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British Touring Car Championship
Thruxton - Race 2 report - 1/5/11

By MJP Media | 1 May 2011

Matt Neal extends championship lead in race 2 at Thruxton.

As the cars lined up for the second race of the day in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Hampshire's Thruxton circuit, there were some notable absentees. Missing were the VW Golf of Tom Onslow-Cole, the Audi A4 of Rob Austin and the Toyota Avensis of Frank Wrathall - all cars being repaired after mechanical failures in race 1. In an unusual twist of fate, Jason Plato in the Silverline Chevrolet Cruze found himself at the back of the grid following his crash after a puncture in race 1.

Lap one saw Gordon Shedden, the race 1 winner, leading from his team-mate Matt Neal and Andrew Jordan in the Pirtek Vectra. This order was maintained until Matt Neal passed his team-mate for the lead on lap 6. It looked as if Shedden might have a problem as Andrew Jordan took second on lap 10, but Shedden seemed to recover and held on to finish 3rd.

There was no catching the top 3 as they continued to dominate the race until the end with Tom Chilton coming home 4th and Mat Jackson 5th. Once again the turbocharged cars utterly dominated proceedings with defending champion Jason Plato, despite having driven a storming race from last on the grid, ending the race as the top non-turbocharged car in 8th.

Andrew Jordan was later demoted to 3rd as a result of a penalty for putting all four wheels off the track. This handed 2nd place to Gordon Shedden and with it another 1-2 finish for the Honda Racing Team.

Following the race, the random draw for the grid for the final race of the day gave an unexpected pole position to Tom Boardman's Special Tuning Racing Seat Leon. As a result of race 2, Matt Neal extends his lead in the championship over James Nash. The highest placed non-turbocharged driver is Jason Plato some 38 points adrift after the first 8 races of the season.

 

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