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British Touring Car Championship
Brands Hatch (Indy) - Race 2 Report - 30/3/14

By MJP Media | 30 March 2014

Pirtek Racing's Andrew Jordan after his 2nd victory of the day

After the drama of race 1, it would be interesting to see how the imposed success ballast would affect the top finishers as they looked to gain further championship points in the second race of the season. Andrew Jordan would carry 45Kg, Jason Plato 36Kg, Matt Neal 27 Kg, Gordon Shedden 18 Kg and Rob Austin 9 Kg. Immediately behind them on the 3rd row is Rob Collard who crucially has no ballast whatsoever.

Drama started as the cars set off on their parade lap, with Rob Austin failing to get off the grid and retiring with a broken prop shaft suffered during a practice start approaching the grid. Also providing drama was Aron Smith who was penalised 5 grid places for his driving in race 1, however as the team had lodged an appeal he retained his 7th place start. As the lights went out, Jason Plato's MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save MG6 failed to move off the grid as his engine had gone into went into 'limp' mode! The Honda Yuasa Racing Civic Tourer of Matt Neal then hit Rob Collard's eBay Motors BMW 125i M Sport at Paddock Hill, causing a big slide while Nick Stockton spun off into the gravel trap causing a safety car period.

Andrew Jordan being pressured by Gordon Shedden

The safety car stayed out for 3 laps and on the restart it was Andrew Jordan in the lead from Matt Neal, Gordon Shedden, Nick Foster, Rob Collard and Colin Turkington with Adam Morgan 7th and Tom Ingram 8th. Jason Plato was able to get his car restarted and set off from the back of the grid. Andrew Jordan was unable to break away from the others because of the extra weight of the success ballast his Pirtek Racing Honda Civic was carrying and the top 7 were like a very quick snake getting away from the rest of the field.

On lap 9, Colin Turkington passed Rob Collard for 5th place then set about Nick Foster for 4th. He accomplished this on lap 11 at Paddock Hill and subsequently went after the 3 Hondas at the front. Meanwhile Jason Plato was up to 19th from the back of the grid. Curiously, at the halfway stage, Sam Tordoff had set the fastest lap whilst down in 12th place. Lap 14 saw Turkington move up to 3rd at Druids - a sensational feat from 8th on the grid.

Gordon Shedden takes 2nd place for Honda Yuasa Racing

Lap 18 saw Marc Hynes tap Martin Depper who spun into the barrier at Graham Hill curve. This caused a second safety car period which backed up the field with the top 6 being Jordan, Shedden, Turkington, Neal, Foster and Collard. After 5 laps under the safety car, Jordan got a great restart with 3 laps left with Turkington hanging on to the back of Shedden. The leaders maintained their positions and at the flag it was a second victory of the day for Andrew Jordan with Gordon Shedden 2nd and Colin Turkington 3rd. Matt Neal was 4th with Nick Foster an impressive 5th with Rob Collard 6th. With 3 Hondas and 3 BMWs taking the top 6 places, Aron Smith was 7th with Adam Morgan 8th. Tom Ingram finished 9th with Fabrizio Giovanardi rounding out the top 10. Jason Plato recovered to finish 14th with team-mate Sam Tordoff setting the fastest lap.

After 2 races, Andrew Jordan leads the championship on 44 points with Gordon Shedden 2nd on 30 and Matt Neal 3rd on 28. The random reverse grid draw for race 3 was made by Airwaves Racing driver Fabrizio Giovanardi who drew the number 6, putting Rob Collard on pole ahead of Nick Foster, Matt Neal, Colin Turkington, Gordon Shedden and Andrew Jordan.

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