Silverstone BTCC: Jason Plato fends off Andrew Jordan to win again
Jason Plato scored his second British Touring Car Championship victory of the day at Silverstone, and the 80th of his career, but only after a pulsating duel with series leader Andrew Jordan
Plato led from pole position, and knew he was in for a tougher time carrying 45kg of success ballast.
Colin Turkington made his trademark flying start in the rear-wheel-drive WSR BMW, and got alongside Plato's Triple Eight MG6 at Copse from the second row.
Turkington tried to brave it around the outside at Becketts, but Plato clung on, and this allowed Tordoff to get a run on the compromised Turkington.
But Tordoff got a biff from Turkington's team-mate Rob Collard moments later at Brooklands. Collard was not long for the race due to an electrical issue.
The safety car was then required to clear up the crashed cars of Frank Wrathall, Rob Austin and Tom Onslow-Cole.
At the restart, Plato led Turkington, but Tordoff made it an MG one-two when he passed Turkington through Woodcote.
The man to watch was Jordan, who opted to start his Eurotech Honda on the soft-compound tyres. He had already zapped past Matt Neal at Becketts, and followed Tordoff past Turkington.
He passed Tordoff at Becketts on lap 11, and closed down Plato's two-second lead as the race entered the closing stages.
In a fantastic battle for the win, Jordan put his title bid on the line by attacking Plato for the lead, nosing ahead at Becketts, but only for Plato to battle back.
They touched at Luffield, as Plato inched his MG back inside the Honda, and they brushed door handles again through Woodcote as Plato made the move stick.
Plato emerged triumphant to further extend his winning record in the series, crossing the line a couple of tenths ahead of Jordan, who had Aron Smith's Motorbase Ford Focus, also on soft tyres, right behind him at the finish.
Tordoff was a distant fourth, well clear of Turkington.
Works Honda duo Neal and Gordon Shedden were sixth and seventh.
Results - 25 laps: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Jason Plato MG 26m52.786s 2. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda +0.244s 3. Aron Smith Motorbase Ford +0.410s 4. Sam Tordoff MG +2.064s 5. Colin Turkington WSR BMW +4.818s 6. Matt Neal Honda +7.314s 7. Gordon Shedden Honda +7.525s 8. Dave Newsham Speedworks Toyota +7.780s 9. Daniel Welch Welch Proton +9.626s 10. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford +12.553s 11. Howard Fuller Hard VW +17.858s 12. Will Bratt Austin Audi +20.537s 13. Nick Foster WSR BMW +21.038s 14. Aiden Moffat Hard VW +24.925s 15. Jack Goff Hard Vauxhall +29.899s 16. Lea Wood Wood Vauxhall +32.937s* 17. Andy Neate IP Chevrolet +38.057s Retirements: Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford 22 laps* Adam Morgan Ciceley Toyota 10 laps Ollie Jackson Speedworks Toyota 7 laps Rob Collard WSR BMW 2 laps Warren Scott BMR VW 2 laps Tom Onslow-Cole Motorbase Ford 1 lap Rob Austin Austin Audi 0 laps Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota 0 laps Jeff Smith Eurotech Honda DNS * S2000
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