Thompson makes it a double
James Thompson doubled his victory tally at Brands Hatch on his return to the British Touring Car Championship with a lights-to-flag win in his SEAT Leon
Thompson, who had earlier triumphed in race 1 after a late pass on Vauxhall's Tom Chilton, claimed the lead at the start of the opening lap from second on the grid.
He was largely unchallenged to the flag, although runner-up Colin Turkington pressured him in the early stages in his MG ZS.
Chilton emerged from the first corner third, although a half-spin at Druids after contact with Matt Neal's Honda Integra-R dropped him down the order.
Weighed down by 36kg of ballast after his second place in race 1, Chilton could only manage seventh. However, he will start the third race of the day from pole after the post-race 2 qualifying draw.
Gavin Smith was the first Vauxhall home in fourth after spending much of the race defending, ahead of the second SEAT of Jason Plato.
Plato had earlier emerged largely unscathed from a clash with the second Dynamics Integra of Gordon Shedden on the run to Paddock, which eliminated both the Scot and the Team Eurotech Integra of Mike Jordan.
Rob Collard was sixth in the second MG, while BTCC newcomer Fabrizio Giovanardi could manage only eighth from the back of the grid, after his Vauxhall crew worked overtime to repair his Astra Sport Hatch following his race 1 accident.
CLASSIFIED:
Pos Driver Make Time
1. James Thompson SEAT Leon 20:04.481
2. Colin Turkington MG ZS + 0.543
3. Matt Neal Honda Integra + 1.039
4. Gavin Smith Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch + 10.247
5. Jason Plato SEAT Leon + 11.012
6. Robert Collard MG ZS + 12.896
7. Tom Chilton Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch + 13.229
8. Fabrizio Giovanardi Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch + 14.853
9. James Kaye Honda Civic Type R + 15.121
10. David Pinkney Honda Integra + 15.396
11. Jason Hughes MG ZS + 27.473
12. Fiona Leggate Vauxhall Astra Coupe + 41.623
NOT CLASSIFIED:
Driver Make Laps
Mark Proctor Honda Civic Type R 22
Gordon Shedden Honda Integra 19
Mike Jordan Honda Integra 19
Mark Smith Alfa Romeo 156 3
Martyn Bell BMW 320i E46 2
Fastest lap: Plato, 49.289 on lap 5
Share Or Save This Story
Did Bianchi have potential to become F1 world champion?
Autosport 75: Kubica's road to recovery and beyond
Autosport 75: When Red Bull had its own intra-team fight like Norris vs Piastri
Top five roles on Motorsport Jobs this week
VR46: 'Plan A' is to keep di Giannantonio for MotoGP 2027
What Apple TV’s Miami Grand Prix coverage means for the future of F1 in the U.S.
Top 10 worst follow-ups to title-winning F1 cars
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments