Jason Plato took a second British Touring Car Championship win in as many races at Silverstone, but the win was overshadowed by a crash involving Rob Collard which caused the race to be red flagged.
The race followed a similar pattern to the day’s opening encounter, but the red flag was flown a lap from the end when Collard double-rolled, having attempted to avoid a spinning Jack Clarke.
Pole man Plato was again jumped by the fast-starting Turkington off the line, while Alain Menu got past Sam Tordoff for fourth with Collard following suit as the field bunched up into Maggotts.
But Plato immediately looked to regain the lead and unlike in race one – where he took a look a lap early before making his move a lap later – squirmed straight up the inside of the eBay Motors man into Brooklands on lap two and into first.
For the second race in a row a train of cars lined up behind Plato, with the top nine in close company. Aron Smith utilised that situation to pass Tordoff into Copse at the start of lap six, as Turkington started to harry Plato for the lead.
After his pass on Tordoff, Smith looked keen to overtake Collard while two places further forward his teammate Menu hounded Mat Jackson for the final podium spot. After several abortive attempts, Menu finally made the third place his with a good run through Copse and a pass into Maggotts on lap 13.
At this point, the top seven – who had dropped Marc Hynes and Andrew Jordan – were still closely bunched as they crossed the line just 2.014s apart, with Smith following his teammate’s example and passing Collard on the exit of Becketts for fifth.
The race finally appeared to have settled down a few laps later as Plato, Turkington and Menu all appeared comfortable in their positions, but a staunch defence was required by Jackson in fourth to keep the second Volkswagen of Smith at bay. The Airwaves driver was able to keep his former teammate behind him, however, and with just two laps left to run it looked as though the race would end quietly.
But that all changed on lap 21 as Clarke, who was running in tenth, spun through Becketts and as those behind him looked to avoid contact, Collard – who had fallen some way down the order – was side-swiped by the Crabbie’s Racing Ford Focus, sending the eBay Motors car off balance and over itself, taking some seconds before eventually stopping by the side of the track. Collard was taken to the medical centre for checks, but is said to be ‘okay’.
The Safety Car was immediately deployed, but as the race had by now reached it’s penultimate lap, the decision was taken to red flag the event with the final result counted back a lap (lap 20 of 22).
That meant that Plato’s eventual winning margin was 1.013s ahead of Turkington and Menu, who scored his second podium in three races. Jackson and Smith were fourth and fifth, ahead of a quiet Tordoff.
Fabrizio Giovanardi finished in seventh and will start the final race of the day from pole, while Andrew Jordan was eighth. There was a maiden top ten finish for Warren Scott on his 43rd birthday after a stellar drive to ninth, while the count back meant that Clarke was also able to secure his first top ten finish in the series.
Gordon Shedden was classified in 11th place, and as a result is out of championship contention.
Race three starts at 17:17 BST.
Top ten result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO |  |
MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save | MG6 | 20 | 19:56.217 | 59.374 | 1 |
| 2 | 5 | I | Colin TURKINGTON | |
eBay Motors | BMW 125i M Sport | 20 | 1.013 | 59.392 | 2 |
| 3 | 9 | I | Alain MENU |  |
CHROME Edition Restart Racing | Volkswagen CC | 20 | 1.739 | 59.345 | 5 |
| 4 | 6 | I | Mat JACKSON | |
Airwaves Racing | Ford Focus ST | 20 | 2.778 | 59.445 | 3 |
| 5 | 40 | I | Árón SMITH |  |
CHROME Edition Restart Racing | Volkswagen CC | 20 | 2.979 | 59.243 | 6 |
| 6 | 88 | M | Sam TORDOFF | |
MG KX Clubcard Fuel Save | MG6 | 20 | 5.739 | 59.301 | 4 |
| 7 | 7 | I | Fabrizio GIOVANARDI |  |
Airwaves Racing | Ford Focus ST | 20 | 5.942 | 59.246 | 12 |
| 8 | 1 | I | Andrew JORDAN | |
Pirtek Racing | Honda Civic | 20 | 6.981 | 59.452 | 10 |
| 9 | 39 | I | Warren SCOTT | |
CHROME Edition Restart Racing | Volkswagen CC | 20 | 8.417 | 59.281 | 16 |
| 10 | 44 | I | Jack CLARKE | |
Crabbie’s Racing | Ford Focus ST | 20 | 9.353 | 59.227 | 13 |