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British Touring Car Championship
Thruxton - Race 2 Report - 5/5/13

By MJP Media | 5 May 2013

Matt Neal takes his second win of the day at Thruxton as Tom Onslow-Cole improves to put the Volkswagen Passat CC 2nd on the podium.

Matt Neal on his way to another victory at Thruxton

As the cars headed off for race two at Thruxton, there was a high sense of expectation with high temperatures giving rise to speculation as to how the tyres would wear. Off the line, Matt Neal in the Honda Yuasa Racing Honda Civic led Jason Plato in the MG KX Momentum Racing MG6 and Tom Onslow-Cole in the PPCGB.com/Kraftwerk Racing Volkswagen Passat CC. Behind the leaders came Sam Tordoff, Jeff Smith, Colin Turkington and Mat Jackson.

On the first lap it was Colin Turkington in the eBay Motors BMW 125i M Sport and Mat Jackson in the Airwaves Racing Ford Focus who provided the action, moving from 6th and 7th to 4th and 5th respectively. On lap two, Frank Wrathall had a major off, filling his radiator with grass and forcing him to pit before re-joining in last place in his Dynojet Toyota Avensis. The safety car made a lengthy appearance on lap 4 after Dan Welch in the Welch Motorsport with Sopp + Sopp Proton Gen-2 had a big crash into the barrier at the chicane which allowed Wrathall to close up to the back of the field.

Tom Onslow-Cole, Gordon Shedden and Andrew Jordan battle for 2nd place

When the race resumed following the safety car period, it was Matt Neal from Jason Plato, Tom Onslow-Cole, Jeff Smith and Mat Jackson. In the subsequent laps Andrew Jordon mounted an impressive charge, moving up to 4th on lap 10. On lap 13 Jason Plato started to loose outright speed and lost 2nd place to Tom Onslow-Cole before losing further places to be 5th on lap 16 where he remained to the end of the race. Mat Jackson continued his rise to 3rd place but lost it to Gordon Shedden on the last lap.

The race ended in a 2nd win of the day for Matt Neal with Tom Onslow-Cole 2nd and Gordon Shedden 3rd which was an excellent result for the Scot, having started the race 25th on the grid. Elsewhere in the field, the battle was fierce and behind the top 3 it was Andrew Jordan 4th, Jason Plato 5th and Jeff Smith 6th. Sam Tordoff was 7th in the MG6 with Adam Morgan the highest of the Toyotas in 8th, Jack Goff in the Vauxhall Insignia 9th and Aron Smith 10th. Lea Wood won the Jack Sears Cup.

Gordon Shedden did well to finish on the podium having started in 25th place

As we look forward to the third race, the championship battle could not be closer with Matt Neal and Jason Plato equal leaders on 120 points. Matt Neal selected the random reverse grid for the final race at number 9, giving Jack Goff his first BTCC pole position ahead of the very quick Ciceley Racing Toyota Avensis of Adam Morgan.

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