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British Touring Car Championship
Croft - Race 3 Report - 23/6/13

By MJP Media | 23 June 2013

Matt Neal wins the final race of the day from Croft in heavy rain as Colin Turkington gets another podium finish for eBay Motors.

Matt Neal is delighted with his victory in the final race of the day

As we headed into the final race before the long summer break, the racing from Croft had already been fantastic in front of a bumper North East crowd. BTCC boss Alan Gow, who celebrates his birthday today, could not have wished for a better weekend thus far. Race 3 started with Adam Morgan on pole position in very wet conditions as heavy rain continued to fall. Jason Plato's disastrous result in race 2 and Colin Turkington's two wins in the first two races had made the championship standings extremely interesting, but who would leave Croft on top of the table? Plato would start in 20th place with team-mate Sam Tordoff 21st in the second MG6. They were unlikely to stay there for long!

On the grid there had been a change after Rob Collard's move on Andrew Jordan in race 2 had been deemed unfair so Jordan gained a championship point but lost a place under the reverse grid. The drivers noted on the formation laps that there was a lot of standing water on the back straight, but they were all raring to go with six weeks repair time before Snetterton.

Matt Neal's Honda Yuasa Racing Civic in the rain at Croft

As they headed into the very wet first corner, Nick Foster in the eBay Motors BMW 125i M Sport was in the lead from Adam Morgan, Rob Collard, Gordon Shedden and Andrew Jordan. All the cars made it safely through the first corner and were coping well with the tricky conditions. On the second lap, Adam Morgan and Gordon Shedden took a diversion off the track at Tower and lost time. The first major incident occurred on lap 3. At the front Matt Neal, who had been steadily making up places, took the lead from Nick Foster whilst Mat Jackson caused havoc by spearing up the inside of Dan Welch's Proton Gen-2 at the chicane causing several cars to go off.

At the halfway stage it was Matt Neal in the Honda Yuasa Racing Civic leading Colin Turkington, Andrew Jordan and Dave Newsham. As the race progressed, these four maintained their positions and Neal took the win with Colin Turkington 2nd and Andrew Jordan 3rd. Gordon Shedden managed to pip Dave Newsham for 4th at the end but Newsham was happy with 5th, his best finish of the season to date for Speedworks Motorsport. Jason Plato completed the top 6 with Sam Tordoff 7th, a good result considering their starting positions. Lea Wood won the Jack Sears Cup in a race that saw 9 cars fail to finish in the difficult conditions.

Colin Turkington being interviewed following his 3rd podium of the day

At the halfway point of the season Matt Neal leads the championship on 224 points. Andrew Jordan is 2nd in the standings on 205 points with Jason Plato and Gordon Shedden equal 3rd on 188 points. Honda Yuasa Racing have extended their lead over MG KX Momentum Racing in the Teams Championship having moved on to 400 points against MG's 324. Pirtek Racing are 3rd with 309 points.

The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship now enters the summer break before resuming at Snetterton on August 3rd and 4th. There will also be test at Snetterton where all teams will be allowed free reign to fully test the Dunlop soft tyres.

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