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British Touring Car Championship
Brands Hatch - Race 1 - 3/4/11

By MJP Media | 3 April 2011

Jason Plato wins the first race of the 2011 season at Brands Hatch and enters the record books with 61 BTCC career wins.

Jason Plato celebrates 61st BTCC victory
Jason Plato celebrates 61st BTCC victory

Raceday started in dramatic fashion as the Airwaves Ford Focus of Liam Griffin ran into the back of Rob Collard's WSR BMW on the warm-up lap to race 1, breaking the suspension on both cars and causing a lengthy delay whilst the Focus was recovered.

When racing resumed there was an almighty battle through the first two corners which resulted in a number of contacts, leaving Jason Plato in the lead and Matt Neal's Honda Civic in the gravel at Druids and out of the race at Druids bringing out the safety car! When the safety car peeled off it was Plato's Chevrolet Cruze in the lead followed by James Nash's 888 Vauxhall Vectra and Tom Chilton in the new 2011 Aon Ford Focus.

At lap 9 of the 24 lap race, the top three were the same, but a phenomenal drive by Gordon Shedden saw him up into the top 10 after starting from the back of the grid. The order was maintained for the rest of the race and although a fantastic run by Gordon Shedden catapulted him up to 6th by the flag, the star of the show was the race winner Jason Plato, who not only notched up the first win of 2011, but set a new BTCC race win record of 61 victories in the process. Second was James Nash in the Vectra with Tom Chilton's Focus completing the podium. Mat Jackson in the Airwaves Focus was 4th with Plato's team mate Alex MacDowell completing the top 5.


Disaster for Matt Neal
Disaster for Matt Neal

 

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BTCC - Brands Hatch - Race 1 Report - 3/4/11 BTCC - Brands Hatch - Race 1 Report - 3/4/11
Jason Plato wins the first race of the 2011 season at Brands Hatch and enters the record books with 61 BTCC career wins.


BTCC - Brands Hatch - Qualifying - 2/4/11 BTCC - Brands Hatch - Qualifying - 2/4/11
Former BTCC champion Matt Neal secures pole position at Brands Hatch for the first race of the 2011 season.


BTCC - Brands Hatch - Free Practice - 2/4/11 BTCC - Brands Hatch - Free Practice - 2/4/11
Andrew Jordan is fastest in both free practice sessions however a massive accident rules Gordon Shedden out of the qualifying session for the 1st race tomorrow.


BTCC - 2011 Season Preview BTCC - 2011 Season Preview
As the 2011 season approaches, we take a look at what the UK's premier motorsport series has to offer.