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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