Brands Hatch BTCC: Andrew Jordan resists Jason Plato in opener
Reigning champion Andrew Jordan won the opening round of the 2014 British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch
Jordan narrowly held the lead away from pole as Jason Plato's MG moved to defend from the fast-starting rear-wheel-drive WSR BMW of Colin Turkington.
Eurotech Honda Civic driver Jordan caught a slide at Paddock before he and Plato drew away from the field.
Although Plato remained close throughout the race, he never looked like making a move and Jordan started his title defence with a lights-to-flag victory.
Turkington held third as far as Clearways on lap one, when Matt Neal forced his way by with his Honda Civic Tourer. They were joined by Gordon Shedden in the second Honda estate and the trio battled it out for the early part of the race.
Just after half-distance Shedden passed Turkington at Clearways, with the help of another nudge. The BMW then fell back, being overtaken by Rob Austin's Audi.
Austin closed on the Honda duo, but the trio were almost 10 seconds down on Jordan, with Neal giving the Civic Tourer a podium on its debut.
Despite defending robustly from team-mate Rob Collard and the BMR VW Passat of Aron Smith, Turkington (with his bodywork flapping) could not hold them off and ended up eighth.
BTCC rookie Tom Ingram made a poor start from sixth on the grid, but held off the MG of Sam Tordoff for ninth in his Speedworks Toyota Avensis.
Motorbase's difficult weekend continued. Mat Jackson made it up to sixth early on, only to be pushed off by Smith at Clearways. The Ford Focus driver recovered to 15th.
That was one place behind Fabrizio Giovanardi, the 2007 and '08 champion only making it to 14th after throttle issues limited him to 18th in qualifying.
Returning former champion Alain Menu's race was ruined when he lost his BMR VW Passat at Paddock on the opening lap. He then pitted before going back out to finish 28th.
Results - 24 laps: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda 19m46.613s 2. Jason Plato MG +0.536s 3. Matt Neal Honda +9.396s 4. Gordon Shedden Honda +9.806s 5. Rob Austin RAR Audi +10.156s 6. Rob Collard WSR BMW +13.133s 7. Aron Smith BMR VW +14.522s 8. Colin Turkington WSR BMW +15.341s 9. Tom Ingram Speedworks Toyota +15.736s 10. Sam Tordoff MG +16.188s 11. Nick Foster WSR BMW +16.521s 12. Jack Goff BMR Vauxhall +16.761s 13. Adam Morgan Ciceley Mercedes +19.412s 14. Fabrizio Giovanardi Motorbase Ford +20.231s 15. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford +21.881s 16. Warren Scott BMR Vauxhall +22.085s 17. Dave Newsham AmD Ford +24.080s 18. Hunter Abbott RAR Audi +24.545s 19. Jack Clarke Motorbase Ford +31.842s 20. Glynn Geddie UA Toyota +33.914s 21. Simon Belcher Speedworks Toyota +43.068s 22. Lea Wood Houseman Toyota +43.703s 23. Martin Depper Eurotech Honda +1 lap 24. Robb Holland Rotek Audi +1 lap 25. Aiden Moffat Moffat Chevrolet +1 lap 26. Ollie Jackson Welch Proton +1 lap 27. Chris Stockton BTC Chevrolet +1 lap 28. Alain Menu BMR VW +3 laps Retirements: James Cole UA Toyota 14 laps Marc Hynes MG 0 laps
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