VICTORIES FOR MULLER, PLATO & TURKINGTON AT MONDELLO
Yvan Muller, Jason Plato and Colin Turkington were the winners
of today’s (Sunday) three action-packed Green Flag MSA
British Touring Car rounds at Ireland’s Mondello Park.
Northern Irish driver Turkington becomes the eighth different
race winner from the season’s 15 rounds so far, but
it is Muller who leaves the County Kildare circuit at the
half-way stage of the season with a slender four–point
lead in the championship over Vauxhall team-mate James Thompson.
Reigning champion Muller won the first race from pole position,
but was under massive pressure throughout from Anthony Reid,
in WSR’s MG ZS. Muller’s performance was all the
more impressive considering he had qualified and raced with
maximum success ballast following his win in the previous
round at Oulton Park. Meanwhile, Reid’s second place
gave him victory in the HarrierZeuros Independents Trophy
which he already leads.
Reid’s team-mate Turkington followed in third after
fending off Matt Neal’s Computeach Racing with Halfords
Honda Civic. Fifth and sixth were Vauxhall drivers Thompson
and Luke Hines, with Team Honda’s Tom Chilton in seventh.
They each gained places at the expense of SEAT Sport UK
driver Plato who – with the BTCC’s top ten reversed
grid rule in mind – tactically dropped back to ninth
behind team-mate Robert Huff to ensure himself of a front
row starting grid position for the second race. VX Racing
Junior Techspeed’s Michael Bentwood took tenth to guarantee
pole position in his Vauxhall Astra.
Bentwood’s big chance of a maiden victory, however,
ended on the first lap when he was sent into a spin by Huff.
Plato and Huff went on to cross the line first and second
in their Toledos, much to the delight of a celebrating SEAT
team on the pit wall. Huff, though, was later excluded from
the results for his incident with Bentwood.
This promoted Vauxhall trio Thompson, Hines and Muller to
second, third and fourth and Reid to fifth, again as the highest-placed
Independents Trophy driver, the four drivers covered by little
over a second. The result meant Thompson took four points
out of Muller to reduce the gap between them to seven heading
into the day’s final race.
Turkington once more followed home Reid, this time in sixth,
ahead of an inspired James Kaye, up from the back of the grid
in Synchro Motorsport’s Honda Civic. Kaye was the Japanese
manufacturer’s top finisher after passing Chilton in
the official team’s car.
Chilton had held third for much of the race, stubbornly
refusing to allow a train of cars past him with some excellent
defensive driving. This caused the drivers behind to trip
up over one another but, on the 11th of the 14 laps, Thompson
hussled his way past and this opened the path for the rest
to file through.
Taking tenth, to score a point on his debut BTCC weekend
and in front of his home crowd, was Ireland’s Gavin
Smith in Team Sureterm’s Vauxhall Astra.
Former champion Plato’s win ensured he started the
day’s third race from pole position and for much of
the encounter looked to be on course for his second victory
of the day. By lap nine he had opened out a substantial lead
over the pack behind as Thompson sought to hold on to second
position. But Plato’s chances of winning were effectively
ended by the safety car which was sent on to the track to
bunch up the field so marshals could recover Neal’s
crashed Honda. This also enabled a fed-up Reid to catch up
to the field – the WSR driver had had to dive into the
pit lane for repairs after one of his MG’s doors fell
off following an earlier brush with Neal.
Also out by this stage in a race of real attrition were
Bentwood, Kaye and Smith, Sureterm’s other debutant
Stefan Hodgetts and defending Independents Trophy champion
Rob Collard. Huff, having moved up to eighth after his earlier
exclusion put him to the back of the grid, would also retire
soon after the re-start.
When the race got back under way, it was Turkington who
was the man on the move and within a couple of corners he
attacked Plato under braking. Their cars touched and Turkington
barged his way into the lead, followed by Muller. Plato, now
down to third, tried to re-pass Muller just a couple of corners
later but they also controversially clashed and ran off the
track.
This left Turkington with a clear lead and he came home
to win from Hines by four seconds. The result truly laid to
rest Turkington’s Mondello ghost – he had failed
to start the previous four BTCC races at the circuit through
food poisoning and mechanical problems.
“It’s just unbelievable,” said Turkington.
“Words cannot describe what this means, especially to
have done it at Mondello and in front of all my home support
and particularly considering what happened in the last two
years. It is such a great feeling. I’m off out in Dublin
tonight if anybody wants to come along!”
In third, behind second-placed Hines – who enjoyed
his strongest weekend in terms of form this season –
came Computeach Racing with Halfords’ Dan Eaves, who
was under constant attack in the closing stages from Thompson
and a rapidly-closing Chilton. Eaves’ third place gave
him his second Independents Trophy win of the season.
Plato retired as a result of his collision with Muller,
but the Frenchman was able to continue. His Astra’s
handling had been damaged in the contact, but he just managed
to keep back an overjoyed Jason Hughes, a career-best seventh
in the tiny Kartworld Racing team’s MG ZS.
Carl Breeze, in Sureterm’s Alfa Romeo, finished eighth,
just ahead of the recovering Reid. Tenth was Team Petronas
Syntium Proton’s South African driver Shaun Watson-Smith,
who again proved extremely rapid in the team’s Impian
during the course of the weekend.
The BTCC now takes a six-week break before returning to
action for rounds 16, 17 and 18 at the Croft circuit in North
Yorkshire on 24-25 July.
While Muller and Thompson enjoy a clear lead in their fight
for the title, Reid has moved past Neal for third in the championship.
Turkington’s big points haul from the weekend has thrust
him past Neal into second behind Reid as WSR enjoys a lock-out
at the top of the HarrierZeuros Independents Trophy. Vauxhall
and its competition brand VX Racing have both extended their
leads in the Manufacturers and Teams championships.
|
