Matt Neal has won the first BTCC race of the day at Thruxton despite Andrew Jordan leading from the start.
The Pirtek racing star looked comfortable in the lead until heartbreak on the final lap with a deflated front tyre cost him victory. Jason Plato was a further 6.6 seconds back in second but he never looked like challenging for the win.
Tom Onslow Cole took an excellent first podium for his new VW Passat, the first overall podium for a VW since the 2 litre era started. Onslow Cole had been fast all weekend and had the pace to race with the leaders, passing MG’s Sam Tordoff during the race and then battling with Jason Plato as well. He also won the independents category. His third place puts him in an excellent position to try and capitalise on in race two.
Liam Griffin won the Jack Sears trophy after a close battle during the race that initially saw all six cars in the class running nose to tail with the struggling Audi of Rob Austin just in front of them. Wix Racing have had handling issues all weekend and hope to get them sorted for race two. Warren Scott was the only Jack Sears trophy runner not to finish after suspension failure.
2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Thruxton – Race 1
1 2 Matt Neal (Honda Yuasa Racing) +0.000
2 99 Jason Plato (MG KX Momentum Racing +6.663
3 6 Tom Onslow-Cole (PPCGB / Kraftwerk Racing) +7.522
4 88 Sam Tordoff (MG KX Momentum Racing) +9.579
5 55 Jeff Smith (Pirtek Racing) +10.205
6 29 Colin Turkington (eBay Motors) +14.803
7 7 Mat Jackson (Airwaves Racing) +15.454
8 17 Dave Newsham (Speedworks Motorsport) +15.899
9 8 Aron Smith (Airwaves Racing) +16.104
10 33 Adam Morgan (Ciceley Racing) +16.735
11 77 Andrew Jordan (Pirtek Racing) +19.579
12 31 Jack Goff (RCIB Insurance Racing) +24.298
13 5 Robert Collard (eBay Motors) +25.696
14 10 Daniel Welch (Welch Motorsport with Sopp + Sopp) +30.506
15 11 Frank Wrathall (Dynojet) +31.230
16 48 Ollie Jackson (Speedworks Motorsport) +34.999
17 20 James Cole (RCIB Insurance Racing) +49.959
18 14 Will Bratt (WIX Racing) +50.617
19 13 Rob Austin (WIX Racing) +53.876
20 66 Liam Griffin (Addison Lee Motorbase) +54.676
21 43 Lea Wood (Wheel Heaven / Houseman Racing) +55.845
22 12 David Nye (Welch Motorsport with Sopp + Sopp) +1:01.177
23 90 Joe Girling (M247 Racing with Tech-Speed Motorsport) +1:01.911
24 18 Nick Foster (eBay Motors) +1:06.255
25 1 Gordon Shedden (Honda Yuasa Racing) +1:20.151
Not Classified
– 39 Warren Scott (Team BMR Restart) +2 Laps
– 15 James Kaye (AmDTuning.com) +8 Laps By Marc Waller
