British Touring Car Championship
Rockingham - Race 1 Report - 15/9/13
By MJP Media | 15 September 2013
Pirtek Racing's Andrew Jordan wins the first race of the day from Rockingham as Matt Neal loses his lead in the Drivers' Championship in the slippery conditions.
Andrew Jordan celebrates winning the first race of the day
With the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship approaching the climax of a fantastic season of racing, Rockingham in Northampton is the venue for the 8th meeting of the year. With its banked curves and left-handed track, Rockingham provides a unique challenge to the teams and drivers.
Following their stunning performance in yesterday's qualifying session, MG KX Momentum Racing team-mates Jason Plato and Sam Tordoff started the first of the three races at the front of the grid with former BTCC champion Plato in pole position. Rob Austin qualified his WIX Racing Audi A4 on to the 2nd row of the grid alongside Pirtek Racing's Andrew Jordan in the highest qualifying Honda Civic. Defending champion Gordon Shedden qualified his Honda Yuasa Racing Civic on to the 3rd row of the grid alongside the Pirtek Racing Honda Civic of Jeff Smith.
Rob Austin recovered to finish 3rd
Following earlier rain, the race started on a damp and greasy track. Both Andrew Jordan and Rob Austin got good starts with Jordan taking the lead into the first hairpin. Whist Jordan maintained his advantage, Austin rapidly lost ground as his Audi A4 struggled to find any grip and he dropped to 9th place before a 6-car incident further down the field caused the safety car to be deployed for several laps.
Racing resumed on lap 7 with Andrew Jordan in the lead, Jason Plato 2nd and Gordon Shedden 3rd. Matt Neal was running in 5th place behind Sam Tordoff when a spin on the approach to the start of the lap caused Neal to drop to 21st place, moving Mat Jackson's Airwaves Racing Ford Focus up to 5th and Dave Newsham's Speedworks Toyota Avensis up to 6th.
Matt Neal spun off after the safety car period
Andrew Jordan extended his lead whilst behind, Gordon Shedden was attacking Jason Plato for 2nd place with Mat Jackson also challenging for the position. After an intense battle, Shedden passed Plato on lap 8 and a couple of laps later, Plato lost another place to Jackson. Behind the leaders, Dave Newsham was up to 5th and being challenged by Rob Austin who had rapidly regaining the places he lost earlier in the race. Austin passed Newsham on lap 12 and proceeded to set about catching Jason Plato for 4th place.
With Andrew Jordan still in the lead, Mat Jackson passed Gordon Shedden for 2nd place whilst Rob Austin finally passed Jason Plato for 4th place on lap 17 before setting about catching Gordon Shedden. At the chequered flag it was victory for Andrew Jordan with Mat Jackson 2nd and Rob Austin 3rd following a last lap move on Gordon Shedden who finished 4th. Jason Plato finished 5th with Colin Turkington 6th. Lea Wood won the Jack Sears Cup for S2000 specification cars. Matt Neal recovered to finish 14th but lost his lead in the Drivers' Championship which is now taken by Andrew Jordan.
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Pirtek Racing's Andrew Jordan wins the first race of the day from Rockingham as Matt Neal loses his lead in the Drivers' Championship in the slippery conditions.
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