidents.
Turkington held his lead at the re-start but Chilton put him under immediate pressure and within a couple of laps slipped past only to then run wide at the next bend and tumble down the order. This allowed Jackson in to attack Turkington ,but still the RAC driver would not give way and as they braked for the Tarzan hairpin their cars made contact - Jackson's running straight on into the gravel trap and out of the race. At that moment, Jackson had been on course to take over the lead of the championship...
Eventually, the lurking Neal found a way past Turkington who, in trying to retaliate, lost further positions when he almost over-cooked it at the Yentwood corner. This enabled Jones and Gordon Shedden (Halfords Honda) to sneak past. Turkington then also lost out to Fabrizio Giovanardi (Vauxhall Vectra VXR) and, on the run to the line, to Jason Plato (SEAT Leon TDI) by just 0.012s.
As in race two, Plato had needed to come through from the back of the field following a 30-seconds stop-go penalty in the pit lane as punishment after his team had continued changing tyres on his car on the grid after the 'three minutes to go' signal.
Neal, though, ran out a comfortable winner, setting the race's fastest lap en route to his first win with the Vauxhall team. He said: "I'm delighted - it was so difficult driving in those conditions, with lots of puddles and acquaplaning. I couldn't see a thing out of my back window so just got my head down and went for it. But the Vectra was just dynamite in the conditions and having been on the backfoot a bit at Brands a few weeks ago, when I was still learning the car, this is a great result."
Having, at one stage, looked set to lose his points lead to Jackson, Vauxhall team-mate Giovanardi's fifth means the Italian leaves Rockingham with an increased advantage of seven points over the BMW driver.
Eighth, after accidently knocking his Motorbase BMW team-mate Steven Kane into a spin was Robert Collard, ninth having also come through from the back of the field after a pit stop to change tyres, Mike Jordan's John Guest Honda Integra and tenth for a breakthrough first point of 2008 Turkish driver Erkut Kizilirmak in his Arkas Racing with Sunshine.co.uk team's Vauxhall Astra.
Having set a new lap record in race one, there was disappointment for Vauxhall's Tom Onslow-Cole who this time retired with damage to the front suspension of his Vauxhall Vectra VXR.
Leading positions Rockingham race 3 (provisional):
1. Matt Neal (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, 18 laps in 31m06.261s
2. Tom Chilton (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Civic, +4.914s
3. Adam Jones (GBR), Team Air Cool/SEAT Leon, +5.785s
Fastest lap: Neal, 1m35.469s (73.15mph)
For full race results click on this link: http:/www.btcc.net/html/raceresults_detail.php?race_id=46&season_id=51
Leading points positions (provisional):
1. Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA), 63 points
2. Mat Jackson (GBR), 56
3. Gordon Shedden GBR), 50
4. Matt Neal (GBR), 47
5. Darren Turner (GBR), 38
6. Jason Plato (GBR), 35