MG’s Jason Plato took his second British Touring Car Championship victory of the day to remain in title contention as championship leader Andrew Jordan retired from the race with suspension damage.
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Plato once again led every lap of the race as problems befell all of his championship rivals.
The first to get in to trouble was Honda’s Gordon Shedden, who saved a huge slide through Paddock Hill bend on the opening lap of the race and dropped to 13th by the end of the opening lap. Whilst reigning champion Shedden was able to battle his way back into the points, finishing in seventh, his fellow Honda title rivals did not fare as well.
Heading onto the second lap of the race, contact between Árón Smith and Rob Collard ahead caused Andrew Jordan and Matt Neal to have to take avoiding action. Contact between Neal and Jordan at Surtees resulted in damage to both cars. Jordan retired from the race with right-rear suspension damage, reducing his points lead to 15 points over Plato.
Neal pitted during the race and ultimately failed to finish, suffering a fire in the engine bay of his Civic on the final lap. It means that Neal is now completely out of championship contention, as the gap to Jordan is 35 points.
Away from the championship battle, Tordoff scored his second successive podium finish in second – the MG team’s fourth 1-2 of the season.
Mat Jackson finished in third for Airwaves Racing, scoring his third podium finish of the season, after a strong start to the race saw him in the top three by lap four.
Dave Newsham enjoyed a strong drive to fourth from 11th on the grid, taking his best result of the season. Smith finished in fifth, despite the earlier contact with Collard.
Jack Goff scored his best result of the season with sixth, after a close battle with Shedden in the second half of the race. The duo will start race three from the front row of the grid after the top seven were selected to be reversed.
Eighth went to Adam Morgan, although it could have been higher had the Ciceley Racing driver not ran wide through the Paddock Hill gravel on lap five whilst running in fourth.
Airwaves Racing’s Onslow-Cole and Dynojet’s Frank Wrathall completed the top ten in ninth and tenth respectively. Jake Hill took his best BTCC result to-date in 11th.
After their troubles in the first race, eBay Motors’ day did not improve much in race two. Colin Turkington was the top BMW driver in 12th, ahead of Collard in 14th after his earlier spin. Nick Foster finished a lap down in 18th.
In the Jack Sears’ Trophy the normal order was resumed, with Lea Wood scoring class victory in 16th ahead of Shaun Hollamby.
Dan Welch failed to finish the race following contact with 13th-placed Ollie Jackson, whilst Rob Austin struggled with a puncture and a steamed-up windscreen, eventually retiring from the race.
Warren Scott, Tom Barley and Liam Griffin all ended their races in the gravel.
The final race of the season, in which the title will be decided, takes place at 17:04 BST.