Sprint race: Muller 'rains' in the dusk

Muller followed BTC Production winner Simon Graves across the line, just 0.092s behind as the quasi-handicap system came close to its ideal dead-heat. From pole position Plato made a terrible start and immediately dropped behind second row starters Muller and Plato.

"I had too much front camber, so the tread footprint was tiny," explained the Briton, who had to put up with a strong challenge from Thomas Erdos in the Lexus at the first corner. The real action was between Muller and Thompson who shot out of the blocks and ran side-by-side into Riches.

"I thought that if it was like that I'd just stay flat and see what happened," said Muller who was on the inside and managed to keep his car there. Thompson too held station round Riches, but at Sear as he tried again to hang on round the outside again, he ran wide and Muller was into the lead.

Over the early laps the pair ran nose to tail, with Thompson always threatening to pass.

"My car was better in the early laps," admitted Thompson, "so it was a disappointing race in the end."

Muller felt he had the edge on some parts of the track too and that overall they were evenly matched. The difference when it came was traffic. Muller came across three BTC Production cars trying to run side-by-side into the Esses.

"I went through the middle and it was OK, but then the pink Peugeot [Tom Boardman] hit me on the right and the Focus [Rick Kraemer] seemed to want to close the door on me on the left and we hit hard."

Muller survived but the skittled BTC production cars brought Thompson almost to a halt and Plato pounced to take second place. By the time Thompson got up to speed again he was condemned to third place.

At the front Muller, worried that his intimate moment with the Ford had caused damage, settled into a much more comfortable lead. Plato could not live with his team mate, having chosen a near dry-track set-up where Muller judged the intermediate conditions better and had full wet settings on his Astra.

The fourth Astra of Phil Bennett, which was supposed to start from the front row, pulled into the pits on the second warm-up lap with transmission trouble. He failed to start the race.

Behind the top three, Erdos soon found that he'd set the Lexus up too stiff for the conditions and had to be content with a lonely fourth place, well clear of the Peugeots, which had taken the biggest gamble and fitted slicks at the front. It was emphatically the wrong choice.

Dan Eaves was 'lapped' by the top BTCP cars and Steve Soper only just managed to stay in front of them at the flag. Eaves pitted for wet tread fronts and lapped at the end on Erdos's pace.

BTCP was essentially settled at the second corner. Simon Harrison and Gareth Howell got away best in Peugeot 306 and Ford Focus, but Honda man Graves was right with them. At Sear the three touched and Graves emerged ahead.

"It was dark and I didn't see a thing officer," commented the closely following Rob Collard when asked to shed light on the incident. From there Graves held on well and then gradually eased away to an excellent win. Howell was second, initially hassled by the impressive Collard Renault Clio, but ultimately easing away.

Collard took a fine third from Mat Jackson's Focus, Harrison and his title rival James Kaye. These three fought an often entertaining battle and on the last lap the brake-troubled Kaye gave Harrison a hefty shove into the Esses.

Both survived, and Kaye declined to take advantage while Harrison sorted out his ensuing slide. "I might as well stay at home if I'm not going to have a go," said Kaye later.

The pair are now tied on points at the top of the BTCP standings while Plato is still one ahead of Muller in BTCT.


1 Simon Graves (Honda P) 24m59.964s
2 Yvan Muller (Vauxhall) 25m00.056s
3 Jason Plato (Vauxhall) 25m02.738s
4 Gareth Howell (Ford P) 25m05.336s
5 Robert Collard (Renault P) 25m07.186s
6 James Thompson (Vauxhall) 25m07.461s
7 Mat Jackson (Ford P) 25m14.056s
8 Simon Harrison (Peugeot P) 25m15.796s
9 James Kaye (Honda P) 25m16.893s
10 Mark Lemmer (Honda P) 25m25.824s
Fastest laps: Muller, 1m23.817s & Graves, 1m27.256s