Mat Jackson continued his 2008 form by taking out race 3
Race 1
Jason Plato has won the first of today’s three HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship rounds at the Snetterton circuit in Norfolk.
Plato led all the way from pole position to rack up the 41st race win of his BTCC career. Team-mate Darren Turner followed him throughout to finish second and give SEAT’s turbo-diesel Leon TDI model its first 1-2 result in the BTCC. Turner also set a new lap record of 1m11.711s.
Third in his Team Halfords Honda Civic was Tom Chilton. He had started fifth but a great start had enabled him to shoot between both team-mate Gordon Shedden and the Vauxhall Vectra VXR of Fabrizio Giovanardi who, by contrast, dropped back to ninth.
Chilton and Shedden would keep up the pressure on the SEATs during the race but were never able to get quite close enough to attempt an overtaking move. Close behind at the finish were Colin Turkington (Team RAC BMW 320si), Tom Onslow Cole (Vauxhall Vectra VXR) and a recovering Giovanardi.
Steven Kane and Robert Collard, who had shot through at the start from 15th on the grid, gave the Motorbase team solid eighth and ninth place finishes. Vauxhall's Matt Neal's finished tenth after out-dragging Mike Jordan's John Guest Honda Integra on the run to the line.
As a result, Giovanardi and Neal remain at the top of the championship, but Plato has moved up to third and taken a sizeable chunk of points out of them.
Turkington's fifth position has also moved him past Adam Jones and into the lead of the Independents championship. Jones, in his Air Cool SEAT Leon, and fellow front-running privateer Mat Jackson (BMW 320si) were both in the wars during the race, finishing only 13th and 15th outright after being muscled out by fellow runners. Jackson had been battling for position with Neal until being nerfed off the track at the Esses - a lap later at the same spot he went off again, damaging his car, in a scuffle with the recovering Jones.
Meanwhile, the race's opening laps had been filled with drama further down the order. Andrew Jordan (John Guest Honda), John George (TH/JAG Honda), Martyn Bell (Arkas/Sunshine.co.uk Vauxhall Astra) and Michael Doyle (In-Tune Honda Civic) all went in different directions entering Sear corner on lap two.
Bell's car rammed a marshals' post and was out on the spot, while Jordan spun left and vanished into a farmer's field. Doyle also retired with broken suspenion while George at least was able to continue.
Poor Alan Taylor never even made the start after his Roberthsaw Honda Integra lost a wheel on the final green flag lap...
Race two is scheduled to start at 1.45pm.
Leading positions BTCC race 1 Snetterton (provisional):
1. Jason Plato (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon TDI, 21 laps in 27m38.560s
2. Darren Turner (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon TDI, +0.583s
3. Tom Chilton (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Civic, +1.364s
Fastest lap: Turner, 1m11.711s (new lap record)
The Seats dominated race 1
Race 2
Jason Plato has taken his second HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship race win of the day at the Snetterton circuit in Norfolk.
Plato followed up his win this morning with another victory in race two in his SEAT Leon TDI. The result has moved him up to second in the championship standings.
Finishing second was Colin Turkington’s Team RAC BMW 320si and third Fabrizio Giovanardi’s Vauxhall Vectra VXR. Giovanardi set the race’s fastest lap as he fought his way back through from 14th after an earlier spin.
Giovanardi’s drive was that of a true champion. He’d been flipped around in a brush with Tom Chilton’s Team Halfords Honda which then made a pit stop with a punctured tyre. From there the Italian was on a mission.
Two places were made a lap later when Harry Vaulkhard’s Robertshaw Chevrolet Lacetti and Andrew Jordan’s John Guest Honda Integra collided at the Esses and again at the Bombhole. On the next lap, Giovanardi made another couple of places as team-mate Tom Onslow-Cole and Mike Jordan’s John Guest Honda tangled at Sear ahead of him. This also appeared to delay Adam Jones’s Team Air Cool SEAT Leon and along the Revett Straight Giovanardi made another position.
Come lap 13 Giovanardi had made his way past sixth-placed Steven Kane’s Motorbase BMW 320si just as the safety car was sent out on track so debris could be cleared.
At the re-start, Darren Turner’s Leon TDI, which had been in second, slowed with a punctured tyre, this promoting Giovanardi to fifth which then became fourth as he outfoxed Kane’s team-mate Robert Collard exiting Coram.
And soon after he was up to third when Gordon Shedden’s Team Halfords Honda, which had inherited second from Turner, ran off the track at Coram and fell down the order.
The top six was completed by Collard, Vauxhall’s Matt Neal and Kane. Neal, like Giovanardi had also needed to recover from half-spin after a coming-together with Kane earlier in the race.
As a result, Giovanardi continues to lead the standings but by the reduced margin of 28 points over Plato heading into this afternoon’s third race which is scheduled to start at 5.40pm. Neal, deposed by Plato, is now third, three points behind.
Starting race three from pole position on a reversed grid will be Gordon Shedden’s Team Halfords Honda Civic.
Leading positions, BTCC race 2 Snetterton (provisional):
1. Jason Plato (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon TDI, 20 laps in 25m39.832s
2. Colin Turkington (GBR), Team RAC/BMW 320si, +3.169s
3. Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, +3.700s
Fastest lap: Giovanardi, 1m12.248s
Adam Jones was disqualified from race 3
Race 3
Mat Jackson has won the third of today’s three HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship rounds at the Snetterton circuit in Norfolk.
BMW Dealer Team UK's Jackson led every lap to fend off fellow BMW driver Steven Kane who gave an ecstatic Motorbase team its best-ever result in the BTCC so far.
Third was reigning champion Fabrizio Giovanardi in his Vauxhall Vectra VXR. As a result, Giovanardi has extended his championship lead over team-mate Matt Neal to 34 points as the BTCC next heads to the Oulton Park circuit in Cheshire on Sunday 27 July.
The race was a disaster for Jason Plato who had won the day’s first two races. He retired in the pit lane with a rare mechanical problem with his SEAT Leon TDI. Having briefly held second in the standings after race two, he leaves Snetterton back in third ahead of Jackson in fourth.
Giovanardi said: “It was looking like Jason was going to come away from today a lot closer to me in the championship, but fortunately for me he had problems in race three and I could take the third place. Four race meetings to go; 12 races. I still have a nice lead but it is important to keep up the pace – I know the others will be ready to take any opportunities they can.”
Meanwhile, completing the top six were Giovanardi's team-mates Neal and Onslow-Cole and Team RAC BMW driver Colin Turkington who now enjoys a 15-point lead in the Independents championship ahead of Jackson and previous leader Adam Jones.
Tom Chilton (Team Halfords Honda Civic), Jones (Team Air Cool SEAT Leon), Stephen Jelley (RAC BMW) and Robert Collard (Motabase BMW), who had held fourth position at one spot, rounded out the top ten.
Elsewhere, it was a race to forget for several notable runners: Plato's team-mate Darren Turner also hit mechanical problems and, after making a pit stop, finished a lap down in 17th; Gordon Shedden (Halfords Honda), who had challenged Kane for second in the early stages, pitted and retired after running wide off the track; and father and son Mike and Andrew Jordan (John Guest Honda Integras) were both out within four laps of the start.
Leading positions, BTCC race 3 Snetterton (provisional):
1. Mat Jackson (GBR), BMW Dealer Team UK/BMW 320si, 18 laps in 22m00.124s
2. Steven Kane (GBR), Motabase/BMW 320si, +0.770s
3. Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, +2.352s
Fastest lap: Giovanardi, 1m12.442s
For full results click on this link: http:/www.btcc.net/html/raceresults_detail.php?race_id=51&season_id=51
Leading Points (provisional):
1. Fabrizio Giovanardi, 171 points
2. Matt Neal, 137
3. Jason Plato, 132
4. Mat Jackson, 122
5. Colin Turkington, 121
6. Tom Onslow-Cole, 118
Jones excluded from race 3
Adam Jones has been excluded from yesterday’s third race at Snetterton for running an underweight car – meaning John George has been promoted to tenth for a valuable championship point.
Jones had finished the race eighth overall as the fourth highest Independent runner in his SEAT Leon.
Despite of his exclusion he remains third in the Independent Drivers’ championship, although has now fallen 25 points behind leader Colin Turkington having led the standings prior to Snetterton.
And in the closely-contested Independents Teams’ championship, his Air Cool squad has also slipped to third behind Mat Jackson’s BMW Dealer Team UK outfit.
Meanwhile, Jones’ exclusion has promoted Team RAC’s Stephen Jelley to eighth in the overal results, Motorbase’s Robert Collard to ninth and TH Motorsport with JAG Racing’s John George to tenth – giving him his first outright point of the 2008 season.