Gordon Shedden wins after Ingram and Collard collide

Gordon Shedden has taken victory in the second round of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship after Tom Ingram and Rob Collard clashed whilst debating first place in the early stages of the race. The defending champion led home team-mate Matt Neal and Aron Smith.

It was Tom Ingram who led the capacity 32-car grid away for the second time today after winning the first race of the day, and he once again maintained his lead into Paddock Hill bend, whilst a little further back Rob Collard made a storming start and surged through from 6^th to 2^nd by the first corner.

Collard nudged alongside Ingram on the inside into Paddock on lap two but the two made contact, and then again on the run up to Druids, with Collard spinning as a result. Whilst Ingram continued, Shedden was able to prise the lead away from the 22 year old heading through Clark curve and Matt Neal followed through shortly after as Ingram dropped back through the field with damage to the Toyota Avensis. Incidents for Smiley and Lines ensured the safety car was called out for the second time today.

Other drivers to profit from the start included Andrew Jordan, who moved up to 6^th from his 11^th placed grid slot, whilst Aron Smith continued his consistent day to move up to an incredible fourth in between the MG duo, though unlike race one it was Cook leading the line for Ian Harrison’s squad, rather than debutant Sutton. Jason Plato was able to make some initial progress in the Team BMR Subaru Levorg GT, moving up from 21^st on the grid to 16^th in the carnage.

Shedden continued to lead after the safety car restart, and further back Jordan and Sutton made contact into Clearways, putting the MG on the outside line and allowing both Jordan and his team-mate Mat Jackson to capitalise and relegate the reigning Clio champion to 7^th. Alex Martin’s frustrating day continued as he made contact with Mark Howard and once again took a trip across the grass along Cooper Straight.

Whilst Shedden was getting away at the front, his team-mate Matt Neal came under increasing pressure from Aron Smith in the now BKR-run Volkswagen CC, just ahead of a clash between Jordan and Cook. Once more the 2013 champion made contact with the MG at Clearways, and once again Jackson followed his team-mate through to push the Jack Sears Trophy champion down the order.

The battle for tenth and that all important reverse grid draw slot began to hot up, with Jake Hill defending impressively from Sam Tordoff in a clearly faster BMW, with Jeff Smith looming ever closer behind in the Type R. The bottleneck effect created by this battle also served to help Plato pull his Subaru closer to the back of Dan Welch’s Proton as the field bunched up.

Mechanical woes hit Hill and he was forced to retire just past the half-distance mark in the race, though Colin Turkington’s meteoric rise through the field continued as he relieved team-mate Plato of 14^th and set about continuing his charge towards the top ten.

Some fluid on the racing line at Graham Hill bend caused carnage, with Cook, Turkington, Depper, Martin, Howard, Welch and Mat Jackson all either going off at the corner or having a moment. Cook was the big loser in the incident and played no further role in the race. The incidents promoted Jeff Smith into the reverse grid positions, whilst Sutton and Goff fiercely debated 6^th.

One man kept his head through the carnage, however, and Gordon Shedden took the win by 0.848 seconds from his team-mate, Matt Neal.

Race result

POS	NO	CL	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME/GAP	BEST	GD
1	52	M	Gordon SHEDDEN		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	26	22:27.048	49.159	2
2	25	M	Matt NEAL		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	26	0.848	49.231	3
3	40		Árón SMITH		BKR	Volkswagen CC	26	3.132	49.239	7
4	77		Andrew JORDAN		Motorbase Performance	Ford Focus	26	4.165	49.053	11
5	7		Mat JACKSON		Motorbase Performance	Ford Focus	26	7.176	49.136	8
6	116	M	Ashley SUTTON		MG Racing RCIB Insurance	MG6GT	26	8.647	49.398	4
7	31	C	Jack GOFF		Team IHG Rewards Club	BMW 125i M Sport	26	9.682	49.376	10
8	33		Adam MORGAN		WIX Racing	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	26	10.076	49.320	9
9	600	C	Sam TORDOFF		Team JCT600 with GardX	BMW 125i M Sport	26	10.395	49.261	16
10	55		Jeff SMITH		Eurotech Racing	Honda Civic Type R	26	10.588	49.300	14
11	16		Aiden MOFFAT		Laser Tools Racing	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	26	11.829	49.489	12
12	17		Dan WELCH		Goodestone Racing	Proton Persona	26	17.276	49.596	15
13	99	M	Jason PLATO		Subaru Team BMR	Subaru Levorg GT	26	18.462	49.172	21
14	11		Rob AUSTIN		Handy Motorsport	Toyota Avensis	26	18.738	49.327	30
15	53		Hunter ABBOTT		Power Maxed Racing	Chevrolet Cruze	26	19.036	49.202	28
16	100	C	Rob COLLARD		Team JCT600 with GardX	BMW 125i M Sport	26	20.873	49.355	6
17	12		Mike EPPS		RCIB Insurance Racing	Toyota Avensis	26	21.303	49.500	20
18	303		Matt SIMPSON		Speedworks Motorsport	Honda Civic Type R	26	23.468	49.607	17
19	20	M	James COLE		Subaru Team BMR	Subaru Levorg GT	26	23.84	49.581	25
20	4	M	Colin TURKINGTON		Subaru Team BMR	Subaru Levorg GT	26	24.678	49.283	26
21	39	M	Warren SCOTT		Subaru Team BMR	Subaru Levorg GT	26	29.454	49.697	32
22	30		Martin DEPPER		Eurotech Racing	Honda Civic Type R	26	30.44	49.621	19
23	48		Ollie JACKSON		AmD Tuning	Audi S3	26	30.865	49.430	29
24	14		Alex MARTIN		Dextra Racing with Team Parker	Ford Focus	26	35.224	49.461	31
25	84		Kelvin FLETCHER		Power Maxed Racing	Chevrolet Cruze	26	37.381	49.541	27
26	57	M	Andy NEATE		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	26	40.84	49.512	18
27	38		Mark HOWARD		BKR	Volkswagen CC	26	45.944	50.190	23
28	22		Chris SMILEY		TLC Racing	Toyota Avensis	24	2 Laps	49.867	24
R	66	M	Josh COOK		MG Racing RCIB Insurance	MG6GT	22	4 Laps	49.433	5
R	24		Jake HILL		RCIB Insurance Racing	Toyota Avensis	14	12 Laps	49.287	13
R	80		Tom INGRAM		Speedworks Motorsport	Toyota Avensis	2	24 Laps	52.788	1
R	95		Stewart LINES		Maximum Motorsport	Ford Focus	2	24 Laps	52.601	22

Complete race results