Plato leads BTCC

At the Thruxton round of the British Touring Car Championship three weeks ago, the races were won by the independent entries of Fabrizio Giovanardi and Steven Kane. This weekend at Rockingham, it was the turn of the factory teams.

Matt Neal, who received a reprimand from stewards following his ambitious overtaking attempt at the Thruxton chicane, managed to keep out of trouble and won races 1 and 3 in his Honda Racing Civic.

Jason Plato secured victory in race 2, which was the first win in the BTCC for the Chevrolet Cruze. It was a close result though, with the WSR BMW 320si of Rob Collard that challenged Plato’s lead in the closing stages finishing less than half a second behind.

Rockingham, however, was perhaps notable for its absences. Neither Giovanardi nor Philip Glew competed, both of the Triple Eight Vauxhall Vectra drivers sidelined by sponsorship issues at the team. There was still no sign of reigning champion Colin Turkington either, despite hopes he would be driving a third WSR BMW to defend his title. Again, a lack of sponsors seems to be the problem.

Plato leads the championship going into the third round, which is at Brands Hatch in a week’s time:

Pos.  Driver / Points
01     Jason Plato / 64
02     Matt Neal / 47
03     Steven Kane / 45
04     Paul O'Neill / 43
05     Fabrizio Giovanardi / 38
06     Mat Jackson / 36
07     Gordon Shedden / 23
08     Robert Collard / 23
09     Andrew Jordan / 18
10     Tom Boardman / 15
11     Tom Onslow-Cole / 15
12     Alex MacDowall / 11
13     Philip Glew / 9
14     Tom Chilton / 9
15     David Pinkney / 5
16     James Nash / 4
17     Andy Neate / 3
18     John George / 2
19     Martin Johnson / 2
20     Martin Depper / 0
21     Arthur Forster / 0
22     Lea Wood / 0
23     Matt Hamilton / 0
24     Shaun Hollamby / 0