Matt Neal champion as NGTC cars step up

The Snetterton ‘300’ circuit in Norfolk was the venue for the resumption of the 2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship and during the seven week summer break, all of the S2000 turbocharged cars were given another 0.05 bar of boost reduction – while the full NGTC cars weren’t affected.

This meant that Frank Wrathall in the Dynojet NGTC Toyota Avensis achieved a small piece of history – by becoming the first NGTC driver to qualify inside the top ten, as he lined up seventh.

Silverline Chevrolet saw Jason Plato secure Pole Position ahead of Gordon Shedden while on the second row, it was Plato’s and Shedden’s team-mates respectively – Alex MacDowall third and Matt Neal fourth.

As was the case at Brands Hatch and the opening race of the day, Neal was in trouble by the time the field arrived at the second corner. Having made a flying start from fourth on the grid, Neal went to the outside of Plato exiting Riches and the two of them made contact, pitching Neal into a spin across the field.

Neal recovered – but dead last and finished down in eighteenth position while Plato led home a Silverline Chevrolet 1, 2 with Shedden completing the podium, and Wrathall becoming the first NGTC driver to score points and claim an Independents Victory.

Heading into race two, Neal still led the Championship but both Mat Jackson in the Airwaves Racing Ford Focus and Shedden had closed up – and if Neal ran into trouble, there could be a new Championship leader.

Could lightening strike twice for Neal? Yes, as he suffered a puncture and wound up down in seventeenth, while Shedden secured the victory ahead of Nash and Plato, while the star of race one, Wrathall, retired having been in a strong third position. Rob Austin in the Audi A4 gave himself a small piece of history – by becoming the first NGTC entrant to secure a point for setting the fastest lap of the race.

Race three – Dave Newsham had been drawn on Pole ahead of Jackson, with Shedden down in seventh and Neal seventeenth. Could the Snetterton ‘300’ circuit see three different Championship leaders in one day?

Jackson took just over a lap to move ahead of Newsham and into the lead of the race and never looked back – pulling away from the chasing pack, which was ultimately led by the Chevrolet Cruze of GoMobileUk.com’s Paul O’Neill with Plato securing three podiums in a day to thrust himself back into title contention.

From seventeenth on the grid, Neal took the flag in fourth to salvage eight points from a horrible weekend for the Honda driver while Shedden was down in seventh, but having used an ingenious idea to save himself a trip to the pits for damage to be fixed… he managed to hit a stack heading onto the Revett straight at the right angle to remove a flapping piece of wing.

So Neal had arrived in Norfolk leading the Championship, he left having lost the lead to firstly Shedden and then Jackson, while Plato ended up as the main beneficiary as he cut the forty point disadvantage in half – sitting just twenty points behind Jackson, and ten behind his arch nemesis Neal, heading north of the border to Knockhill.

From the three mile lap at Snetterton to the short 1.30 mile lap of the Knockhill circuit – and a circuit which was meant to suit Plato and the Silverline Chevrolet Cruze.

Having arrived at Knockhill as the Championship leader, Jackson had hoped to extend his Championship advantage but as Neal had suffered at Snetterton, this time it was Jackson who had the rotten luck.

Qualifying saw Tom Chilton in the Team Aon global Ford Focus secure Pole Position while the second row saw qualifying bests for Wrathall (third) and Austin (fourth), ahead of three Championship contenders – Shedden lined up fifth, Plato sixth and Jackson seventh.

Chilton led away from Pole Position with Neal second. Austin, meanwhile, was on the move up the order while fellow NGTC runner Wrathall was being turned around at Scotsman corner – he was able to hold it and continued but Shedden had moved up the order.

Austin’s race was over prematurely after contact with Chilton’s team-mate Tom Onslow-Cole, both cars ending up heavily in the barriers and the Safety Car being deployed to help with the recovery.

Once the Safety car was withdrawn, Chilton drove away from the rest of the field and secured his first victory of the season and first for the new Global Ford Focus with the two Honda drivers completing the podium – and moving into joint leadership of the title, after Jackson finished nineteenth and a lap down after contact with the WSR BMW 320si of Rob Collard at the chicane, which caused a puncture.

Plato, after his Snetterton podiums could only finish down in seventh, while James Nash in the Triple Eight Vauxhall Vectra kept up his remarkable finishing record by coming home sixth. Fourth went the way of Wrathall with Collard fifth.

The intra team battle at Honda saw the two drivers work their way into the lead of the second race as the action entered its latter stages – Chilton, as in the opening race had led away from Pole Position.

What was to come though was a piece of BTCC history… but not before some more cruel luck for Jackson, who had been fighting his way up the order from nineteenth. Having been flying around the Knockhill circuit, Jackson took to the kerbs at the chicane and suddenly exited the gravel with massive front end damage and fluids leaking everywhere. He had secured a point for fastest lap however…

Neal was the first driver to move ahead of Chilton once the Safety Car had been withdrawn – Martin Byford in the AmD Milltek Racing.com VW Golf Mk5 had spun out at the hairpin and forced the deployment of the Safety Car.

Chilton held two huge slides at Clark Curve – the second one was the one where he was punished by Neal and Shedden, while Wrathall moved past soon after. Soon, Shedden took the lead from Neal and took over the Championship lead by three points while Wrathall secured his first BTCC podium and the first podium for a NGTC car.

Plato, who had a quiet day in the opening two races at Knockhill, was drawn on Pole for the final encounter and this offered him the chance to salvage something from the weekend… but not what he ended up salvaging.

He made the best start and held his advantage over the Special Tuning Racing SEAT Leon of Tom Boardman – Boardman was visibly quicker in the turbocharged SEAT and on lap four; he made contact with Plato as they headed towards the first corner and then another contact which pitched Plato into the barriers… Plato had hoped to salvage a victory in the third race, not an early flight home.

The Safety Car was deployed to help assist the recovery of the Chevrolet Cruze and once the car was moved, the race went back live… but it didn’t, as the Safety Car was back out again due to carnage at the Hairpin.

Boardman had slowed the field right now as he had got too close to the Safety Car – this, behind caused a Motorway style pile up, with cars going all over the place and BTCC debutant Aron Smith saw his weekend finish early – having scored a point in the opening race of the weekend, the end of the weekend saw a damaged Vectra, having run into the back of team-mate James Nash.

The series of incidents was helping Jackson – who was on another recovery drive and saw soon challenging the top ten and for a while, looked like he could have actually challenged for the victory… until he ran into the back of Chilton at the hairpin as the race entered its final few laps and he was out once again – three retirements in three races and a Championship almost in tatters.

Having seen the top seven drivers reversed, this put Wrathall fifth, Neal sixth and Shedden seventh – they crossed the line third, fourth and fifth, behind Collard, who had been challenging Boardman for half the race but could never get close enough to challenge.

Shedden left Knockhill with the Championship lead. Neal was second, a point behind his Honda Racing team-mate while Jackson had fallen to third, twenty three points off Shedden while Plato was a further twelve points behind… it was starting to look like a two horse race for the title.

Then came the trip to Northamptonshire and the Rockingham Motor Speedway – and yet more technical amendments. The NGTC cars had their base weight increased by 20kgs and their turbo boost reduced by 0.05 bar while the S2000 turbocharged cars had their weight increased by 20kgs – to the displeasure of some drivers.

Plato didn’t mind – he secured his third Pole Position of the season ahead of his Championship winning car, now in the hands of Paul O’Neill. Their biggest threat would come from the second row… Matt Neal lined up fourth but in a career best third was Austin in the Rear Wheel Drive NGTC Audi A4.

Pole Position wasn’t all plain sailing for Plato however as a Red Flag with three minutes remaining meant that the entire field would take to the track once the session resumed… and for Neal and Plato, their on track disputes boiled over into the pitlane… both drivers were hit with fines, points on their licences and suspended grid penalties, while Boardman suffered a grid penalty, a fine and three points on his competition licence for his Knockhill actions.

Plato made the start but it was Austin who was flying – and was soon into second, ahead of O’Neill. Further back in the pack, Jackson saw his recent run of terrible luck continue as he was involved in the midfield bunching at Yentwood – Jackson went into the back of Neal, and was collected by Nash as well.

Austin was soon spun out as well – but he recovered and set about putting in a recovery charge… not for the first time over the Rockingham weekend either. The two Chevrolet Cruzes were in a class of their own though and were pulling away from Shedden.

The Safety Car would then be deployed – Collard and Newsham were both sitting in different gravel traps having been spun out – Alex MacDowall had an even worse spin but survived, spinning on the banking…

Once the Safety Car was withdrawn, Plato and O’Neill disappeared into the distance while Shedden struggled with maximum ballast and on worn tyres… he’d finish sixth, behind Wrathall, Neal and Nick Foster.

All of this meant that Neal had moved into the lead of the Championship while Plato was slowly closing up and Jackson was falling back after four retirements on the bounce – his Independents lead was being eaten into by Nash, who was racking up the finishes and the points.

The Championship lead changed hands once again in the second race as Shedden secured his fifth victory of the season from sixth on the grid, but his job wasn’t made easy as Wrathall pushed him all the way to the flag to secure his best result in the BTCC and the best result for an NGTC car. Neal completed the podium finishers while Plato lost ground in the Championship hunt as he fell to fourth.

As in the first race, Austin drove the wheels off the Audi A4 in a bid to score points and he crossed the line ninth, ahead of the WSR BMW of Collard and it was the two rear wheel drive cars which made up the front row for the final race of the day, while the three Championship contenders were seventh, eighth and tenth.

Austin got himself a small piece of BTCC history as he became the first NGTC runner to lead a round of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship but he wasn’t able to make history – Nash denied him that opportunity as he secured his maiden victory in the series to extend his advantage in the Independents battle. The top three were covered by less than a second at the flag…

Leaving Rockingham, Neal and Shedden were level on points in the Championship – Neal finished fifth and picked up six points while Shedden plummeted down the order to twenty first after contact with the impressive Foster, who picked up a brace of top five finishes in the opening two races.

Jackson, after another disaster of a weekend had slipped forty five points behind and only a point ahead of Nash in fifth. Nash had also opened up a twenty four point lead in the Independents with six races to go.

Brands Hatch saw Plato secure his fourth Pole Position of the season with his principal title rivals, the Honda duo, back on row three while Jackson saw on row four. This gave Nash the advantage in the race for the Independents crown as well as fourth overall – but come race day, the scenario changed.

The field was up to twenty nine cars as Rob Austin Racing expanded to a two car outfit for former Ginetta Junior and Clio Cup racer Chris Swanwick while Ollie Jackson joined Triple Eight for the final two events.

Sharing the front row with Plato should have been Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan – but he was stuck in the pits as the first race got underway, and Plato led the way with MacDowall for support, and the Honda’s fighting their way up the order.

Shedden lost a number of places early on with a slide at Graham Hill bend but it was Neal who encountered the tyre problems first, at Hawthorn – this gave Jackson the opportunity to jump Nash as the Triple Eight driver got held up by the slowing Honda driver.

Shedden encountered tyre issues a few laps later and the two Honda drivers finished eighteenth and nineteenth – Plato, on the other hand, had slashed the point’s gap down to six points.

Jackson saw his run of bad luck come to an end as he secured second and the Independents victory with MacDowall in third, with Nash fourth – Jackson was able to close the gap in the Independents battle by three points, and the gap was reduced further in the second race.

Round twenty five saw Plato led Jackson home in a repeat of the opening race but MacDowall saw his race end in a huge plume of smoke – his engine blowing up at Surtees, and in a spectacular way.

Tom Onslow-Cole led home the Team Aon charge as he secured his first podium finish of the season – Andy Neate finished ninth and Tom Chilton fifth.

Having lined up down the field, Neal and Shedden were then working their way up the field and into the lower end of the top ten, and secured seventh and eighth positions, which would become the second row for the final race of the day.

Heading into round twenty seven, it was still feasible that five drivers could head into the Silverstone finale with a chance of winning the 2011 Championship: Plato was the new Championship leader with Neal and Shedden hot on his tail while Jackson and Nash held outside hopes of securing the crown.

Foster started on Pole, Neal and Shedden were first and second by the time the field arrived at Paddock Hill bend on the second lap and from there on, they disappeared into the distance as Foster fell back down the order.

Holding onto third and looking comfortable was the third Team Aon car of Neate – who was chasing his maiden podium finish but with two laps remaining, he went off the track and was forced to pit. This promoted Nash to third, Chilton to fourth, Jackson to fifth and Plato to sixth – these positions would mean five drivers going for one crown.

Silverstone, the home of the British Grand Prix and the venue for some of the classic title showdowns saw Neal arrive with an eight point advantage over Shedden and Plato, while Jackson was thirty six points behind and Nash forty four behind – Jackson and Nash also had the Independents title to decide.

Twenty nine cars at Brands Hatch became thirty at Silverstone as Thorney Motorsport entered their NGTC Vauxhall Insignia and Airwaves replaced Michael Caine with 2002 and 2004 Champion James Thompson.

Plato openly admitted before the weekend that he faced an uphill task to keep hold of his title as the circuit wouldn’t suit him – and his predictions were right as he could only line up seventh, despite getting a tow from both MacDowall and O’Neill.

Pole Position went to Neal, ahead of Jackson and Shedden – this Pole Position for Neal was vital as it meant his lead was extended and Shedden had to find a way past Jackson, who in previous seasons has been a demon at Silverstone.

And so it proved – Jackson was quicker than Neal all race but he couldn’t find a way past – well, not without a nudge and Jackson wouldn’t use those tactics. Shedden and Nash just sat back and let Jackson do the hard work and ultimately, it paid off as Jackson suffered a puncture – dropping him out of contention for the outright title and the Independent title.

Plato was also out of the race but not the title battle – he had suffered a puncture during the early stages and had turned the first race of the day into more of a test session as he pitted a number of times and finished six laps down, and would start twenty fifth.

Neal led home Shedden for another Honda 1, 2 finish while third was enough for Nash to secure the Independents title – but not enough to keep his slim title hopes alive, as the title battle became a two way battle with Plato having an outside chance.

Round twenty nine, the penultimate round saw Shedden lead home another Honda 1, 2 as Neal finished second – six points separated the two drivers going into the season finale, while Plato saw his defence come to an end as he could only finish seventh, from twenty fifth on the grid.

Jackson, who looked to have turned a corner at Brands Hatch saw his terrible mid season form return as he suffered yet another puncture in the second race and he would finish twenty sixth, three laps down but he had proved his pace – his second fastest lap of the weekend, while the Proton Gen2 of Welch Motorsport secured its maiden top ten finish as Dan Welch finished tenth.

Six points, one title, two drivers, team-mates, bottom end of the top ten – the ingredients were there for a titanic tussle between Neal and Shedden. In the end, it was a damp squib as neither driver made much progress up the order and Neal secured the title with an eighth place finish, and Shedden could only wind up tenth – having lost ninth to Wrathall on the final lap. Austin finished as the highest NGTC runner in the race but Wrathall finished as top rookie and top NGTC runner.

Neal took his third title by eight points, while Chilton signed off his campaign with his second win of the season while Plato’s tough weekend was completed with a podium finish. Boardman completed his season with his third podium finish of the season – both Chilton and Boardman are expected to move into the WTCC for 2012, as both Team Aon and Special Tuning Racing have announced their intentions to join the World Series.

Both Jackson and Nash saw their races finish with trips via the pits – Jackson for repairs to his bonnet while Nash had a drive through penalty. Jackson came out on top in the Championship – he had more wins compared to Nash.

So after thirty races, eight drivers tasted the victory champagne, fifteen drivers stood on the podium, twenty five drivers scored a point and thirty four drivers took to the track throughout the season.

Final Standings after 30/30 races:

The 2012 campaign will get underway over the 31 March/ 1 April at Brands Hatch Indy while Brands Hatch plays host to the finale, on the Grand Prix loop over the 20/21 October.