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BRITISH TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP
1st APRIL 2007 - 1st THREE RACES OF 2007 AT BRANDS HATCH
07 BTCC - Brands Hatch
The English crowd braved the cold wind in their thousands and headed to Brands Hatch on April fools day for the start of the 2007 British Touring Car Championship (BTCC).
For BMW Motorsport enthusiast it brought back memories of the 1990’s when the BMW E30 M3 ruled the series. This year the BTCC regulations are the new Super 2000 rules, the same as the WTCC and so their are six BMW’s entered in the championship.
Top debut for new BMW E90 320si in BTCC as RAC TEAM driver Colin Turkington came out on top of a thrilling duel with Jason Plato to take pole position for the first race of the season
Team RAC drivers in BMW E90 320si :
Colin Turkington came 2nd in races 1 and 2. DNF race 3.
The new young gun driver on the team is Tom Onslow-Cole, 5th Race 1, punted off in race 2 so finished out of the points and 7th in race 3.
Next top BMW driver was Mat Jackson driving an ex-Andy Priaulx BMW.
Mat Jackson finished 3rd in Race 3.
Martyn Bell again was in the ex-Schnitzer BMW 320i
Jim Pockington entered a BMW 320i
Rick Kerry drove a “work in progress” BMW Series 1 120 diesel
RACE REPORTS FROM: www.motorsportvision.co.uk
Plato opens account with win - Jason takes race one for SEAT
Jason Plato started the 2007 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship as he means to go on as he took a lights-to-flag victory in a bruising opening round at Brands Hatch.
2001 champion Plato's SEAT got the better start from second on the grid as he easily passed Colin Turkington, taking a lead he would never lose throughout the 27-lap encounter, extended from the original 24 due to a pair of safety-car periods.
Behind Turkington, Mat Jackson took a stunning third on his BTCC debut, only to be disqualified after ignoring a black and orange flag for rubbing bodywork late on. Defending champion Matt Neal therefore inherited third after fighting his way through the field, impressive fourth ahead of Mike Jordan and Tom Onslow-Cole. Tom Chilton and Adam Jones took sixth and seventh, with Gordon Shedden, Gareth Howell and Fabrizio Giovanardi benefitting from Darren Turner's late retirement to take the final points positions.
A number of incidents marred the race, most notably Fiona Leggate's heavy collision with the pit-wall at the start. Fabrizio Giovanardi and Darren Turner's barging at the start dropped them both out of the lead positions, while John George and Richard Marsh also failed to finish.
BTCC - Round 1 Result1. Jason Plato 27 laps in 24m57.801s 2. Colin Turkington +1.237s 3. Matt Neal +3.956s 4. Mike Jordan +4.226s 5. Tom Onslow-Cole +5.102s 6. Tom Chilton +5.650s 7. Adam Jones +8.186s 8. Gordon Shedden +14.348s 9. Gareth Howell +14.831s 10. Fabrizio Giovanardi +15.109s.
Jason doubles up - Two out of two for Plato
Jason Plato continued to assert his dominance over the rest of the British Touring Car Championship field after cruising to victory in the second race of the opening round at Brands Hatch.
SEAT driver Plato made the most of his pole position to take a lead he held for the duration of the event, eventually winning by 2.6 seconds after easing up late on. Another second place for Colin Turkington provided an encouraging result for the Ulsterman as far as the championship is concerned, with Tom Chilton picking up his and Vauxhall's first podium of the season in third.
Fourth place and arguably the drive of the race went to Darren Turner, who started 21st after retiring from race one. Turner battled his way through the pack with ruthless determination, including a no-nonsense pass on Tom Onslow-Cole that forced the BMW driver into the gravel at Paddock Hill Bend. Matt Neal picked up some more valuable points with fifth place, ahead of the ever-impressive Adam Jones who notched up his first top-six of the year.
Fabrizio Giovanardi had to settle for seventh just ahead of Mat Jackson in eighth, Jackson battling his way up from dead last after his race one disqualification. Matt Allison took ninth, with Chris Stockton netting the final point in 10th. BTCC - Round 2 Result1. Jason Plato 24 laps in 20m27.095s 2. Colin Turkington +2.659s 3. Tom Chilton +4.141s 4. Darren Turner +4.758s 5. Matt Neal +10.222s 6. Adam Jones +10.670s 7. Fabrizio Giovanardi +12.077s 8. Mat Jackson +12.938s 9. Matt Allison +16.442s 10. Chris Stockton +22.046s.
Neal bags Civic's first win - BTCC champ Matt takes race 3
Matt Neal made the most of a jaw-dropping start to win the final race of the British Touring Car Championship opener at Brands Hatch, taking an unexpected victory in his new Honda Civic.
Defending champion Neal, who switched to the Civic to meet the new Super 2000 rules, made the best start of the day from third to charge past Fabrizio Giovanardi and Adam Jones to lead into Paddock Hill Bend. After that, Neal led for the rest of the race, even surviving a strong restart from Jones after a brief safety-car intervention. The result puts Neal second in the points table, seven behind double race-winner Plato.
Giovanardi took second, just nine hundredths of a second ahead of Mat Jackson, who made up for his disqualification from third in race one with a podium in race three. Jackson spent most of the race all over the back of Darren Turner, finally getting past with two laps to go. Mat's BMW was immediately on Giovanardi's case, but ran out of time to make a move.
Turner settled for fourth, with Jason Plato's fifth making him the points leader after the opening triple-header. Adam Jones wound up sixth after running a strong second early on, ahead of the two Toms, Onslow-Cole followed by Chilton. Mike Jordan was the leading BTC-Touring car in ninth, ahead of local boy Gareth Howell in 10th. BTCC - Round 3 Result 1. Matt Neal 27 laps in 23m48.564s 2. Fabrizio Giovanardi +1.148s 3. Mat Jackson +1.236s 4. Darren Turner +2.005s 5. Jason Plato +2.467s 6. Adam Jones +4.062s 7. Tom Onslow-Cole +4.297s 8. Tom Chilton +5.226s 9. Mike Jordan +5.244s 10. Gareth Howell +6.336s.