Race 2: Hines holds on
Luke Hines managed to convert pole position into his second BTCC victory in race two at Snetterton. The youngster in the factory Vauxhall led all the way, despite an off-track excursion at Sear when he ran wide on oil
Hines couldn't quite break clear of the pack the way team-mate James Thompson had in the first race and spent most of it keeping an eye on MG driver Anthony Reid who scored a fighting second place despite an engine mapping problem and another coming together with arch-rival Yvan Muller.
Not exactly friends in the first place after various panel-banging bouts over the years, this incident could have ended in proper tears for Reid and Muller.
Heading into Coram on lap three Muller gave second-placed Reid a tap and the MG slewed sideways at more than 100mph. Reid caught it but lost the position. The Scot, with a typically feisty response, waited until they reached Riches and gave the factory Vauxhall a full-on whack from behind and took the place back.
"I'm not happy with Yvan Muller," Reid said afterwards. "All these people than say Muller is gentleman, well I'll tell you he is no gentleman on the track. He pushed me at Coram and that's dangerous. I held it together, but I'm not happy with his driving standards."
Muller unsurprisingly, was unrepentant. "I clipped Reid, he went sideways, but no big problem," he said. "Then on the next lap he just hit me out of the way. I suppose if drivers didn't do this sort of thing then life would be too simple."
SEAT's Jason Plato fought his way up to third, aided by a clash between the three Hondas of James Kaye, Dan Eaves and Matt Neal. Eaves was spun out and Neal picked up terminal damage, while the SEAT snuck through the tyre smoke to move ahead of all of them.
Plato then had his own scrap with Muller, who was struggling with balance problems and was eventually forced to settle for fourth, but crucially three places ahead of title rival Thompson. Colin Turkington was fifth and Kaye sixth.
Thompson spent most of the race stuck behind Rob Collard until a mistake was made by the privateer and both Thommo and Robert Huff went through.
Luke Hines Vauxhall 19m45.453s
Anthony Reid MG +0.726s
Jason Plato +1.104s
Yvan Muller Vauxhall +5.560s
Colin Turkington MG +5.812s
James Kaye Honda +9.295s
James Thompson Vauxhall +10.728s
Robert Huff SEAT +12.096s
Robert Collard Vauxhall +12.552s
Tom Chilton Honda +7.372s
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