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British Touring Car Championship
Snetterton (300) - Race 1 Report - 3/8/14

By MJP Media | 3 August 2014

Jason Plato wins the first race of the day from Snetterton with an outstanding 'lights to flag' victory for MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save.

Jason Plato on the podium with Colin Turkington (right) and Matt Neal (left)

After his commanding performance in yesterday's qualifying session, Jason Plato started the first race of the day from Snetterton in pole position. Joining Plato's MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save MG6 on the front row of the grid was the eBay Motors BMW 125i M Sport of championship leader Colin Turkington. Plato's team-mate Sam Tordoff was joined by Honda Yuasa Racing's Matt Neal on row 2 with Chrome Edition Restart Racing's Alain Menu and Speedworks Motorsport's Tom Ingram on row 3.

Following a big shunt into the barriers in the first free practice session yesterday, defending BTCC champion Andrew Jordan suffered mild concussion and missed both the second free practice session and qualifying session by order of the BTCC medical team. Unable to set a qualifying time in his Pirtek Racing Honda Civic, Jordan had to start the first race from the back of the grid, having been declared fit to race earlier in the day by the medics. Joining Jordan at the back of the grid was the Airwaves Racing Ford Focus ST of Fabrizio Giovanardi who was serving a previously incurred grid penalty.

Jason Plato led from start to finish in his MG6

The get-away was always going to be critical for Jason Plato with the fast-starting BMW of Colin Turkington just behind him however Plato managed to keep Turkington behind him going into the first corner and from that point, began extending a clear lead. The pair continued to extend their lead both over each other and the chasing pack as the battle for 3rd place developed.

With Jason Plato and Colin Turkington out in front, Sam Tordoff had break issues which dropped him down the field from 3rd place. Meanwhile, Alain Menu had made his way up to 3rd ahead of Tom Ingram and Matt Neal by the end of the first lap. The battle for 3rd and 4th place continued as Neal passed Ingram on lap 3 to take 4th place then proceeded to challenge Menu.

Colin Turkington on his way to 2nd place for eBay Motors

On lap 4, Alain Menu lost places to Matt Neal and Aron Smith and on the following lap Adam Morgan in the Wix Racing Mercedes Benz A-Class passed both Menu and Smith to take 4th place. Although the battle behind them was intense, the leaders held their positions to the end of the race. Meanwhile, Andrew Jordan, who had elected to start the race from the pit lane, and Fabrizio Giovanardi were gradually making their way through the field.

The race ended with a convincing victory for Jason Plato with Colin Turkington 2nd and Matt Neal 3rd. Adam Morgan finished 4th ahead of Alain Menu in 5th and Aron Smith 6th. Gordon Shedden, Mat Jackson, Rob Collard and Jack Goff completed the top ten positions. Fabrizio Giovanardi fought his way through the field to finish 13th with Andrew Jordan managing only 16th. We now look forward to the 2nd race with Jason Plato and Colin Turkington once again on the front row of the grid.

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