Jason Plato secures 70th British Touring Car race win at Croft
Jason Plato scored his 70th career victory in the British Touring Car Championship when he topped the reversed grid encounter at Croft
The double champion picked his way through the pack after a poor start to make it to fourth place when the safety car appeared on lap six following a crash between backmarkers Liam Griffin and Lea Wood, which resulted in a spectacular fire.
When racing resumed on lap 12, Plato immediately grabbed third place from Frank Wrathall (Dynojet Toyota) on the run to the opening turn and then the MG man profited when Rob Collard's WSR BMW ran wide.
Andy Neate was leading the race in the second Triple Eight Race Engineering MG6 but Plato zeroed in and snatched the initiative with a lunge into Tower corner on lap 15. He romped clear to win by nearly two seconds.
Neate was shuffled down the pack as Tom Onslow-Cole took his WSR BMW into second place and Eurotech Honda man Andrew Jordan demoted the Civic of Matt Neal to take the final spot on the podium.
Race two winner Gordon Shedden finished in sixth place in the other works Honda, just behind Collard, while the top eight was rounded out by Rob Austin's Audi A4 and the WSR BMW of Nick Foster, which had started on pole position.
The result means that Neal has retaken the points lead from team-mate Shedden.
Results - 18 laps:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Jason Plato MG 29m53.281s
2. Tom Onslow-Cole WSR BMW + 2.595s
3. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda + 5.703s
4. Matt Neal Honda + 5.951s
5. Rob Collard WSR BMW + 6.164s
6. Gordon Shedden Honda + 7.048s
7. Rob Austin Austin Audi + 8.241s
8. Nick Foster WSR BMW + 11.056s
9. Andy Neate MG + 14.133s
10. Daniel Welch Welch Proton + 14.582s
11. Jeff Smith Eurotech Honda + 15.144s
12. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford + 15.876s
13. Paul O'Neill Speedworks Toyota + 16.132s
14. Adam Morgan Speedworks Toyota + 18.709s
15. Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota + 19.065s
16. Dave Newsham ES Vauxhall + 39.949s
17. Chris James ES Vauxhall + 56.191s
Retirements:
Ollie Jackson AmD Volkswagen 16 laps
Tony Gilham Gilham Honda 12 laps
Will Bratt Austin Audi 11 laps
Aron Smith Motorbase Ford 11 laps
Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford 5 laps
Lea Wood Central Vauxhall 5 laps
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