Inside BTCC - Issue 8 - Donington Park (April 2012)

INSIDEBTCC.COM issue 8 : apr 2012

PLUS - WE FIND OUT WHAT IT TAKES TO GET ON THE GRID

ADVANTAGE PLATO

MG LEADS AFTER DEBUT SUCCESS

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PARK PREVIEW / FRANK WRATHALL / MUCH MUCH DONINGTON

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WELCOME...

Everyone expected Brands Hatch to be full of drama when the new season got underway, but few would have predicted that it would be Jason Plato who headed away from the opening meeting of the season sitting pretty in top spot.

Triple Eight worked miracles to get the new MG6 ready for the weekend and Plato rewarded them with victory in the final race of the weekend, which gave him the championship lead after solid performances in races one and two. The weekend wasn’t without controversy for the double champion however, as a clash with Dave Newsham in race one saw him fined and given penalty points.

There were also wins at Brands Hatch for Rob Collard in the first weekend for eBay Motors with turbo power, while defending champion Matt Neal took the first ever win for an NGTC-spec car to lay down an early marker in the championship race.

In this edition of Inside BTCC, we look back at how the action

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unfolded at Brands Hatch – and there was plenty of it – while we also look ahead to the upcoming second round of the campaign at Donington Park.

We also catch up with John Thorne and former BTCC racer Simon Blanckley to discuss what some drivers will do to get on the grid and find out how much of a challenge the Dynojet team faced to get on the grid in time for Brands Hatch with its heavily revised Toyota, which was one of the final cars to be finished before the campaign got underway.

As usual, you can get in touch with us via e-mail on contact@ insidebtcc.com, through Twitter on @InsideBTCC or via Facebook. com/InsideBTCC. If you have feedback, let us know and we also welcome questions for the BTCC’s pitlane reporter Alan Hyde, who we will be speaking to at Donington this weekend for an upcoming edition of the magazine.

Until next time...

Inside BTCC

Jakob Ebrey

Inside BTCC

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S T TEN

N O C

IN THIS ISSUE...

BRANDS HATCH REVIEW Results, reports & analysis from rounds 1, 2 & 3

6-9

NEWS IN BRIEF The latest updates from the BTCC paddock

10

PUTTING IT ON THE LINE The lengths some drivers will go to...

12 - 15

WRATHALL POTENTIAL Looking good for Frank despite a tough opening weekend

16 - 17

DONINGTON PARK PREVIEW Looking ahead to rounds 4, 5 & 6

18 - 19

ROLLERCOASTER RIDES Picture special as stars head to the theme park

20- 21

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS Points tables after Brands Hatch

24 - 25

THE SEASON SO FAR Results at-a-glance

26 - 27

ABOUT INSIDE BTCC...

Inside BTCC is an independent publication that is in no way endorsed by, or affiliated to the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship or its organisers.

Photos are credit PSP IMAGES or JAKOB EBREY unless otherwise stated.

To get in touch, please email: CONTACT@INSIDEBTCC.COM. Written, produced and edited by Matt Salisbury and Matt Lamprell.

Front cover images: Main - Plato leads the way at Brands Hatch (Tozer/PSP); Top right - Thorney Motorsport Vauxhall Insignia (Jakob Ebrey).

Back cover: Grid Girl (Dzenis/PSP).

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MATT LAMPRELL REPORTS

PLATO WINS ON MG DEBUT DOUBLE CHAMP HEADS STANDINGS; COLLARD & NEAL ALSO WIN AT SEASON OPENER

Pics: Jakob Ebrey

Jason Plato has taken an early lead in the 2012 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship after a successful debut outing for the MG KX Momentum Racing team at Brands Hatch.

Collard, who started on the second row of the grid behind surprise polesitter Dave Newsham and leading NGTC racer Neal.

Plato leads the points standings after a win and two further top five finishes at the first meeting of the year.

The double champion claimed victory in the third race on the 1.2mile Indy circuit, after Rob Collard and Matt Neal had won earlier in the day.

Newsham led off the line in his Team ES Racing Vauxhall Vectra, but Collard was ahead by the time they exited the Druids hairpin for the first time. The safety car greeted them at the end of the opening lap, with Adam Morgan making an early exit from his first BTCC race into the Paddock Hill gravel trap.

The spoils in the first race of the year went to eBay Motors driver

When racing resumed, Collard came under pressure and ceded the

lead as they headed on to the straight to start lap nine. Neal claimed the lead, but was followed through into second by Newsham.

Collard looked to be struggling when he dropped to fourth behind Jason Plato.

However, there was more action to come.

Newsham took the lead from Neal, with Plato following him through.

The Vauxhall led the MG into Paddock, but a tap from Plato sent Newsham off into the gravel. Collard found himself back in the lead as the safety car came out again while the Vectra was recovered.

Good weekend: Jason Plato Leads the championship with a win on the first outing for the new Triple Eight-built MG.

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Rob Collard First win since 2009 makes him the top S2000 contender

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Tozer/PSP Collard held on for victory, ahead of Neal and teammate Tom Onslow-Cole. It was the first win in over two years for West Surrey Racing and was enough to bring signs of emotion to the face of experienced team boss Dick Bennetts.

Collard started race two from pole position and led by over a second at the end of the first lap. Just as in race one, it was Neal and Plato who challenged Collard for the lead. The front three ran nose-to-tail on track for several laps before the NGTC pair made their pace count out of Clearways at the end of lap five.

The race was interrupted on lap eight after Nick Foster

rolled his BMW on the way down Graham Hill. It was an unusual incident that saw the eBay Motors driver connect with the tyre barrier and then land on his roof. Foster was unharmed but it was the end of his racing weekend.

After the restart, Plato took the lead from Neal. It took several attempts, but Plato made what was quickly becoming the move of the weekend to go through into the lead out of Clearways.

However, Plato ran wide next time around and Neal was back into the lead – and held on until the chequered flag.

Neal’s victory was the first for an NGTC car in the series. Frank Wrathall and Rob

Austin both managed runner-up spots in 2011 but it didn’t take Neal long to go one better and secure the first victory.

It was an NGTC-filled podium, with Andrew Jordan pipping Plato in the closing stages to take second for Pirtek Racing.

The day’s final race started with AmD Tuning.com’s Ollie Jackson on pole position after the top eight finishers from race two were reversed to form the grid.

Rob Collard started third on the grid, but used the rear-wheel drive power of the BMW to lead into Paddock Hill Bend.

Mat Jackson was up into second for Redstone Racing, with

Bad weekend: Nick Foster Upside down excursion in race two brought his weekend to an early end.

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Rob Austin third and Ollie Jackson down to fourth.

Just as earlier in the day, it was to be an interrupted race. Only this time it was red flags rather than a safety car.

It started when Mat Jackson ran through the gravel on the outside of Paddock on lap four. The Ford started dropping oil on the run up to Druids – his visit to the gravel trap having ripped an oil hose from the Focus.

ADVANTAGE NGTC AT SEASON OPENER NGTC cars enjoyed the better start to the 2012 BTCC season at Brands Hatch.

Our table below compares NGTC and

S2000 runners in some of the key areas.

We’ll keep you updated as the year goes on...

NGTC S2000 Races won

2

1

Fastest laps

2

1

Pole positions

1

0

62

12

231

175

Laps led Points scored

Adam Morgan A ‘character building’ experience on his BTCC debut.

Inside BTCC

Plato won the race, with Jordan finishing second.

Dave Newsham made up for some of his race one disappointment by stepping on to the podium in third.

Collard led for some eight laps in the restarted race, but his lead then came under threat from the NGTC runners behind him.

Andrew Jordan was up to third early on, before passing Rob Austin to take second. The Honda driver then claimed the lead from Collard at Mclaren in the closing stages of lap eight.

Jason Plato said, “You couldn’t write the script for that one could you! It’s been a huge challenge through the winter to get here, but the faith shown in me and the Triple Eight team by our partners has been fantastic and the feeling now to win on our debut is just incredible! It’s my finest race weekend and I just can’t believe we’re leading the championship!“

Plato pulled the same move on Collard next time around and from

Ian Harrison, MG KX Momentum Racing Team Principal added,

While it’s early to be talking championship chances, wins for Neal and Plato in the NGTC machines could be an ominous sign for the S2000 contenders.

Collard took a win to redress the balance somewhat, but it’s hard to see anything but improvement coming from the relatively fresh out of the box Honda and MG. Next up is Donington Park, where Matt Neal, Andrew Jordan and Mat Jackson took wins last year.

NEWSHAM STUNS WITH SENSATIONAL POLE

He may have topped the pre-season test session at Silverstone, but it still came as something of a surprise when Team ES Racing’s Dave Newsham claimed pole position for the first race of the season at Brands Hatch.

The Vauxhall Vectra driver even overcame losing his fastest time early on in the session – one of many to be penalised for exceeding the track limits in throughout the weekend.

RACE RESULTS - TOP 10s

Newsham.

RACE ONE TOP TEN:

After clinching his first BTCC pole position, Newsham said, “I’ve very surprised because we had some problems in the earlier practice sessions but over the moon at the same time. Our race pace seems good as well and I’m certainly not fazed at all by starting from pole position – I’ve had plenty of experience of that in other formulae. Besides I’m here to win.”

1 Collard (S2000) 26:15.638/27 Laps; 2 Neal (NGTC) + 0.329; 3 OnslowCole (S2000) + 1.114; 4 Plato (NGTC) +1.150; 5 Shedden (NGTC) + 3.872; 6 Jordan (NGTC) + 5.156; 7 M. Jackson (S2000) +7.339; 8 Austin (NGTC) +7.489; 9 Foster (S2000) +7.581; 10 J. Smith (NGTC) + 7.886.

Newsham’s best lap of 48.483 seconds put him just over a tenth ahead of Matt Neal, making it a front row split between S2000 and NGTC runners. He set his time early in the session and was back in the pitlane in the closing stages, watching on as others tried, but failed to go faster.

Matt Neal’s second place on the grid was an impressive performance from the Honda Yuasa Racing Team on its debut with the new NGTCspec Civic. Rob Collard lined up third for eBay Motors, ahead of Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan. The third row was shared by Tom OnslowCole and Jason Plato.

It was a stunning start to the new season for Team ES Racing, which has stepped up to running two cars this year, with Chris James alongside

Just as for Neal, Plato’s performance suggests there is plenty more to come from the new MG once it has spent a bit more time out on track.

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Dzenis/PSP

“I’m absolutely delighted, if a little amazed at what we have been able to achieve this weekend.

But we have a fantastic crew at Triple Eight and with the amount of hard work everyone has put in to get us here, it’s no less than they deserve. I’m sure there will be tougher days ahead and so we won’t rest on our laurels, but a debut win is a special achievement.”

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The race was stopped while the chaos was cleared. The remaining cars made their way back to the grid and formed up for a reduced-distance 20-lap race. Rob Collard led at the red flag and so started from pole, just ahead of Rob Austin in his Audi. Andrew Jordan and Jason Plato started on the second row.

that point on, it was a battle between the Honda and the MG at the front. Jordan was quick, but he was no match for the Triple Eight built MG6.

Impressive on its debut race weekend, the MG led for the final few laps, with the passing move coming yet again at Clearways.

Jakob Ebrey

There were six casualties on Jackson’s oil up at Druids: Tom Onslow-Cole, Tony Gilham, Daniel Welch, Adam Morgan, Aron Smith and Tony Hughes.

Fastest lap: Tom Onslow-Cole - 48.948 (lap 7).

Independent winner: Rob Collard.

RACE TWO TOP TEN: 1 Neal (NGTC) 24:52.965/27 Laps; 2 Jordan (NGTC) +0.360; 3 Plato (NGTC) +1.720; 4 M.Jackson (S2000) +3.516; 5 Austin (NGTC) + 3.973; 6 Collard (S2000) +7.865; 7 J.Smith (NGTC) +8.561; 8 O.Jackson (S2000) +14.521; 9 Newsham (S2000) + 16.334; 10 Onslow-Cole (S2000) +16.417.

Fastest lap: Jason Plato 48.943 (lap 4).

Independent winner: Andrew Jordan.

RACE THREE TOP TEN: Race 3 1 Plato (NGTC) 16:41.826/20 Laps; 2 Jordan (NGTC) + 1.866; 3 Newsham (S2000) +8.283; 4 J.Smith (NGTC) +10.525; 5 Austin (NGTC) +11.755; 6 Collard (S2000) + 13.117; 7 Neal (NGTC) + 14.498; 8 A.Smith (S2000) +22.056; 9 Wood (S2000) + 25.211; 10 Gilham (S2000) +28.311.

Fastest lap: Jason Plato – 49.083 (lap 6).

Independent winner: Andrew Jordan.

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NEWS IN BRIEF | NEWS IN BRIEF | NEWS IN BRIEF

Hazell stands down Mark Hazell has stepped down from his drive with Rob Austin Racing without making a race appearance for the team.

The former sportscar racer was named as one of the team’s drivers for 2012 at the annual media day, where he also took to the track at the wheel of the NGTC-spec Audi A4.

Hazell was then missing from the Brands Hatch paddock, with the team saying he wanted more time behind the wheel of the car before going racing.

However, it has now been confirmed that Hazell has put his BTCC plans on hold for personal reasons, leaving the team to look for a new driver to partner team boss Rob Austin.

“It is a real shame that such a great car that we have worked so hard on and proved to be a front runner won’t be on the grid,” he said.

“We had some solid results at

Inside BTCC 10

Brands and there is more to come from the car, it would be fantastic to get a team mate that could really help us in the team’s championship.”

Newsham gets ‘tyred’ Dave Newsham was the winner of the first ‘Dunlop Drive with Confidence’ award following the opening rounds of 2012 at Brands Hatch.

The new award is given to the driver who sets the fastest lap over the course of a race weekend, with the driver in question being handed a set of high-performance Sport Maxx RT tyres worth nearly £1000.

Newsham took the honours with his pole position lap of 48.483secs; a lap that saw him take the first BTCC pole for both himself and the ES Racing.com team.

Motorbase enjoys GT return Motorbase Performance, the team behind Redstone Racing, enjoyed a solid return to the British GT

Championship when the season got underway at Oulton Park.

only one in the UK that can run race meetings in either direction.

Danielle Perfetti and Michael Caine led the Motorbase challenge in race one with sixth place and then bettered that result to take fourth in race two. Team-mates Steve Parish and Nick Tandy came from the back of the field to finish sixth in race two having earlier taken eleventh in race one.

“It’s fantastic that Scotland has a new race track and I can’t wait to see the circuit in use for all the activities and events at Knockhill,” local hero Gordon Shedden said.

“As a driver, the new layout has so many challenges.

Clark’s in reverse direction is amazing, the chicane is so like the famous corkscrew corner at Laguna Seca and then powering up the hill and launching through what will be the last corner is completely alien.”

Meanwhile, ITV’s BTCC commentator Tim Harvey – returning to the series for the first time since a oneoff outing in 2008 – finished tenth in race one before securing a podium finish in race two alongside Jon Minshaw in his Trackspeedrun Porsche.

All change at Knockhill

Touring car fans will have to wait a bit longer to see BTCC cars tackling Knockhill in reverse however, with series boss Alan Gow saying there were currently no plans to use the revised layout.

Prior to the opening rounds of the new season, Knockhill launched its ‘new’ circuit after being granted a licence to run race meetings in both directions.

“There are no plans,” he said.

“However it’s something we could look at in the future - providing, of course, that all other aspects are suitable or not compromised.”

The Scottish circuit is now the www.insidebtcc.com

Inside BTCC 11

Jakob Ebrey

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Jakob Ebrey

PUTTING IT ON THE LINE

MATT SALISBURY EXPLORES JUST WHAT LENGTHS SOME DRIVERS GO TO IN THEIR BIDS TO BECOME STARS OF THE BTCC Inside BTCC 12

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Jakob Ebrey In truth, the struggle for sponsorship is nothing new.

Over the years, countless people have had a dream to become a racing driver but have been forced to put those dreams on the back-burner once it became apparent that the sponsorship – and running budget – simply didn’t exist.

For some however, the desire to go racing has been too great to give up on the dream, with drivers taking measures that many would see as desperate to make sure they keep their careers on track.

Heading into the 2011 season, Thorney Motorsport started work on development of an NGTC-spec version of the Vauxhall Insignia, which then appeared at the Silverstone finale – albeit for little more than a shakedown session.

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The winter was then spent searching for a title sponsor to help fund the development car over the off-season and also help with the budget for 2012, but despite the best efforts of the team, no sponsor was found.

The Insignia therefore appeared for both the Silverstone media day and the opening rounds of the year at Brands Hatch with Thorney’s own VXR-R brand featuring heavily on the livery – with team boss and driver John Thorne having remortgaged the family home to get the car on track.

“I’m amazed we made it here to be honest,” Thorne told Inside BTCC at Brands Hatch, having seen his team work hard to get the damaged Vauxhall ready for race day after a hefty shunt in practice. “VXR-R is our upgraded version of the VXR cars that Vauxhall produce, so what you see on the car is our own brand. We worked really hard over the winter to get a sponsor, but a combination of things – with the financial market as it is and the fact we are a new

team – meant it was difficult to get the backing we hoped for.

“My family has always been good to me. I’ve had to beg, steal and borrow to get here and my hope is that I will do them proud. Re-mortgaging the house is something that I’d rather not do, but a lot of people in racing are forced to do things in order to race because it is in their blood. You do what you can, although I think I’ve stretched it a bit to get where we are now.”

Re-mortgaging your house to

go racing may seem extreme to fans watching on trackside, but Thorne isn’t the first – and won’t be the last – to go down that route.

However, he still didn’t go as far as Simon Blanckley when he joined the grid five years ago. While Thorne has only re-mortgaged, Blanckley sold up and moved back in with his parents in order to live the dream of racing in the BTCC – contesting seven rounds in a Honda Integra before business commitments forced him to withdraw from the series.

Tozer/PSP

In recent years, the economic downturn has had a major impact on motorsport as teams and drivers struggle to put together the budgets required to go racing.

Inside BTCC 13

Jakob Ebrey “To be honest, I’d say it wasn’t a difficult decision to make in a way, because it was something I really wanted to do,” Blanckley said.

“The house was up for sale anyway, but the normal plan would obviously have been to sell it and then go an buy another one. However, I’d seen that the Integra was available for sale and then the estate agent told me that I’d had an offer on the house.

Even though it was lower than I wanted, I rang them back and told them to take it and then give me the cash so I could go and race in the BTCC. People who knew me weren’t surprised that I did it, but people who didn’t know me thought I was mad, which was probably correct!

“Joking aside, while the decision was easy to make from an emotional point of view, it was more difficult from a financial viewpoint.

Selling the house meant I’d got rid of a big asset and even though I then had the race car and the truck, it Inside BTCC 14

wasn’t the same. It is five years now since I took the decision to join the grid and in a way, I’m probably still paying for it. I’ve got another house, but the mortgage is bigger than it should be as a lot of money disappeared to go racing. To spend that kind of cash, you have to really want to do it, and like it says on the front of the Team Dynamics trucks, it’s all about living the dream.”

During his time in the BTCC, Blanckley secured a best finish of tenth place at Rockingham, and has since gone on to work with a range of teams in various championships in recent years.

GT Cup with wins and podium finishes along the way. I also worked with Special Tuning Racing last year to help Tom [Boardman] but unfortunately for me, he moved on to the WTCC and that is something I couldn’t commit to.

“However, through the success we had in the GT Cup, we met Tania who had been racing a Lotus last season. She was impressed with the presentation of the team and liked the look of the Carrera Cup and here we are.”

career has taken, Blanckley insists he has no regrets, with the experience of being in the BTCC being one he will never forget.

“The way I look at it, when I get old I could be sat in a nursing home with half a million pounds in the bank, or I could have a photo album of the cars and the grid girls from when I was a part of the BTCC,” he said. “I still look back and wonder if I actually did it. It was a fantastic experience.”

Looking back at the route his

Sibsport has also moved forwards and this season the team is back in the TOCA paddock once again, running Tania Mann in the Pro-Am2 class of the Porsche Carrera Cup. “I’d already been racing before joining the BTCC, but the higher profile certainly helped us going forwards,” he said. “We did some rounds of the SEAT Supercopa in Spain and were successful in the

Jakob Ebrey

But how difficult was the decision to use the proceeds from the sale of his home to go racing?

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Inside BTCC 15

Jakob Ebrey

TROUBLESOME BRANDS MASKS MASSIVE POTENTIAL FOR FRANK

Inside BTCC 16

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Jakob Ebrey

BY MATT SALISBURY Heading into the opening rounds of the new season at Brands Hatch, much was made of the fact that the new MG6 hadn’t turned a wheel in anger prior to arriving at the circuit for the first three races of 2012.

The fact that Jason Plato went on to secure victory in race three capped a fairytale start to the season for the Triple Eight-run squad, although for another team in a similar position, the season-opener wouldn’t be quite so kind.

After a character-building start to the 2011 season, Dynojet emerged as a true contender in the second half of its debut campaign, with Frank Wrathall taking his NGTC-spec Toyota Avensis to numerous podium finishes and displaying the talents that have marked him out as a BTCC champion of the future.

The performance from Snetterton onwards could have left the team thinking it was already where it needed to be for 2012, but in fact the opposite was true. With Honda going down the NGTC route and MG ultimately following suit for its return, the Lancashire-based team needed to raise its game.

Looking at the car it used last season, Dynojet set about making improvements for 2012, identifying a number www.insidebtcc.com

of areas where the Avensis could be made even stronger on track.

What that meant was a race before the season even started to get a car ready for Brands Hatch, where the new Avensis would turn a wheel in anger for the first time.

“Getting ready for Brands Hatch was hard,” team boss Frank Wrathall Sr admitted.

“We took delivery of the shell on Tuesday 20 March and we worked pretty much 19-20 hour days to get the car ready. We lost a day when it had to go away to have the exhaust fitted, and I think Frank (Jr) did 700 miles that day. He left at 4am and got back at 3am the following morning so we could all dive on the car again at 7am.

“It all went well apart from the small issues that you can’t really see and we ended up working through the night on the Wednesday before Brands Hatch to try and get the car to a shakedown on Thursday. We missed that, so it was a case of giving the car a quick run on Friday to make sure that the wheels turned and then took it to the track.

I think we finally finished at 4.30am on the Saturday morning.”

The opening day of running at Brands Hatch would go on to exceed all expectations within the Dynojet garage, with the car qualifying eighth on the grid and just four-tenths of a

second away from pole.

That justified the decision to run the new car rather than stick with the old one, and left confidence high about what race day may hold.

“I thought if we could get into the top ten we’d have done well, so to be eighth and so close to the front was unbelievable,” Wrathall Sr continued. “I knew we had to raise our game for this season and that is why we went with the new car. We’d identified some of the areas that could be improved last season and we’ve altered the structural integrity of the car, which in turn affects the handling. We need more time on track to find a decent base set-up, so to be miles away on set-up and set those times was good.”

After the high of Saturday however, race day itself would be a disappointment for the team with gearbox gremlins preventing a finish in the first two races and a drive-through penalty in race three leaving the team with a solitary 13th place finish to show for its hard work.

However, that disappointment has been offset by the potential shown by the car, with Wrathall Jr confident that it will allow him to challenge for a maiden win.

“I can’t describe how much work was involved in getting the car to Brands Hatch in

a completed state and to go on track on Saturday and be so quick without any testing was incredible,” he said.

“Being four tenths off pole was a massive achievement and things were looking good for race day with the potential there is in the car.

Unfortunately we had a bad race day.

“On the first lap of race one there was a problem with the gearbox that also put us out of the second race and then race three was a bit of a crazy one. I think I got up to 13th when the red flag came out and would have been ninth for the restart but we had an issue that meant the engine wouldn’t fire up.

I got help to get going down in last and then got a drive through, which was rubbing salt into the wounds and made it a difficult race. It was disappointing considering the effort that has gone into the car. It was just bad luck.

“The car was like a dream on Saturday and we made small improvements even though we are only scratching the surface. We need some decent testing to really learn the car because it is so different from last years.

The potential in the car is absolutely massive and I think when we get it sorted, it will be one of the strongest cars on the grid without any doubt.”

Inside BTCC 17

Jakob Ebrey

DONINGTON PARK PREVIEW LOOKING AHEAD TO ROUNDS 4, 5 & 6

Heading north, few would have expected Jason Plato to be the championship leader given the fact that his new MG6 hadn’t turned a wheel before the opening meeting of the campaign, but the double champion came away from Kent with a four point lead in the standings having finished inside the top four in each of the three races.

Plato will be keen to avoid a repeat of the drama he has endured in the last two seasons at Donington, where heavy accidents dented his challenge. In 2010, he went off into the barriers at the final chicane while twelve months ago, his second race of the weekend ended in the biggest accident of the season as his Chevrolet Cruze rolled after contact heading down the Craner Curves.

The new MG was quick in a straight line at Brands Hatch Inside BTCC 18

The third driver to win at Brands Hatch, Rob Collard, is another to have won at Donington in the past having taken victory back in 2009 while with Motorbase. Now running with a turbo engine in his eBay Motors car, Collard – as well as team-mate Tom Onslow-Cole – should be one to watch.

Jakob Ebrey

After an action-packed start to the new season at Brands Hatch, the BTCC now heads for the East Midlands for the latest three rounds of the campaign at Donington Park.

so Plato will hope to be bang on the pace again this weekend, although it remains to be seen how the new car will perform when carrying full ballast for the first time.

Defending champion Matt Neal also picked up a victory at Brands Hatch, the first for an NGTC-spec car, and he has fond memories of Donington – having happily taken £250,000 off Alan Gow back in 1999 when he became the first independent driver to secure an overall win.

The Honda driver has won on six occasions at Donington over the years, second only

to Chevrolet WTCC star Alain Menu, and was the quickest man around the revised layout last year when it was used for the first time.

Third in the points is local driver Andrew Jordan, who holds a place in history at Donington Park where he became the BTCC’s youngest polesitter while with Vauxhall back in 2009. Jordan secured two podium finishes at Brands Hatch and was quickly up to speed in his Honda, although he will hope there is no repeat of the off he suffered at Donington during preseason testing.

Elsewhere amongst the NGTC runners, Rob Austin will be keen to build on an encouraging start to the season with his Audi – set to be the only one after Mark Hazell quit the team - while Gordon Shedden in the second Honda will hope there is no repeat of the electrical gremlins that blighted his weekend at Brands Hatch.

Having also been excluded from the final race in Kent, Shedden already sits 41 points behind Plato in the standings but the Scot has a good record at Donington with four wins and two pole positions.

In what will be the home race for the Toyota Avensis – built at the nearby Burnaston factory – both Adam Morgan www.insidebtcc.com

and Frank Wrathall will be chasing more luck than they endured at Brands Hatch.

Morgan in particular will be keen to get race mileage under his belt after incidents not of his own making ruined his debut weekend Brands Hatch saw Dave Newsham take a surprise pole for Team ES Racing and the former Clio Cup champion will be eager to try and repeat that result, and the podium finish from race three, during

the weekend ahead. The Vauxhall Vectra has been successful at Donington in the past and Andrew Jordan – using the car now raced by Lea Wood – took victory last year, something which will given Newsham confidence for the weekend ahead.

weekend, making predictions about who to back for success difficult to make.

The only guarantee is that the action and drama seen at Brands Hatch will surely be repeated.

With Mat Jackson also hoping to kick-start his championship challenge after a difficult start to the year at Brands Hatch, as many as ten drivers could realistically win a race this

Donington Park RECENT HISTORY 2011 Pole

Matt Neal, Honda Civic

Race One

Matt Neal, Honda Civic

Race Two

Andrew Jordan, Vauxhall Vectra

Race Three

Mat Jackson, Ford Focus

Pole

Tom Chilton, Ford Focus

Race One

Gordon Shedden, Honda Civic

Race Two

Tom Onslow-Cole, Ford Focus

Race Three

Matt Neal, Honda Civic

Hatfield/PSP

2010

Pole

Andrew Jordan, Vauxhall Vectra

Race One

James Thompson, Honda Civic

Race Two

James Thompson, Honda Civic

Race Three

Rob Collard, BMW 320si

Jakob Ebrey

2009

2008 Pole

Tom Onslow-Cole, Vauxhall Vectra

Race One

Jason Plato, SEAT Leon TDi

Race Two

Fabrizio Giovanardi, Vauxhall Vectra

Race Three

Darren Turner, SEAT Leon TDi

2007 Pole

Gordon Shedden, Honda Civic

Race One

Gordon Shedden, Honda Civic

Race Two

Jason Plato, SEAT Leon

Race Three

Jason Plato, SEAT Leon

2006

DONINGTON PARK STATS LENGTH

1.96 miles

2012 RACE LAPS

16

RACE DISTANCE

31.36 miles

Pole

Gordon Shedden, Honda Integra

Race One

Gordon Shedden, Honda Integra

LAP RECORD (QUALIFYING)

1m 10.129s (Matt Neal, 2011)

Race Two

Gordon Shedden, Honda Integra

LAP RECORD (RACE)

1m 10.902s (Matt Neal, 2011)

Race Three

Colin Turkington, MG ZS

MOST WINS (1991-)

7 – Alain Menu

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BTCC.net

BTCC stars Mat Jackson, Frank Wrathall and Andrew Jordan enjoyed a day out at Alton Towers ahead of rounds 4, 5 & 6 at Donington Park...

Inside BTCC 20

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Inside BTCC 21

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2012 BTCC CALENDAR

Hubbleday/Jakob Ebrey

31 March-1 April, Brands Hatch Indy 14-15 April, Donington Park National 28-29 April, Thruxton 9-10 June, Oulton Park Island 23-24 June, Croft 11-12 August, Snetterton 300 25-26 August, Knockhill 22-23 September, Rockingham 6-7 October, Silverstone 20-21 October, Brands Hatch GP

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Inside BTCC 23

RACE FOR

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDIN

DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP

MANUFACTURER/CONSTRUCTOR

1 Jason Plato

52

1 MG/Triple Eight

97

2 Matt Neal

48

2 Honda/Dynamics

72

3 Andrew Jordan

45

4 Rob Collard

43

5 Rob Austin

30

1 Pirtek Racing

73

6 Jeff Smith

28

2 eBay Motors

61

7 Dave Newsham

24

3 Honda Racing

57

8 Tom Onslow-Cole

22

4 MG KX Momentum Racing

57

9 Mat Jackson

22

5 Redstone Racing

42

10 Lea Wood

13

6 Rob Austin Racing

30

11 Gordon Shedden

11

7 ES Racing.com

28

12 Ollie Jackson

11

8 BINZ Racing

14

13 Liam Griffin

11

9 AmD Tuning.com

12

TEAMS CHAMPIONSHIP

14 Tony Gilham

9

10 Team HARD

9

15 Aron Smith

8

11 Welch Motorsport

5

16 Andy Neate

8

12 Dynojet

3

17 Nick Foster

7

13 Speedworks

2

18 Dan Welch

5

14 Thorney Motorsport

0

19 Chris James

5

20 Frank Wrathall

3

21 Tony Hughes

1

22 Adam Morgan

0

23 John Thorne

0

Inside BTCC 24

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THE TITLE

NGS AFTER 3 OF 30 RACES INDEPENDENT DRIVERS

INDEPENDENT TEAMS

1 Andrew Jordan

55

1 Pirtek Racing

57

2 Rob Collard

44

2 eBay Motors

46

3 Rob Austin

39

3 Redstone Racing

43

4 Jeff Smith

35

4 Rob Austin Racing

43

5 Mat Jackson

30

5 ES Racing.com

36

6 Dave Newsham

26

6 BINZ Racing

28

7 Tom Onslow-Cole

25

7 Team HARD

23

8 Lea Wood

21

8 Speedworks

21

9 Liam Griffin

19

9 AmD Tuning.com

21

10 Ollie Jackson

17

10 Welch Motorsport

16

11 Tony Gilham

15

11 Thorney Motorsport

11

12 Tony Hughes

11

12 Dynojet

13 Chris James

11

14 Aron Smith

10

15 Dan Welch

10

16 Nick Foster

10

17 Frank Wrathall

5

18 John Thorne

5

19 Adam Morgan

0

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8

Inside BTCC 25

THE SEASON

RACE-BY-RACE RESULTS FOR THE 2012 DUNLOP 1

2

3

Matt Neal

2

1

7

Mat Jackson

7

4

DNF

Aron Smith

DNF

DNF

8

Liam Griffin

14

12

11

Rob Collard

1

6

6

DNF

DNS

13

Dan Welch

17

11

DNF

Rob Austin

8

5

5

DNF

9

3

9

DNF

DNS

DNF

DNS

DNF

18

13

10

3

10

DNF

Lea Wood

11

15

9

Andy Neate

12

14

14

Ollie Jackson

13

8

DNF

Tony Hughes

16

16

15

5

DNF

EXC

10

7

4

DNF

17

16

6

2

2

Chris James

15

DNF

12

Jason Plato

4

3

1

Frank Wrathall

Dave Newsham Nick Foster Adam Morgan Tony Gilham Tom Onslow-Cole

Gordon Shedden Jeff Smith John Thorne Andrew Jordan

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

BOLD denotes pole position ITALICS denotes fastest lap

Inside BTCC 26

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13

SO FAR

P MSA BRITISH TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP 14

15

16

17

18

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19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

Inside BTCC 27

Inside BTCC 28

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