BTCC Finale: MG 1-2 in a dramatic penultimate race

BTCC action (photo by Marc Waller)In a dramatic penultimate Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship race of the season, Jason Plato has taken his second win of the day ahead of MG KX Momentum Racing team mate Sam Tordoff.

The pair came across the line just under a second apart ahead of Airwaves Racing’s Mat Jackson and Dave Newsham who came home in an impressive fourth for Speedworks Racing.

Having started this race looking to wrap up the championship, Andrew Jordan was involved in an incident on the second lap of the race, which saw Aron Smith make contact with eBay Motors’ Rob Collard forcing the BMW into a spin. 


The two Hondas of Matt Neal and Jordan took avoiding action however made contact with each other, putting Jordan out of the race with rear suspension damage.

The championship leader managed to limp his Pirtek Honda back to pits while Neal also pitted however did come back out on the circuit later on in the race to do some circulation laps.

Podium (photo by Marc Waller)BTCC action (photo by Marc Waller)Despite his involvement, Aron Smith was able to come back from this to finish in fifth ahead of Jack Goff who impressed in the RCIB Insurance Racing Insignia with Shedden – who recovered from a big first lap slide – finishing seventh.

Adam Morgan, Tom Onslow-Cole and Frank Wrathall rounded out the top ten.

Matt Neal came across the line a lap down in nineteenth, and even more drama for the Honda camp saw his Civic catch fire on the slow-down lap.

Liam Griffin also retired early on in the race, whilst newcomer to the championship Tom Barley had an off at Druids. Rob Austin was also in trouble during the race with Dan Welch pitting for damage after contact with Ollie Jackson. 

Lea Wood took the Jack Sears victory from Shaun Hollamby, who both finished just outside the points in sixteenth and seventeenth respectively.

In terms of the championship, Matt Neal is now out of contention, with Andrew Jordan, Jason Plato and Gordon Shedden preparing to battle it out for the final race.

BTCC action (photo by Marc Waller)BTCC action (photo by Marc Waller)Plato now lies only fifteen points behind Jordan – who retained his Independent’s title after race one. Shedden will start the final race of the year from pole position and to win the championship, must win the race overall, with Jordan failing to score and Plato finishing third or lower.

Jordan can still win the title, however must finish eighth or better in the final race.

The final race of 2013 gets underway at around 17:05.

Race Two Classification:

1. Jason Plato
2. Sam Tordoff
3. Mat Jackson
4. Dave Newsham
5. Aron Smith
6. Jack Goff
7. Gordon Shedden
8. Adam Morgan
9. Tom Onslow-Cole
10. Frank Wrathall
11. Jake Hill
12. Colin Turkington
13. Ollie Jackson
14. Rob Collard
15. Aiden Moffat
Fastest lap: Jason Plato – Lap 2 – 1:43.721       By Nikki Thompson – Photos by Marc Waller


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