Gordon Shedden has won the first BTCC race of the day at Rockingham with a lights to flag victory.
Shedden got his Honda Civic off the line well but so did second placed Mat Jackson and the two of them ran side by side on Rockingham’s unique banking.
But as they rounded the Deene hairpin it was Shedden ahead and that was the way it stayed.
Jackson however, then had to hold off Plato and Turkington’s Subaru who had passed the MG of Josh Cook.
The safety car was then scrambled as some cars further down the grid were beached, this prevented Shedden from pulling away from the pack for a while. But once the green flags came out, Shedden then pulled away from the pack. He also took fastest lap during the race. He was pleased to be able to make up some ground in the championship
“I’m giving it everything to claw my way into the title race, The championship’s swinging so much round by round. I don’t want to let go of it just yet. Another win is just the momentum we need at this point in the season. Mat [Jackson] almost got around the outside of me into turn two on the opening lap. He got a good run but I held on.”
Jackson was having to use every trick he knew to defend from the two Subarus behind him but as he had done at Knockhill, he kept his rivals behind. Jackson was happy with a second place finish;
“It was a good race for us,” he said afterwards. “The Subaru didn’t look as if it had the legs through the corners but in traction they definitely had the advantage that comes with the rear-wheel drive. Every lap he (Jason Plato) was within striking distance of going up the inside at turn two but he couldn’t quite make it past. It’s good for us and good for the championship result. Let’s see what race two brings.”
Plato meanwhile explained that he couldn’t find a way past the Motorbase driver despite trying everything he could;
“I couldn’t find a way past,” Plato reported afterwards. “I was all over him through the corners but he was pretty good on the brakes so it was a bit of a stalemate. I was hoping he’d struggle more with the tyres towards the end but third’s good, isn’t it? Colin [Turkington] didn’t have any more pace than me, really. We kind of ebbed and flowed though, I was quicker in some areas and he was quicker in others.”
The MG duo of Josh Cook and Ashely Sutton took fifth and sixth after fighting back from quite bad starts.
Andrew Jordan finished second behind Jackson in the independents battle but this was seventh overall with the works MGs and Subarus ahead of him. Considering he started fourteenth after a difficult qualifying.
Perhaps more impressive though was Sam Tordoff. The championship leader came from twenty eighth on the grid to take tenth.
Neal’s race was rather up and down as he gained and lost positions and eventually he ended up in eighth place where he started. He ran well outside the top ten on occasion but his experienced showed as he fought his way back up. Newsham was just behind him in ninth, the Power Maxed driver having another good race while on temporary stand in duties.
Jake Hill had heartbreak late on in the race as his RCIB Insurance racing failed leaving him as a DNF.
Hunter Abbott once again had a difficult race after good qualifying session. He started tenth but after brushing with several rivals he ended up with a puncture which dropped him to last place.
2016 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Round 22 – Rockingham:
1 Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing 26:36.324 (78.75 mph)
2 Mat JACKSON (GBR) Motorbase Performance +2.561s
3 Jason PLATO (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +2.869s
4 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +3.165s
5 Josh COOK (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +8.741s
6 Ash SUTTON (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +12.144s
7 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) Motorbase Performance +14.072s
8 Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +18.224s
9 Dave NEWSHAM (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +23.899s
10 Sam TORDOFF (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX +24.168s
11 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +25.086s
12 Jack GOFF (GBR) Team IHG Rewards Club +26.423s
13 Adam MORGAN (GBR) WIX Racing +28.526s
14 Robert COLLARD (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX +28.994s
15 Aron SMITH (IRL) BKR +29.625s
16 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +31.391s
17 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) AmD Tuning.com +33.533s
18 Michael EPPS (GBR) RCIB Insurance Racing +39.864s
19 Warren SCOTT (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +40.123s
20 Rob AUSTIN (GBR) Handy Motorsport +42.436s
21 Stewart LINES (GBR) Maximum Motorsport +43.295s
22 James COLE (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +43.626s
23 Alex MARTIN (GBR) Dextra Racing +46.925s
24 Tony GILHAM (GBR) TLC/RCIB Insurance Racing +50.092s
25 Jeff SMITH (GBR) Eurotech Racing +2 laps
26 Hunter ABBOTT (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +2 laps
DNF Dan WELCH (GBR) Goodestone Racing +2 laps
DNF Matt SIMPSON (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +2 laps
DNF Jake HILL (GBR) RCIB Insurance Racing +7 laps
DNF Martin DEPPER (GBR) Eurotech Racing
DNF Mark HOWARD (GBR) BKR By Marc Waller