Sprint race: Plato bounces back

Bizarre use of the safety car left all the top BTC Touring drivers bewildered and effectively precluded any serious battle between Astra quartet. On a slightly damp track, Phil Bennett led away from pole position with Jason Plato hard on his heels and the fast-starting Thomas Erdos third in the Lexus.

Yvan Muller and James Thompson ran side-by-side round the first half of the opening lap, before Muller moved ahead. "It was a big fight with James over three corners, and without any contact at all," said Muller pointedly.

A slide from Erdos at the chicane gave Muller a run at him on the way up to Tower and indeed the Lexus was soon behind Thompson too. "We just can't get the heat into the tyres and on a damp track that makes an even bigger difference," explained Erdos.

By then though the safety car had been deployed, because Tom Boardman's Peugeot had spun at Clervaux and was in a dangerous position, and there was a copious amount of gravel on the track.

The safety car picked up Bennett, though under the quasi-handicap sprint race format, the top BTC Production car - at that time Simon Graves - is technically the leader. After several laps the BTCT cars were waved past and the BTCP leader picked up, but almost immediately the race was re-started, leaving the BTCT runners unsure whether they were racing or warming tyres. Thompson in particular was well back from the Astras ahead as he was looking for clean air to help an overheating engine.

"They made a big mistake," said Muller. "My race finished in effect with that," said Thompson," and they were far from being the only unhappy drivers.

Still Bennett led away again with Plato on his tail. By the end of the first lap though Plato was ahead, having dived past Bennett at Tower. "No contact," JP pointed out helpfully.

Muller had more trouble getting past Bennett and lost more time with an aborted move as the pair approached yellow flags. The Frenchman got past eventually on the way up to Tower and gradually reeled Plato in over the closing laps, particularly as Plato was delayed by a succession of BTCP cars at Sunny. Plato was ahead at the end and happy. "I'm pleased. It was a good clean race," he said.

Thompson took over third place when Bennett spun at the chicane. Erdos brought the Lexus home fourth ahead of Steve Soper's Peugeot. Soper had spun early on after getting on to a damp patch while trying to pass Erdos. That put him behind team mate Dan Eaves, who was the quicker 406 runner early on. As the race wore on though, Soper hauled back onto Eaves tail and passed before the end.

"Different set-ups," explained Eaves. "Mine was quicker at the start and his at the end. We'll try to combine them..."

Roger Moen took a fine BTCP win in the HTML Peugeot 306 and crossed the line ahead of all the BTCT cars. Graves' Barwell Honda had led the early running, but Moen was a threat from the start and forced his way through into the left hander before the complex. Moen soon pulled clear while Graves first ran wide at Clervaux and then spun at the chicane. That promoted Gavin Pyper's GA Janspeed Alfa 156 to second. James Kaye did his title hopes no harm with a strong third place ahead of Gareth Howell's Ford Focus. Kaye's big rival Simon Harrison's HTML Peugeot engine cut on the grid and he needed a pit stop to get the car running properly and finished a lap down. Kaye and Harrison are tied on points once more at the top...

Roger Moen (Peugeot P) 17 laps 31m13.568s
Jason Plato (Vauxhall) 31m15.623s
Yvan Muller (Vauxhall) 31m16.556s
Gavin Pyper (Alfa Romeo P) 31m17.836s
James Thompson (Vauxhall) 31m20.613s
James Kaye (Honda P) 31m23.069s
Gareth Howell (Ford P) 31m28.391s
Thomas Erdos (Lexus) 31m29.183s
Simon Graves (Honda P) 31m31.232s
Paul O'Neill (Peugeot P) 31m36.246s

Fastest laps: Muller, 1m26.894s & Moen, 1m30.700s