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British Touring Car Championship
Thruxton - Race 2 Report - 4/5/14

By MJP Media | 4 May 2014

Gordon Shedden wins the second race of the day as the Hondas continue to dominate in the sun at Thruxton.

Gordon Shedden takes the lead from Andrew Jordan

Race two at Thruxton was set up to be a classic as, whilst the Hondas seemed to hold all of the aces, they also were also carrying the highest level of success ballast. Andrew Jordan started on pole ahead of Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden. Mat Jackson was a real threat in 4th place on the grid whilst Rob Collard in 5th could possibly grab a couple of places off the line. Also in the front running mix were Jason Plato in 6th place on the grid and Alain Menu, who described the season as "starting too early for them" and said that the team "were treating Thruxton as a bit of a test session" in 7th. Towards the rear of the grid there was also likely to be action with both Dave Newsham and Warren Scott looking to make swift progress after poor first races.

As the 30 cars formed up on the grid, there was excitement throughout the crowd as the lights went out. Andrew Jordan and Rob Collard both got good starts as Collard blasted up to 2nd and was then challenging for the lead. Gordon Shedden was in 3rd with Mat Jackson 4th ahead of Matt Neal and Jason Plato in 5th and 6th. Lap 2 saw a drive through penalty announced for Alain Menu for being out of position at the start, a move that is bound to annoy the Swiss driver. Shedden was able to take Collard for 2nd at the end of lap three as Jordan was starting to open another lead. Mat Jackson in the Airwaves Racing Ford Focus ST was staying with the two leaders whilst Colin Turkington was joining the mix in 6th place after starting 13th on the grid.

Shedden celebrates his victory with Rob Collard (left) and Andrew Jordan (right)

As the race approached the halfway point, Warren Scott was treading a fine line with the race stewards when he collected Dan Welsh's Proton. Scott had already been reprimanded in race one for taking out James Cole and so had to be careful. At the front Andrew Jordan was still leading, however Gordon Shedden was all over the back of him, causing him to defend doggedly. Rob Collard was 3rd, one second behind while Matt Neal passed Mat Jackson to move up to 4th. Jordan and Shedden were starting to extend their lead and it looked very much like a two horse race.

On lap 11, Andrew Jordan had a small slide and Gordon Shedden pounced coming out of Church Corner by maintaining his momentum up the hill to take the lead. Interestingly at this point, Jason Plato was the highest placed driver using the TOCA engine in 7th and unable to make any impression. Rob Collard was still running in 3rd with Matt Neal 4th, Mat Jackson 5th and Colin Turkington 6th. On lap 15, the race was stopped after a huge high speed crash as Nick Foster was hit by Rob Austin, sending him off the circuit backwards and over the barriers into the woods at around 120 miles an hour. Luckily, Foster was able to walk away from the incident however it was a big impact for his eBay Motors BMW 125i M Sport.

Rob Collard on the way to his first BTCC podium of 2014

The red flag caused the result to be declared and so the race two podium was Gordon Shedden as winner with Andrew Jordan 2nd and Rob Collard 3rd at his home circuit. Matt Neal was 4th with Mat Jackson 5th. The reverse grid was going to be an exciting draw as positions 6 to 10 included Colin Turkington, Jason Plato, Adam Morgan, Jack Goff and Fabrizio Giovanardi.

The draw for the final race of the day produced a bizarre spectacle as Fabrizio Giovanardi drew his own number to give himself pole position ahead of Jack Goff. Adam Morgan will line up 3rd on the grid ahead of Jason Plato 4th, Colin Turkington 5th and Mat Jackson 6th. Matt Neal, Rob Collard, Andrew Jordan and Gordon Shedden will complete the top 10 grid positions. Who will leave Thruxton at the top of the championship table? We will know soon enough after race 3 and we will bring you that later.

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