Colin Turkington has won for the second time at Brands Hatch today to keep alive his chances of winning the BTCC for the third time.
The Silverline Subaru driver had an even better start this time to comfortably lead away with Rob Austin not having an opportunity to challenge.
There was a long safety car period quite early in the race when Matt Neal crashed out just after Druids. The title contender had slowed as he went to power out the hairpin with a possible engine issue. Ash Sutton, unsighted found himself with nowhere to go and tapped the Civic of Neal into a spin and straight into the barriers. The car spun several times at high speed as it bounced out before coming to rest in the middle of the track. Fortunately the other cars avoided the stricken Honda.
Neal was dazed and shaken, taking a while to get out the car, but he was seemingly unhurt. The doctors car took him to the medical centre for a check up and once the damaged car was cleared away the race could continue. After the subsequent check up, Neal was found to have suffered from Concussion in the accident and he will not be allowed to race in the final race of the season. Of course this now puts him out of contention for the title.
Now the race was back on Rob Austin found himself demoted from the podium when first Jason Plato and then Gordon Shedden passed him. Austin dropped further back before a technical issue forced him to pit and retire from the race.
Once Plato was ahead of Austin, he quickly caught Turkington and for most of the final third of the race, he pressured the Ulsterman for the lead.
But with Plato now out of contention for the title, the team radioed for him to support Turkington and for the rest of the laps he held station as the team took a 1-2.
“It’s fantastic stuff,” said a delighted Turkington, after the race. “I didn’t see it coming before the weekend, I really didn’t think we could win here once never mind twice. Sometimes things go your way and the team have given me a good car. The effects of the 75kgs were playing out and I could see Jason [Plato] right behind me. I wasn’t going to waste my energy on the team radio but thanks to them it made my job a bit easier. I was relieved when I saw him back off. I could see Gordon [Shedden] behind and you can easily go from first to fourth to fifth.”
So with Shedden in third, it was Josh Cook that took fourth in his MG, after setting the pace earlier in the weekend, he has not been able to replicate that on a dry track.
Sam Tordoff continued the damage limitation to his championship bid with fifth although Shedden has reduced his lead to just two points.
Sixth was Aiden Moffat and also the independent win as all the five ahead of him are manufacturer/constructor entries.
Mat Jackson was seventh and with it, he has the reverse grid pole for the final race. It won’t help his championship bid as his chance has now gone.
Adam Morgan took eighth in his Wix racing Mercedes, he had been a championship contender earlier in the season but some disastrous weekends since put him well out of contention.
Tom Ingram was ninth, his day having been made much harder by his demotion to the back of the race one grid for ride height infringements.
Rob Collard was tenth which has now put him out of contention for the title.
The final battle for the title is now between Tordoff, Shedden and Turkington. Tordoff has a small two point lead from Shedden with Turkington just ten behind the championship lead.
Neal would have been mathematically in contention but his withdrawl from the final race on medical grounds has meant he is very much out of the title hunt.
Race Two – Brands Hatch GP:
1 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing 28m52.932s (85.93 mph)
2 Jason PLATO (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +1.128s
3 Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +1.535s
4 Josh COOK (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +1.827s
5 Sam TORDOFF (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX +2.431s
6 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +2.931s
7 Mat JACKSON (GBR) Motorbase Performance +3.046s
8 Adam MORGAN (GBR) WIX Racing +3.336s
9 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +3.626s
10 Robert COLLARD (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX +3.963s
11 Jeff SMITH (GBR) Eurotech Racing +4.650s
12 Jake HILL (GBR) RCIB Insurance Racing +5.697s
13 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) Motorbase Performance +7.043s
14 Aron SMITH (IRL) BKR +10.510s
15 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) AmD Tuning.com +13.455s
16 Michael EPPS (GBR) RCIB Insurance Racing +14.421s
17 Hunter ABBOTT (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +14.914s
18 Martin DEPPER (GBR) Eurotech Racing +15.214s
19 Matt SIMPSON (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +16.729s
20 Jack GOFF (GBR) Team IHG Rewards Club +16.743s
21 James COLE (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +16.808s
22 Alex MARTIN (GBR) Dextra Racing +19.672s
23 Warren SCOTT (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +20.541s
24 Kelvin FLETCHER (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +20.888s
25 Stewart LINES (GBR) Maximum Motorsport +25.510s
26 Mark HOWARD (GBR) BKR +36.284s
27 Dan WELCH (GBR) Goodestone Racing +44.694s
28 Tony GILHAM (GBR) TLC/RCIB Insurance Racing +14 laps
DNF Rob AUSTIN (GBR) Handy Motorsport +3 laps
DNF Ash SUTTON (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +8 laps
DNF Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +14 laps By Marc Waller
