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British Touring Car Championship
Knockhill - Race 1 Report - 24/8/14

By MJP Media | 24 August 2014

Matt Neal wins the first race from Knockhill with Honda Yuasa Racing team-mate Gordon Shedden 3rd. Rob Austin takes 2nd place for Exocet Racing.

Matt Neal after winning the 1st race from Knockhill

As the drivers lined up for the first race of the weekend at the Knockhill round of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, there were three drivers out in front in the championship race. Colin Turkington was leading on 279 points in his eBay Motors BMW 125i M Sport ahead of Gordon Shedden in the Honda Yuasa Racing Civic Tourer on 256 and Jason Plato in the MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save MG6 with 236. Following a penalty from Snetterton, Turkington would line up 9th on the grid, Shedden 4th and Plato 6th. Getting through the traffic for a race win would be vital for each of the contenders.

Off the line it was Sam Tordoff from Rob Austin with Andrew Jordan ahead of Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal with Colin Turkington up 1 place to 8th. All the other cars got through unscathed with Matt Neal protecting Shedden's rear. On lap 5 there was a great move out of the hairpin as Gordon Shedden took 3rd place from Andrew Jordan. At this point, Colin Turkington put in the fastest lap so far, however Tordoff and Austin were untroubled out in front. With a big impact at the hairpin on lap 8, Robb Holland and Dan Welch went out but managed to get their cars back to the pits. As the race reached the half way stage there was a group of 5 cars out at the front with Tordoff leading from Austin, Shedden Jordan and Neal.

Rob Austin in his Exocet Racing Audi A4

On lap 11 Tordoff's MG6 started smoking whilst Rob Austin was tagged by Gordon Shedden and after a trip on the grass, re-joined in 5th. A big fight on lap 14 saw a collision between Jordan and Shedden at Duffus Dip leaving Jordan out of the race with broken suspension and Shedden running through the gravel. Colin Turkington was being held up massively by a defensive drive from Jason Plato who seemed more intent on blocking than racing. With the leaders out front, Plato had 8 cars backed up behind him.

On lap 18, Turkington took the place from Plato at the first corner before being pushed into the gravel when Mat Jackson hit Plato and they both took Turkington off. Matt Neal then closed in on Tordoff on lap 19 and took the lead shortly before a safety car was deployed to recover Turkington's BMW. Under the safety car, Tordoff pulled off from 2nd leaving Neal in the lead from Austin, Shedden and Jackson on the restart with 4 laps left.

Podium celebrations for Shedden (left), Neal (centre) and Austin (right)

At the chequered flag it was victory for Matt Neal with his first BTCC win since Croft 2013 with Rob Austin 2nd and Gordon Shedden 3rd. Mat Jackson was a creditable 4th for Airwaves Racing with Jason Plato 5th. The star of the race was Adam Morgan who finished 6th from 17th on the grid. Tom Ingram, Aron Smith, Dave Newsham and Nick Foster rounded out the top 10.

The championship battle is now looking very different with Gordon Shedden only 9 points behind Colin Turkington with the huge advantage of starting the second race from 3rd on the grid whilst Turkington will be down at the back of a very long grid. With all to play for in race 2 for Turkington it is going to be a real challenge for the 2009 BTCC champion and we will bring you all the action later on.

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