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British Touring Car Championship
Brands Hatch (GP) - Race 2 Report - 13/10/13

By MJP Media | 13 October 2013

In a second race full of drama, Jason Plato takes his second win of the day while Andrew Jordan crashes out leaving all to play for as the BTCC title contenders are whittled down to 3 with just one race to go!

Jason Plato and Sam Tordoff take a 1-2 victory for MG

The second race of the day from Brands Hatch was set to be a classic as the remaining four title contenders all started in the top six places on the grid. Jason Plato in the MG KX Momentum Racing MG6 started on pole with Gordon Shedden, the defending champion, starting second on the grid in his Honda Yuasa Racing Civic. Championship leader Andrew Jordan started from 5th place with Matt Neal 6th.

As the race started, the heaviest rain of the day began to fall and a small river soon developed across the track at the bottom of Paddock Hill. This was a real hazard and on the first lap it caused Gordon Shedden to go sideways across the track, incredibly missing the rest of the field and dropping to him to 13th at the end of the lap which allowed Jason Plato and Sam Tordoff to open a gap over the chasing field. Andrew Jordan was tapped in the heavy traffic and was forced to retire without scoring a point due to rear suspension damage. This was the first race this season that the Pirtek Racing driver failed to score any points.

Gordon Shedden gets sideways on lap 1

The river at Paddock Hill was proving treacherous and many cars took an unscheduled detour across the gravel with barely a lap going by without an excursion or two. Behind the MG KX Momentum Racing duo, the chasing pack included Mat Jackson, Dave Newsham, Tom Onslow-Cole, Adam Morgan and Aron Smith. Morgan fell away on lap 5, dropping to 9th leaving a real battle between the 2 Airwaves cars of Jackson and Smith.

By lap 8 it was Jason Plato leading ahead of Sam Tordoff with Mat Jackson 3rd, Dave Newsham 4th and Aron Smith 5th. With Plato in the lead, the other title contenders were faring poorly with Gordon Shedden in 8th and Matt Neal in last place following an incident in the opening laps which caused him to pit. The leaders were opening an increasing gap over the rest of the field in the slippery conditions. On the last lap there was more drama as Matt Neal's miserable weekend continued when his Honda Civic burst into flame causing him to retire on the last lap.

Matt Neal looks on as his championship hopes go up in flames

At the chequered flag it was Jason Plato taking his second win of the day ahead of team-mate Sam Tordoff with Mat Jackson 3rd for Airwaves Racing. Dave Newsham equalled Speedworks Motorsport's best ever BTCC finish with 4th. Aron Smith finished 5th and Jack Goff an impressive 6th. The reverse grid was drawn as number 7, giving Gordon Shedden pole position for the last race of the day ahead of Jack Goff, Aron Smith and Dave Newsham.

With the BTCC Drivers' Championship still up for grabs it is now down to just 3 contenders. Andrew Jordan still leads the championship standings with 389 points while Jason Plato is now just 15 points behind. Gordon Shedden is a further 5 points behind Plato with 22 points available from the final race of the year. This is going to be a nail-biting experience for the drivers, teams and fans alike.

Touring Car content supplied by MJP Media