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Silverstone BTCC: Mat Jackson wins, Jason Plato goes off

Mat Jackson won a largely processional opening British Touring Car Championship race at Silverstone, as title challenger Jason Plato failed to score

It's the third meeting in a row Plato has not finished in the points in the opening race, an issue compounded by championship leader Gordon Shedden completing the podium behind Jackson and Andrew Jordan.

Motorbase Ford Focus driver Jackson was untroubled at the front, beating Shedden in the race to Copse for the first time and bolting clear on soft tyres before managing a 2.5-second gap to the end.

Shedden's Honda came under attack from Sam Tordoff's WSR BMW on the first lap but rebuffed the 125i M Sport, only to lose second to Jordan's MG next time round at Becketts.

Jordan had finished second three times this season but only in reverse-grid races, and the 2013 champion drove faultlessly to keep Shedden at bay to break that run here.

Behind the Civic Type-R driver was the Power Maxed Racing Chevrolet Cruze of Dave Newsham, who was ever-present in that fight throughout the race and kept two chasing Team BMR Volkswagen CCs at arm's length for the duration.

Colin Turkington is battling to keep himself in title contention this weekend and beat team-mate Aron Smith in their fight to fifth, with both faring much better than Plato in the third VW.

The two-time champion started poorly, losing a place to Matt Neal, and ran 11th for much of the race before going off near the end.

Having dropped away from the squabbling Rob Collard, Neal and Tom Ingram, Plato had a chance to grab an extra point when Tordoff's soft tyres gave up and the BMW dropped down the order.

But when Plato looked to line him up into Luffield, the VW ran wide, off the track and through the gravel with a puncture. It dropped him to a lapped 21st. He will also change the VW's engine before race two.

The result means Shedden extends his points lead to 21.

RESULTS - 22 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 21m47.275s
2 Andrew Jordan MG MG 2.138s
3 Gordon Shedden Honda Honda 2.325s
4 Dave Newsham Power Maxed Chevrolet 2.665s
5 Colin Turkington Team BMR Volkswagen 2.848s
6 Aron Taylor-Smith Team BMR Volkswagen 3.095s
7 Rob Collard WSR BMW 4.099s
8 Matt Neal Honda Honda 4.355s
9 Tom Ingram Speedworks Motorsport Toyota 4.597s
10 Sam Tordoff WSR BMW 8.014s
11 Rob Austin Rob Austin Racing Audi 10.143s
12 Adam Morgan Ciceley Racing Mercedes 12.265s
13 Martin Depper Eurotech Honda 13.312s
14 Josh Cook Power Maxed Chevrolet 13.768s
15 Mike Bushell AmD Ford 15.184s
16 Jeff Smith Eurotech Honda 16.141s
17 James Cole Motorbase Ford 17.748s
18 Daniel Welch Welch Motorsport Proton 23.107s
19 Alex Martin Team Parker Ford 30.252s
20 Aiden Moffat Aiden Moffat Racing Mercedes 32.786s
21 Derek Palmer Jr. Infiniti Infiniti 36.637s
22 Stewart Lines Houseman Racing Toyota 37.406s
23 Andy Priaulx WSR BMW 48.904s
24 Hunter Abbott Rob Austin Racing Audi 56.673s
25 Jason Plato Team BMR Volkswagen 1 Lap
26 Simon Belcher Handy Motorsport Toyota 2 Laps
27 Jack Goff MG MG 2 Laps
- Nicolas Hamilton AmD Audi Retirement
- Tony Gilham Team Hard Toyota Retirement
- Warren Scott Team BMR Volkswagen Withdrawn

RACE TWO QUALIFYING:
(set by race one fastest laps)

Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap
1 Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 58.464s -
2 Jack Goff MG MG 58.497s 0.033s
3 Andy Priaulx WSR BMW 58.527s 0.063s
4 Aron Taylor-Smith Team BMR Volkswagen 58.563s 0.099s
5 Andrew Jordan MG MG 58.587s 0.123s
6 Gordon Shedden Honda Honda 58.601s 0.137s
7 James Cole Motorbase Ford 58.615s 0.151s
8 Rob Collard WSR BMW 58.624s 0.160s
9 Sam Tordoff WSR BMW 58.627s 0.163s
10 Matt Neal Honda Honda 58.713s 0.249s
11 Jason Plato Team BMR Volkswagen 58.730s 0.266s
12 Colin Turkington Team BMR Volkswagen 58.742s 0.278s
13 Dave Newsham Power Maxed Chevrolet 58.767s 0.303s
14 Jeff Smith Eurotech Honda 58.800s 0.336s
15 Tom Ingram Speedworks Motorsport Toyota 58.839s 0.375s
16 Mike Bushell AmD Ford 58.890s 0.426s
17 Rob Austin Rob Austin Racing Audi 58.913s 0.449s
18 Josh Cook Power Maxed Chevrolet 58.991s 0.527s
19 Aiden Moffat Aiden Moffat Racing Mercedes 59.004s 0.540s
20 Adam Morgan Ciceley Racing Mercedes 59.025s 0.561s
21 Martin Depper Eurotech Honda 59.046s 0.582s
22 Hunter Abbott Rob Austin Racing Audi 59.199s 0.735s
23 Daniel Welch Welch Motorsport Proton 59.480s 1.016s
24 Alex Martin Team Parker Ford 59.722s 1.258s
25 Derek Palmer Jr. Infiniti Infiniti 59.896s 1.432s
26 Simon Belcher Handy Motorsport Toyota 59.971s 1.507s
27 Stewart Lines Houseman Racing Toyota 1m00.028s 1.564s
28 Nicolas Hamilton AmD Audi 59.911s 1.447s
29 Tony Gilham Team Hard Toyota - -


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