Andrew Jordan won for the second time in two races at Brands Hatch, with the defence of his British Touring Car Championship crown continuing in great style as he beat Gordon Shedden and Colin Turkington.
Jordan was similarly as comfortable in victory as he was in the first race, despite winning by half-a-second from Shedden with Turkington a further two-tenths back, the pair both claiming their first podium finishes of the season.
There was drama from before the lights with Rob Austin failing to get away for the formation laps, while when the race did get started Jason Plato stalled on the line, with everyone behind him scrambling to avoid the MG.
The concertina effect continued into Paddock Hill bend, where at the front Rob Collard got into the side of Matt Neal, with the Honda driver retaining his third place and Nick Foster, who had made a lightning start, moving into fourth at the expense of his two teammates. Further back in the pack, Chris Stockton was thrown into the gravel on the exit of the first corner, which brought out the first safety car of the season.
The restart proved to be less dramatic, with Jordan nailing his getaway to retain an advantage over Shedden. The leading pair started to make a break, in similar fashion to race one.
On lap seven Shedden took a look down the inside of the Pirtek Honda into Paddock Hill, but despite being given the room he was unable to make the move stick, that providing the best opportunity of the day so far for anyone to pass Jordan.
In a reversal of fortunes from race one, Turkington appeared to get faster and faster as the race went on, passing first Collard into Paddock Hill on lap nine, before giving Foster the same treatment two laps later.
Matt Neal was the next to come under attack, and although he resisted the initial tactic through Paddock Hill, Turkington’s momentum into Druids carried him into third place, as he began to hunt down the leading duo.
And the Northern Irishman was given an opportunity to do so after the safety car was brought out for a second time, with Marc Hynes sending Martin Depper into the barriers after tapping his left-rear corner.
The racing resumed with four of the 27 laps remaining, but Shedden was wise to Turkington’s plan as he covered the line into Paddock Hill. The front three remained in that order until the finish, With Jordan claiming his second lights-to-flag win of the day.
Neal dropped away from the podium fight but held onto a solid fourth, ahead of the impressive Foster who led home his teammate Collard. Aron Smith finished where he started in seventh after his five-place grid penalty was overturned, as he led home Adam Morgan, Tom Ingram and Fabrizio Giovanardi, who finally had reason to smile after avoiding the mayhem at the start.
Jack Goff finished outside the top ten again, ahead of Sam Tordoff, Warren Scott and Jason Plato, who made an excellent recovery to salvage two points from the race. Mat Jackson again took the last point in 15th, while Alain Menu was 17th after starting in 28th.
Top ten result
POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
1 | 1 | I | Andrew JORDAN | Pirtek Racing | Honda Civic | 27 | 25:15.787 | 49.212 | 1 | |
2 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Tourer | 27 | 0.505 | 49.081 | 4 | |
3 | 5 | I | Colin TURKINGTON | eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 27 | 0.709 | 49.137 | 8 | |
4 | 4 | M | Matt NEAL | Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Tourer | 27 | 1.742 | 49.262 | 3 | |
5 | 18 | I | Nick FOSTER | eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 27 | 2.094 | 49.242 | 11 | |
6 | 10 | I | Rob COLLARD | eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 27 | 2.519 | 49.135 | 6 | |
7 | 40 | I | Árón SMITH | CHROME Edition Restart Racing | Volkswagen Passat CC | 27 | 2.975 | 49.103 | 7 | |
8 | 33 | I | Adam MORGAN | WIX Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 27 | 3.524 | 49.337 | 13 | |
9 | 80 | I | Tom INGRAM | Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 27 | 3.822 | 49.180 | 9 | |
10 | 7 | I | Fabrizio GIOVANARDI | Airwaves Racing | Ford Focus | 27 | 4.146 | 49.155 | 14 |