Sprint race: Muller holds off Plato...and Soper

There was minor contact off the grid between Muller, James Thompson (in the lead Egg Sport Vauxhall) and Plato. Thompson tried to go around the outside of Muller at Paddock Hill Bend, but left himself open to a move from Plato, who speared his Astra Coupe into second at Druids.

Lead Peugeot driver Soper hit the back of Thompson while attempting to follow suit, allowing Muller and Plato to open a gap.

Soper, on his BTCC comeback, then made a pit stop. "The front wheel felt loose so we did a little check," he said. "The oil temperature was off the clock as well."

He rejoined half a lap down, then drove slowly, sped up when the leaders caught him and severely baulked the lead Astra of Muller, allowing Plato to close in again.

"I kept a small advantage to Jason until a yellow car started to do strange things," remarked the Frenchman. "I don't understand it. Maybe it was for TV, but it doesn't look very nice to me and I don't think it's good for Peugeot. But I've known Steve for a long time, so I'm sure there is a reason..."

Soper, the villain of the 1992 BTCC championship finale, commented: "I thought I'd wait for them to see how good they are!"

Despite the incident, Plato still couldn't find a way around Muller and settled for second, although the duo shared fastest lap.

Thompson was also delayed by Soper, which brought an end to his bid to catch the lead pair. Behind him, Egg team-mate Phil Bennett took fourth, despite an opening lap clash with Matt Neal. Bennett then caught and passed Dan Eaves, who pipped Neal for fifth in the battle for Peugeot honours.

The JSM Alfa 147 of David Pinkney expired in a massive cloud of smoke at the end of lap two, while the ABG Lexus team ran out of time to prepare Kurt Luby's IS200 and will not debut until the next round at Thruxton.

Peugeot did take a one-two in a superb Production sprint race. HTML 306 team-mates Simon Harrison and Roger Moen had a fraught battle in the early laps with the Alfa Romeo 156 of Gavin Pyper and Gareth Howell's Ford Focus.

Harrison and Pyper ran side-by-side for more than half a lap on the fourth and fifth tours, before the Alfa was bundled down by Howell and Moen. Pyper then spun at Graham Hill Bend before mounting a strong recovery to seventh, aided by a safety car interlude.

Moen, whose steering was knocked slightly out of true by a clash with Howell early on, worked his way back ahead of the Ford and chased Harrison to the finish, despite suffering from a cold.

Harrison, the 1999 National Saloon champion, was delighted with the win. Talking of the battle with Pyper, he said: "You don't really want to be going through Surtees side-by-side! I knew he was there but I couldn't see him. He's a very brave driver - that was a heartstopping moment but I couldn't let the lad get the lead."

Howell took third from GR Motorsport team-mate Mat Jackson, pleased that overnight changes on car set-up improved his handling for the race.

Toni Ruokonen (Mitsubishi) emerged to take fifth from Rob Collard's Renault Clio, although the latter will not start the feature race due to a cracked gearbox casing.

James Kaye also featured in the lead battle before he was ordered to pit his Honda due to a trailing exhaust. He rejoined one lap down before plunging into the Paddock Bend gravel on the final lap.

Already two cars had rolled at Paddock, both causing safety car periods. First was Paul O'Neill, the brother of Sporty Spice Mel C turning into Rolly Spice as he inverted his Peugeot just after the start. Then Colin Blair rolled his Alfa after a clash with Jim Edwards Jr.


1 Yvan Muller (Vauxhall Astra Coupe) 12 laps
2 Jason Plato (Vauxhall Astra Coupe) +0.710s
3 James Thompson (Egg Sport Vauxhall Astra Coupe) +2.498s
4 Phil Bennett (Egg Sport Vauxhall Astra Coupe) +15.362s
5 Dan Eaves (Peugeot 406 Coupe) +17.355s
6 Matt Neal (Peugeot 406 Coupe) +17.855s
7 Steve Soper (Peugeot 406 Coupe) +1 lap
Fastest lap: Plato and Muller, 49.254s


1 Simon Harrison (HTML Peugeot 306) 30 laps
2 Roger Moen (HTML Peugeot 306) +2.001s
3 Gareth Howell (GR Motorsport Ford Focus) +6.090s
4 Mat Jackson (GR Motorsport Ford Focus) +8.074s
5 Toni Ruokonen (CAM Motorsport Mitsubishi Carisma) +15.534s
6 Rob Collard (Collard Racing Renault Clio) +25.070s
7 Gavin Pyper (GA Janspeed Alfa Romeo 156) +25.205s
8 Tom Boardman (TBR Peugeot 306) +33.803s
9 Peter Cate (Barwell Motorsport Honda Accord) +33.996s
10 Dave Allan (Synchro Motorsport Honda Accord) +38.229s
Fastest lap: Harrison, 51.729s