The 2014 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship came alive this weekend at Brands Hatch circuit in spectacular fashion.
It was defending champion Andrew Jordan who started the weekend off, taking pole position yesterday (Saturday) afternoon in his Pirtek Racing Honda Civic.
The pole sitter took two out of three wins on race day – his first on the Brands Indy Circuit – but couldn’t make it a hat-trick in the final reverse grid race as eBay’s Colin Turkington claimed the top spot.
Honda Yuasa Racing duo Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden achieved three podiums between them during the day – rounding off a successful debut weekend for the new Honda Civic Tourer.
Jason Plato also had a good weekend in his KX Clubcard Fuel Save MG, picking up two pieces of silver wear having got on the podium twice.
One of the many debutants to hit the track at Brands Hatch also impressed. Ginetta graduate Tom Ingram had two top ten finishes in his Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis before an unfortunate incident with Alain Menu in the third race saw him crash into the Graham Hill Bend barriers.
Returning champion Fabrizio Giovanardi had a positive return to the series with Airwaves Racing. An unfortunate misfire in qualifying forced him to settle with an 18th place start before gaining positions achieved him a top ten finish in the race two. A spin at Paddock Hill Bend put him out of contention for a points scoring finish in the third and final race of the day.
The day didn’t pass without incident, however. The first race saw contact between Pirtek Racing’s Martin Depper and James Coles’ Toyota Avensis, forcing the United Autosport drive to retire with damaged rear suspension. Race stewards later disqualified Depper from the results.
Marc Hynes was another disqualification, this time from race two. A coming together with Martin Depper left the Pirtek racer with nowhere else to go but into the barriers at Graham Hill Bend.
All the teams are now preparing for the next outing at Donington Park which will take place on Easter weekend 19/20th April. by Nikki Thompson, photos by Marc Waller
