Plato claims Thruxton race three win
Jason Plato bounced back from his earlier disqualification to win the third British Touring Car Championship race of the day at Thruxton
Starting third, the SEAT driver moved up a place when he passed polesitter Andrew Jordan on the first lap and then took the lead when Gordon Shedden suffered a front-right puncture - his second of the day - on lap eight.
The 2001 champion then held off the advances of Jordan's Eurotech-John Guest Honda during the middle of the race before pulling away to his 40th BTCC victory and his second of the year.
Jordan became embroiled in a four-way battle with Mat Jackson, Darren Turner and Adam Jones, which was reduced to three cars when Turner lost third place to a right-front puncture just like Shedden's and dropped to 16th after a pitstop.
The second half of the race saw championship leader Fabrizio Giovanardi join the fray. After passing Jackson for third at Church on lap 13, he and Jordan had a coming together at the Club chicane, sending the Honda off the track and forcing the Italian to slow momentarily.
BMW Dealer Team UK driver Jackson nipped past both into second while Tom Chilton suffered a puncture as he ended up in the middle of the Italian, Matt Neal and Jones while exiting the corner. Chilton retired as a result in his Team Halfords Honda.
Jordan, who retained third despite his off, retired in the pits a lap later, which allowed Giovanardi to complete the podium ahead of Neal's Vauxhall and Jones' Team Air-Cool SEAT. Colin Turkington and Tom Onslow-Cole, who won the first two races of the day, were next up.
Giovanardi now leads the championship by 17 points from Plato.
Pos Driver Car Time 1. Jason Plato SEAT 21:37.731 2. Mat Jackson BMW + 1.546 3. Fabrizio Giovanardi Vauxhall + 2.300 4. Matt Neal Vauxhall + 3.411 5. Adam Jones SEAT + 4.897 6. Colin Turkington BMW + 5.914 7. Tom Onslow-Cole Vauxhall + 8.421 8. Mike Jordan Honda + 9.123 9. Steven Kane BMW + 18.980 10. Harry Vaulkhard Chevrolet + 19.974 11. Rob Collard BMW + 25.788 12. John George Honda + 26.687 13. Jason Hughes Honda + 32.085 14. Erkut Kizilirmak Vauxhall + 37.225 15. Martyn Bell Vauxhall + 45.870 16. Darren Turner SEAT + 51.804 17. Gordon Shedden Honda + 58.712 Retirements: Driver Car Laps Alan Taylor Honda 14 Tom Chilton Honda 13 Andrew Jordan Honda 13 Stephen Jelley BMW 10 Chris Stockton SEAT 8 Gareth Howell SEAT 8
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