Feature race: Plato takes series lead

Poleman Andy Priaulx (Egg Sport Vauxhall Astra Coupe) converted his pole position into the lead at the rolling start, pursued by the official works Vauxhalls of Plato and Muller.

With Priaulx possibly overdefending his lead, he went too tight into Old Hall on the second lap and lost speed on exit. Plato pulled alongside to the right, while Muller, who had far more momentum than the two cars ahead, jinked to the left of Priaulx, making it three abreast.

But Muller ran out of road at the Dentons kink, bouncing across the grass all the way down to Cascades, where he spun backwards across the track and into the gravel trap, being narrowly missed by James Thompson. Plato, meanwhile, cut across to take the line into Cascades and the race lead.

"Andy was driving incredibly defensively," said Plato. "He was overdefending - there was no way I was going to lunge from that far back."

But BTCC debutant Priaulx added: "Every time I've left the door open an inch it's been taken. But with all these things you learn."

While the safety car was out, Muller was extracted from the gravel and drove around to the pits and retirement. "C'est la vie," observed the Frenchman. "I got a bit too much on the grass. End of race. I knew I would have to cross the track but I could see 'Tommo' slow and I was more worried about avoiding the barrier. OK, I've lost at least 15 points but there are still six races to go."

After the safety car belatedly made its return to the pits, Plato pulled away, but Priaulx soon drew the leading Vauxhall in again. However, a piece of debris worked its way into the Egg Astra and holed the oil sump. Priaulx left a trail of oil around the circuit and pulled in to retire.

By this stage, Thompson had already made an early pit stop after getting bottled up behind the Peugeot of Steve Soper, although his plan to gain track position backfired when the left front wheel jammed.

Soper was the next front-runner to stop, with Plato pitting later and, amazingly, rejoining behind the Peugeot. Although Thomas Erdos (Lexus) led the race from Tim Harvey (Alfa Romeo), both had yet to stop and Soper was effectively the race leader.

"I kind of overcompensated on the oil [from Priaulx's car] a little bit - the stop was OK," observed Plato, who had Thompson right behind. But the skinheaded Yorkshireman had radioed the Triple Eight pit to tell Plato he would hold station while they both tried to catch Soper, whose Peugeot, according to JP, was "ballistic on the straights".

Eventually a haze of oil smoke appeared behind the 406 Coupe, signalling major problems. Just as the black and orange flag was unfurled, Soper parked up at Knicker Brook after being within 10 laps of a fairytale win in his 100th BTCC start. "I don't know what you have to do," he said. "We were just deciding whether to continue or pull in, and while we were discussing that it broke. Credit to the boys in the pits - they put me in the lead."

So Plato inherited a small advantage over Thompson, which he maintained to the end. Dan Eaves, driving the other Peugeot (which did not enjoy the recent developments Soper was carrying) took his first overall BTCC podium with a steady run to third.

Erdos should have been fourth in the Lexus, but a problem with the air jack at his pit stop relegated him to sixth behind the Alfas of Mark Blair and Tim Harvey, which defied convention by both running trouble free all day. Blair, on his first BTCC race of the millennium, took an excellent and unexpected fourth spot, despite Harvey (who also had a slow stop) closing late on.

The Production class provided another win for Roger Moen, who made light contact with HTML Peugeot team mate Simon Harrison at the hairpin as he took the lead on the 11th lap. From then on the Norwegian lapped only as quickly as necessary to hang on for his second win of the day.

Gavin Pyper, who also briefly got ahead of Harrison, was third, and was far enough clear of the rest to hang onto the place despite his Alfa losing fifth gear in the closing laps. James Kaye was fourth in his Barwell Honda, moving up when the clutch in Mat Jackson's GR Ford Focus blew, relegating the yellow machine to seventh.


Jason Plato (Vauxhall Astra Coupe) 33 laps in 52m52.624s
James Thompson (Egg Sport Vauxhall Astra Coupe) +2.312s
Dan Eaves (Peugeot 406 Coupe) +25.322s
Mark Blair (JSM Alfa Romeo 147) +50.818s
Tim Harvey (JSM Alfa Romeo 147) +52.168s
Thomas Erdos (TMSR Lexus IS200) +52.946s
P Roger Moen (HTML Peugeot 306) - 1 lap
P Simon Harrison (HTML Peugeot 306) - 1 lap
P Gavin Pyper (GA Janspeed Alfa Romeo 156) - 1 lap
P James Kaye (Barwell Honda Accord) - 1 lap
P Gareth Howell (GR Ford Focus) - 1 lap
P Rick Kraemer (GR Ford Focus) - 1 lap

Fastest laps: Plato 1m28.220s; Harrison 1m32.174s

Points: 1 Plato 260; 2 Muller 250; 3 Thompson 231; 4 Bennett 116; 5 Soper 82; 6 Eaves 79; 7 Erdos 48; 8 Luby 33; 9 Harvey 28; 10 Priaulx 15.

Production: 1 Harrison 177; 2 Kaye 168; 3 Moen 167; 4 Jackson 129; 5 Howell 114; 6 Pyper 94.