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British Touring Car Championship
Snetterton - Race 2 Report - 12/8/12

By MJP Media / Pictures: Andrew Hartley | 12 August 2012

Andrew Jordan takes the victory in the 2nd race at Snetterton as arch rivals Jason Plato and Matt Neal get physical on the track.

Andrew Jordan wins the 2nd race ahead of Gordon Shedden

Jason Plato started the 2nd race of the day on pole ahead of Frank Wrathall, Andrew Jordan and Matt Neal. Elsewhere, Rob Collard missed the race after an engine failure in race 1, Chris James had to enter the pits on the formation lap with a loose wheel, Rob Austin retired on the formation lap and Dave Newsham had to start at the back of the grid following his disqualification from race 1 for failing a weight check. All this before the race had even started!

When the lights went out it was Jason Plato in the MG KX Momentum Racing MG6 who led into the first corner followed by Andrew Jordan in the Pirtek Racing Honda Civic, Matt Neal and Tom Onslow-Cole with Frank Wrathall down in 5th. At the end of the first lap it was Plato leading from Jordan and Neal with Wrathall back up to 4th. Daniel Welch in his Proton Persona was forced to pit with a puncture on lap 2 following a collision with Adam Morgan's Speedworks Toyota Avensis. By lap 4, Gordon Shedden had moved up to 5th in the Honda Yuasa Racing Team Civic with a fastest lap of the race, as the front-runners retained position ahead of him.

Andrew Jordan celebrates his first win of the 2012 BTCC season

By lap 5, the top 3 cars were bunching up with nothing to separate Jason Plato from Andrew Jordan and Matt Neal as Neal took Jordan for 2nd and Shedden took Wrathall for 4th. At the front it was Plato versus Neal - one of the historic sporting rivalries. At the end of lap 5 only 1.3 seconds covered the top 4 drivers.

At three-quarter distance there was only 1 second separating the top 4 drivers with a gap back to Frank Wrathall in 5th and Tom Onslow-Cole in 6th. Star of the race so far was Dave Newsham in the Team ES Racing.com Vauxhall Vectra, up from last to 8th place! Going into the last 2 laps, Matt Neal was all over the back of Jason Plato with Gordon Shedden similarly all over the back of Andrew Jordan with the Hondas in 2nd, 3rd and 4th behind Plato's MG.

Matt Neal ahead of Andrew Jordan before his altercation with Jason Plato

After some unfriendly barging between Neal and Plato through the Bomb Hole going into the last lap which caused both drivers to take to the grass, Andrew Jordan took the lead as Plato and Neal re-joined in 3rd and 4th behind Gordon Shedden. At the finish it was victory for Andrew Jordan (his first in 2012) with Shedden 2nd and Jason Plato 3rd. Matt Neal finished 4th with Frank Wrathall 5th and Mat Jackson 6th.

The reverse grid system will see the top 9 positions from race 2 reversed to form the grid for the final race of the day. Lea Wood will start on pole alongside Dave Newsham, Tom Onslow-Cole and Mat Jackson will start on row 2 and Frank Wrathall and Matt Neal will start from row 3.

Pictures courtesy of Andrew Hartley

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