Shedden on top after an incident packed second BTCC race of the day at Brands

Shedden won comfortably from Collard (Photo by Marc Waller)Gordon Shedden has won an eventful second BTCC race of the day here at a sunny Brands Hatch.

The race took a couple of attempts to get started with the first attempt aborted before the lights went out after Tom Ingram had a problem. The cars got underway on the second attempt but Jason Plato collided with Matt Simpson off the line and then made a huge impact with the pit wall.

This was enough to stop the race while the debris was cleared up. Plato’s car has huge damage and looks doubtful to be able to compete in race three.

On the third attempt the cars finally got underway with Ingram leading the way for the first lap. The success ballast he carried for his race one win proved too much to keep ahead however, Shedden passed him into paddock hill bend on lap two.

Rob Austin, Andrew Jordan, Rob Collard and Adam Morgan then all battled for the final podium spot with Collard coming out on top. He then set off after Ingram.

There was then a safety car after Daniel Lloyd and Luke Davenport collided and both speared into Ant Whorton-Eales at Clearways. Both Lloyd and Davenport were able to continue but the unlucky Whorton-Eales was stuck in the gravel with a heavily damaged car.

The safety car was in a few laps before there was another shunt, nearly in the same spot. This time Ashley Suttons Subaru came together with Aiden Moffat’s Mercedes putting them both in the gravel at Clearways.

Collard found his way past Ingram to take second, quite a way off race winner Shedden. Ingram held on to third but there was a fierce battle for fourth between Austin, Morgan, Jackson and Jordan.

Austin tapped Jordan and the resulting slide let Austin through closely followed by Morgan’s Mercedes. Jordan then came under threat from Jackson and lost out at the line by 0.015 seconds.

Josh Cook took eighth just behind this battle and this proved to be a great place to finish when he was drawn on the reverse grid pole for race three!

Ninth was Chilton in the new Vauxhall, continuing their good start to their BTCC project.

Battles were close all down the field - Here Smith passes Jelley (Photo by Marc Waller) Cook takes eighth and pole for race three (Photo by Marc Waller) Austin tapped Jordan and then passed him (Photo by Marc Waller) Whorton-Eales spins out after contact nearly getting collected again by Simpson (Photo by Marc Waller)Sutton in the Gravel after contact with Moffat (Photo by Marc Waller)Platos badly damaged car is removed (Photo by Marc Waller)The top three (Photo by Marc Waller) 

 

 

 

Turkington was an impressive tenth from the back of the grid after his first race incident. Michael Epps was eleventh in his Team Hard run VW CC just in front of Matt Neal’s works Honda, another car recovering from a disastrous first race. Jack Goff was thirteenth fractionally ahead of Senna Proctors Vauxhall.

Ollie Jackson took the final point in his AMD tuning Audi bringing some cheer to the AMD team after Whorton-Eales crash.

2017 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Round 2 – Brands Hatch (Indy):

1 Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing 23 laps
2 Rob COLLARD (GBR) Team BMW +0.870s
3 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +2.657s
4 Rob AUSTIN (GBR) Handy Motorsport +4.328s
5 Adam MORGAN (GBR) Ciceley Motorsport +4.565s
6 Mat JACKSON (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat with Duo +5.125s
7 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) BMW Pirtek Racing +5.140s
8 Josh COOK (GBR) Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport +8.013s
9 Tom CHILTON (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +8.197s
10 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +9.441s
11 Michael EPPS (GBR) Autoaid/RCIB Insurance Racing +9.492s
12 Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +9.672s
13 Jack GOFF (GBR) Eurotech Racing +10.260s
14 Senna PROCTOR (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +10.488s
15 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts +11.265s
16 Aron TAYLOR-SMITH (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +12.741s
17 Jeff SMITH (GBR) Eurotech Racing +13.002s
18 Dave NEWSHAM (IRL) BTC Norlin Racing +14.025s
19 Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport +14.916s
20 Jake HILL (GBR) TAG Racing +17.857s
21 Matt SIMPSON (GBR) Simpson Racing +18.084s
22 James COLE (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +18.450s
23 Will BURNS (GBR) Autoaid/RCIB Insurance Racing +20.479s
24 Daniel LLOYD (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +1 lap
25 Josh PRICE (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +3 laps
DNF Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +5 laps
DNF Ashley SUTTON (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +5 laps
DNF Chris SMILEY (GBR) BTC Norlin Racing +6 laps
DNF Luke DAVENPORT (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo +14 laps
DNF Ant WHORTON-EALES (GBR) AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts +14 laps
DNF Martin DEPPER (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo +23 laps
DNF Jason PLATO (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +23 laps

STOP PRESS! Austin has been penalised for the contact with Andrew Jordan. He loses his fourth place and starts race three from the back. This now puts Chilton on the reverse grid pole from Cook.   By Marc Waller 

 

 

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