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British Touring Car Championship
Knockhill - Race 3 Report - 26/8/12

By MJP Media | 26 August 2012

Dave Newsham takes his 2nd career BTCC win in the 3rd race at Knockhill as championship contenders Gordon Shedden and Jason Plato fail to finish. Matt Neal regains the lead in the championship.

Another BTCC victory for Inverness based Dave Newsham

Dave Newsham started the final race of the day from Knockhill in pole position thanks to the reverse grid draw following race 2. Newsham was joined on the front row by Jeff Smith, with Matt Neal and Andrew Jordan on row 2. Following their 1-2 victories in both the earlier races, Rob Collard and Tom Onslow-Cole started on the 5th row. Rain before the start of the race made track conditions very slippery in the early stages and with the ever-present threat of more rain, tyre choice was critical for all the drivers.

Following his success in qualifying, Jason Plato's race day went from bad to worse when his MG KX Momentum Racing MG6 suffered problems with turbo boost on the warm-up laps, causing him to miss the race. Meanwhile, Dave Newsham was making the most of his pole position start as he led the pack around the 1.27 mile circuit. Jeff Smith was also doing a good job keeping the Pirtek Racing Honda Civic in 2nd place and managing to keep the Honda Yuasa Racing Team Civic of reigning BTCC champion Matt Neal behind him. Behind the leaders, Paul O'Neill passed Nick Foster to take 6th place.

Matt Neal, Dave Newsham, and Jeff Smith celebrate after race 3

On lap 4, Gordon Shedden ran wide and collected a lot of grass in the air intake of his Honda Civic. Meanwhile, Dave Newsham was extending his lead in the Team ES Racing.com Vauxhall Vectra ahead of Jeff Smith and Matt Neal. Shedden was now suffering with the effects of the grass in his air intake and was forced to pit for his mechanics to remove it. Unfortunately for Shedden, his race was over and he retired his Honda Civic.

On lap 8, Dave Newsham was still holding the lead with Jeff Smith defending 2nd place from Matt Neal 3rd. The battle was intense with Smith's Pirtek Racing team-mate Andrew Jordan now putting pressure on Matt Neal for 3rd place. Smith wasn't putting a wheel wrong and despite Neal doing all he could, Smith managed to stay ahead.

Jeff Smith drove a fantastic race to finish 2nd ahead of Matt Neal

In the ensuing laps, Dave Newsham extended his lead slightly but in the closing laps had to conserve his tyres which increased his lap times and reduced the gap to Jeff Smith. In the closing laps, Smith came under terrific pressure from Matt Neal but he defended his position well to retain 2nd place. At the chequered flag it was victory for Inverness based Dave Newsham and Team ES Racing.com - a fantastic result for the relatively small team, particularly on the back of their win at Snetterton last time out. Following the drive of his life, Jeff Smith held on to finish a fantastic 2nd for Pirtek Racing with Matt Neal taking the final podium position. Andrew Jordan finished 4th in the sister Pirtek Racing Honda Civic ahead of the eBay Motors BMW 320si of Tom Onslow-Cole in 5th and Paul O'Neill 6th in the Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis.

Leaving Knockhill, Matt Neal heads the championship standings with a 10 point lead over team-mate Gordon Shedden. Jason Plato is still 3rd but with an increased margin to the Honda Yuasa Racing Team duo. The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship now heads to Rockingham on September 22nd/23rd for the 8th meeting of the 2012 season.

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