Victory once again in the second race of the day at Brands Hatch sees Jason Plato assume the lead of the 2011 British Touring Car Championship. A commanding performance from the Chevrolet driver also saw him set a new lap record on his way to the win, as Mat Jackson and Tom Onslow-Cole completed the podium.
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When the lights went out it was as you were in the first race, with the front row men Plato and Jackson both getting good starts. Behind, Alex MacDowall held third for the opening lap but was passed on the following tour by Onslow-Cole. The Team Aon driver held station behind the older Airwaves car in front for most of the race and despite his best efforts Onslow-Cole couldn’t find a way past.
With James Nash once again getting a poor start it was Paul O’Neill who slotted in to fifth at the end of the opening lap. This became fourth, where he would eventually finish, when the work’s Chevrolet engine in MacDowall’s Cruze expired dramatically on the ninth lap.
MacDowall’s demise moved Tom Chilton up into sixth, having started one place further back and he made his move past Nash on the penultimate lap to take fifth. Nash, still battling for the independents championship, finished in sixth although with Jackson beating him in both races his lead in the category is down to 12 points now.
Finishing in seventh after a resurgent drive was Honda’s Matt Neal. Despite starting down in 18th place, Neal had forged his way up to tenth by the end of the opening lap. It didn’t take him long to then pass Rob Collard for ninth on lap 2, before quickly catching and passing andy Neate for eighth. Neal moved up one more position when MacDowall retired but was unable to pressure Chilton, or Nash, for any more places.
Following Neal through the field was Shedden, who was also in the top ten by the end of the third lap. Shedden pressured Neate into a mistake to take eighth, with the Team Aon driver following him home in ninth.
Once again the final point went to WSR’s Nick Foster. As a result of the reverse-grid draw for race three Foster will start on pole position for the second time in his career, having done so at Croft where he went on to take his only podium finish to-date. His team-mate Collard had been running just outside the points in 11th when he had to pit to have a dangling rear bumper removed, leaving him to finish 22nd in a race with surprisingly low attrition.
Tom Boardman just missed out on the points in 11th despite a strong drive through the pack from 23rd. Michael Caine was the second Airwaves driver home in 12th, whilst Frank Wrathall was the top NGTC finisher in 13th having been battling hard with Austin, 14th, in the closing laps.
Race three takes place at 17:05.