BTCC Croft: Neal bumps past Cook to win race 2 thriller
Honda's Matt Neal pulled off a spectacular bump-and-run victory on the final lap of a dramatic second British Touring Car Championship race at Croft
Team Dynamics driver Neal, who had started seventh on the grid, muscled his way past the identical BTC Racing-run Civic Type R of Josh Cook at Sunny In at the last gasp.
It was only the last of the major incidents of the race, in which the top two in the championship - Colin Turkington and Ash Sutton - both failed to score points.
Turkington started his West Surrey Racing-run BMW 330i M Sport from third on the grid, but an uncharacteristic error into Clervaux on the opening lap sent him into the gravel trap and then the barrier, causing a brief safety-car interlude.
Sutton took advantage to move up to third, chasing Cook and the AmD-run MB Motorsport Honda of Jake Hill.
That was until the sixth lap, when Sutton made one of his habitual late lunges into the hairpin, only for the two cars to collide and briefly get locked together.
Both appeared to have survived, but Sutton had sustained a front-right puncture and his Laser Tools Racing Infiniti Q50 flew off the road at the chicane.
Sutton pitted and rejoined, but finished a lap down.
Neal was now up into third, and he passed Hill for second with six laps remaining.
Cook was clearly struggling on the maximum 60kg of success ballast for his victory in the opening race, and Neal, on 30kg, reeled him in.
They were together with two laps remaining, and Neal made a bid at Sunny on the penultimate lap before his attempt on the final tour.
The two Hondas made contact, and Cook did a stunning job to hold the sideways slide and continue still in second.
The incident meant that the top four finishers were covered by 1.616 seconds, with Neal heading home Cook, Hill and the Speedworks Motorsport-run Toyota Corolla of Tom Ingram.
Ingram's performance continued a superb recovery from being banished to the back row of the grid for race one.
He began the second race from 13th on the grid, but charged his way up the order, inflicting some battle wounds upon the Toyota along the way.
The second works Honda of Dan Cammish was another on the move, the Yorkshireman picking his way through a hectic fight with Bobby Thompson (Trade Price Cars Audi), Adam Morgan (Ciceley Mercedes) and Tom Oliphant (WSR BMW) to move into sixth.
Cammish then passed the BTC Honda of Tom Chilton with four laps remaining to take fifth, with Chilton completing a Honda 1-2-3-5-6.
Chilton will start the reversed-grid finale from pole, after Neal drew the number 6 in the post-race lottery.
Oliphant was seventh from Thompson and the Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai of Senna Proctor, while Stephen Jelley emerged from the midfield scrum to claim 10th in his Team Parker Racing BMW 125i M Sport.
Rory Butcher was another leading contender in the wars. He was sent wide by contact with the out-of-control Turkington at the start, went into the pits, and returned to set fastest lap on his way to 19th place.
BTCC Croft race 2 results - 16 laps
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Josh Cook | BTC Racing | Honda | 23m10.427s |
2 | Matt Neal | Team Dynamics | Honda | 0.171s |
3 | Jake Hill | AmD Tuning | Honda | 0.635s |
4 | Tom Ingram | Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota | 1.087s |
5 | Dan Cammish | Team Dynamics | Honda | 4.673s |
6 | Tom Chilton | BTC Racing | Honda | 8.164s |
7 | Tom Oliphant | WSR | BMW | 8.346s |
8 | Bobby Thompson | Trade Price Cars Racing | Audi | 8.960s |
9 | Senna Proctor | Excelr8 Motorsport | Hyundai | 14.044s |
10 | Stephen Jelley | Team Parker Racing | BMW | 14.944s |
11 | Aiden Moffat | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti | 16.867s |
12 | Chris Smiley | Excelr8 Motorsport | Hyundai | 18.523s |
13 | Adam Morgan | Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes | 22.306s |
14 | Sam Osborne | AmD Tuning | Honda | 22.447s |
15 | Mike Bushell | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 22.740s |
16 | Andy Neate | Motorbase Performance | Ford | 27.451s |
17 | Jack Butel | Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes | 28.371s |
18 | Jack Goff | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 30.616s |
19 | Rory Butcher | Motorbase Performance | Ford | 46.106s |
20 | Ash Sutton | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti | 1 Lap |
- | Michael Crees | BTC Racing | Honda | Retirement |
- | Ollie Jackson | Motorbase Performance | Ford | Retirement |
- | Colin Turkington | WSR | BMW | Retirement |
- | Carl Boardley | Team Hard | BMW | Not started |
- | Nicolas Hamilton | Team Hard | Volkswagen | Not started |
- | Jac Constable | Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall | Not started |
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