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British Touring Car Championship
Croft - Race 2 Report - 19/6/16

By MJP Media | 19 June 2016

Rob Collard wins the second race from Croft as contact between Jason Plato and Colin Turkington denies the pair another 1-2 finish.

Rob Collard celebrates his victory on the podium at Croft

Following their results from the first race of the day, Colin Turkington and Jason Plato started race two on the front row of the grid with Turkington in pole position alongside his team-mate, however unlike race one, Turkington carried 75Kg of success ballast and Plato carried 66Kg. Ashley Sutton lined up with Jack Goff on row two with Andrew Jordan and Jake Hill on row three. Rob Collard started on row four alongside Mat Jackson with Tom Ingram and Aron Smith on row five.

Off the line it was Jason Plato in his Silverline Subaru BMR Racing Levorg GT who got the best start, passing team-mate Colin Turkington to take the lead at the first corner. Fellow team-mate James Cole went off into the tyre barriers on the first lap while Jack Goff in the Team IHG Rewards Club BMW 125i M Sport passed Ashley Sutton's MG Racing RCIB Insurance MG6GT to take 3rd place. After a brief period under the Safety Car, racing resumed and Mat Jackson in the Motorbase Performance Ford Focus climbed to 6th place.

Rob Collard leading the race for Team JCT600 with GardX

On lap 4, Rob Collard in the Team JCT600 with GardX BMW 125i M Sport was up to 4th from 7th on the grid and putting pressure on Jack Goff whilst defending from Ashley Sutton. Meanwhile at the front, Colin Turkington was holding on to team-mate Jason Plato who appeared to be the slower of the two. On lap 5, Turkington passed Plato to take the lead and the pair extended a slight lead over Jack Goff and Rob Collard who had built a large gap over the rest of the field with Ashley Sutton, Mat Jackson, Ton Ingram and Andrew Jordan at the head of a long train of cars.

Having got past his team-mate, Colin Turkington could not break away from Jason Plato who clearly wanted to regain the lead. Plato got alongside Turkington on lap 8 however contact between them at Tower sent Turkington sideways giving Plato the position. The incident allowed Rob Collard to move from 4th to 1st as 3rd placed Jack Goff was left boxed in with nowhere to go behind the battling Subarus. Collard then proceeded to break away from Plato and Turkington who managed to avoid dropping further places. Goff then found himself under attack from Ashley Sutton for 4th place.

Sitting pretty: Rob Collard after winning race two

On lap 13 Sam Tordoff was running in 8th place having passed Matt Neal's Halfords Yuasa Racing Honda Civic Type R and Andrew Jordan's Motorbase Performance Ford Focus. He then set about Tom Ingram in the Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis for 7th place, taking the position on lap 14 only to lose it again on the following lap. At the chequered flag it was a victory for Rob Collard with Jason Plato 2nd and Colin Turkington 3rd. Jack Goff finished 4th ahead of Ashley Sutton 5th, Mat Jackson 6th and Tom Ingram 8th. Sam Tordoff, Andrew Jordan and Matt Neal rounded out the top ten.

The reverse grid draw for the final race of the day at Croft will see Sam Tordoff in pole position alongside Tom Ingram on the front row of the grid. Mat Jackson and Ashley Sutton will start on row two with Jack Goff and Colin Turkington on row three. Jason Plato will line up on row four alongside Rob Collard with Andrew Jordan and Matt Neal on row five.

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