VICTORIES AT BRANDS HATCH FOR NEAL, HINES & THOMPSON
Matt Neal, Luke Hines and James Thompson emerged as winners
in Brands Hatch’s three Green Flag MSA British Touring
Car Championship rounds today (Sunday). Neal, in Computeach
Racing with Halfords’ Honda Civic, and Vauxhall driver
Hines won the first two races to make it five different winners
from the season’s first five rounds. Thompson, in his
Vauxhall Astra, then became the first driver to win twice
this season with victory in the day’s third race - a
result that has put him on top of the points table.
Thompson arrived at Brands ten points behind Muller, but
fourth and second place finishes in addition to his win means
he is now tied with the Frenchman for the championship lead.
His greater number of wins, however, gives him the advantage
as the BTCC title race heads to Silverstone for rounds seven,
eight and nine on 8/9 May.
“It’s been an excellent weekend for me, particularly
considering Brands has always been my bogey track,”
said Thompson. “It was important to get back on terms
with Yvan so soon and now I think we’re going to see
a very big battle between us. Last year I let him run away
with the title a bit, but this year I feel a lot more on top
of the situation. The racing out there is so fast and furious
I think it will require an element of luck to decide who comes
out on top.”
Colin Turkington, in WSR’s MG ZS, started the day’s
first race from pole position but was quickly passed by Neal
and SEAT Sport UK’s Robert Huff, who would feature strongly
in all three races. Huff, in only his fourth BTCC race, sensationally
took the lead before the end of the opening lap only to then
have to slow the field behind the safety car following a major
accident involving his team-mate Jason Plato. The former champion’s
Toledo Cupra had smashed heavily into the pit wall after contact
with a rival at the start and it required a miracle repair
job from his mechanics to get him onto the grid for the day’s
final race.
At the re-start, Huff belied his relative lack of experience
to coolly keep Neal behind. But Neal refused to give up and
on the tenth of the race’s 27 laps swept past to take
a lead he would not relinquish. Huff kept up the pressure,
but had to settle for second ahead of Team Honda’s Tom
Chilton, who barged past Thompson at the final corner to steal
third.
Chilton had needed to drive back through the pack after losing
places at the start and he was able to catch Thompson after
robustly shoving his way past Turkington as they fought for
fourth. Turkington almost ran off the road in the incident
and this allowed Muller to sneak through and take fifth, with
Team Petronas Syntium Proton’s exciting South African
driver Shaun Watson-Smith in seventh.
Out of luck was VX Racing Junior Tech-Speed’s Michael
Bentwood. He had qualified his Vauxhall Astra Coupe second
on the starting grid, but it refused to start in the pit lane
and he was forced to start the race from the back of the grid.
He then became caught up in Plato’s crash and was forced
to retire with accident damage.
The second race’s starting grid was decided by the
finishing order of the first, but with the top ten positions
reversed thanks to new BTCC rules. This meant that starting
from pole position was HarrierZeuros Independents Trophy champion
Rob Collard’s Vauxhall Astra with the similar car of
Hines alongside him.
Hines raced into an immediate lead, while Collard became
embroiled in a seven-car battle for second position. Collard’s
race effectively ended, however, when his car’s bonnet
dramatically flew up into its windscreen and he was forced
to pit for repairs. In the closing stages, Thompson closed
in on team-mate Hines but the 22-year-old held on for his
first BTCC race victory.
“It was a dream come true,” said Hines. “I
had a few sideways moments and that nearly cost me, but I
knew so long as I kept my concentration James wouldn’t
try anything rash. It made up for the other two races which
didn’t go my way. I got bashed about a bit out there
today.”
Muller’s third position completed a Vauxhall 1-2-3
and the Luton marque has tonight left Brands comfortably in
control of the BTCC’s Manufacturers Championship. Its
VX Racing brand also leads the Teams points table.
Huff ran a strong fourth before slowing with suspension damage
caused by repeated contact with WSR’s Anthony Reid,
who survived to take the position ahead of team-mate Turkington.
Watson-Smith also fell foul of a collision with Reid while
in the top six, the incident forcing his Impian off the track
and into retirement with a broken gearbox. Watson-Smith’s
consolation was the race’s fastest lap.
The third race saw Hines’ Astra - laden with maximum
success ballast - make a slow start and by the first corner
it had been overtaken by Thompson, Reid and Muller. This is
how the top three would finish, but in the closing stages
Muller was forced to defend from the fast-closing Huff - up
from 11th place on the grid. Fourth position for Huff has
moved him up to seventh in the championship, right behind
the out-of-luck Plato, while second for Reid has put him third
in the standings as the highest-placed HarrierZeuros Independents
Trophy runner.
Fourth and fifth are Neal and Hines. After his earlier win,
Neal did not start the second race as his Honda hit mechanical
problems in its pit garage. He started the third race from
the back and, aided by the race’s fastest lap, rose
to seventh by the finish - three places ahead of the ailing
Hines.
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