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Brands Hatch end of season review

By MJP Media | 17 October 2013

Now that the dust has settled following the final meeting of the 2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship, we take a look back at the last three races from Brands Hatch and see how the season concluded.

Andrew Jordan receiving his trophy from BTCC Series Director Alan Gow

After the penultimate meeting of the year at Silverstone where there were race wins for Jason Plato and Gordon Shedden, no fewer than 5 drivers still had a realistic chance of lifting the BTCC Drivers' Championship trophy. Andrew Jordan arrived at Brands Hatch leading the championship on 378 points with Matt Neal on 344, Gordon Shedden on 343, Colin Turkington on 330 and Jason Plato on 329 but with 67 points available from the last three races, the championship was still wide open.

The qualifying session proved just how close the finale would be with 4 of the 5 title contenders in the top 6 places. Jason Plato made his intentions clear by putting his MG KX Momentum Racing MG6 at the top of the timesheet with Andrew Jordan's Pirtek Racing Honda Civic 3rd, Gordon Shedden's Honda Yuasa Racing Civic 4th and Colin Turkington's eBay Motors BMW 125i M Sport 6th. Matt Neal's Honda Civic crashed into the barriers, bringing his session to an early end however he still managed to qualify 16th with the time he had already set.

Jason Plato scored maximum points in the first two races

Jason Plato won the first race of the day and with the additional point for qualifying on pole together plus one point each for the fastest lap and for leading the race, earned the maximum possible 23 points. Gordon Shedden finished 2nd with Andrew Jordan 5th and Matt Neal 6th. Colin Turkington retired his BMW on the first lap and was therefore out of the running for the championship title. It was now a 4-way battle between Jordan, Shedden, Neal and Plato.

Jason Plato went on to win the 2nd race, again earning the extra points for fastest lap and leading the race to take the maximum available points. Sam Tordoff's 2nd place secured a 1-2 finish for MG KX Momentum Racing. The other championship contenders were not so fortunate. Gordon Shedden finished in 7th place while Andrew Jordan and Matt Neal both failed to finish, scoring no points. Jordan's Honda Civic suffered a rear suspension failure in the early part of the race after being tapped in the heavy traffic. Matt Neal's Honda Civic suffered an engine fire on the last lap of the race, putting the championship out of his reach. Plato's second maximum points haul of the day moved him up to 2nd in the championship standings and just 15 points behind championship leader Jordan. 5 points further behind, Gordon Shedden was also still in contention, meaning a 3-way battle for the Drivers' Championship in the final race.

Andrew Jordan and the Pirtek Racing team celebrating their BTCC success

With a maximum of 22 points available from the final race, Andrew Jordan needed to score just 8 points to guarantee winning the coveted BTCC trophy however he would have to start from the back of the grid due to his retirement from the second race. As it turned out his nearest challenger Jason Plato struggled in the last race and finished down in 10th place. Gordon Shedden took the race win with Andrew Jordan 9th which was enough to secure the championship title. Jack Goff also took his maiden BTCC podium with a 2nd place finish for RCIB Insurance Racing.

At the end of a thrilling season, Andrew Jordan won the BTCC Drivers' Championship with 397 points, 7 points ahead of 2nd placed Gordon Shedden with Jason Plato 10 points further behind. The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship resumes on 29th/30th March 2014 at Brands Hatch in Kent for what is certain to be another fantastic season.

Touring Car content supplied by MJP Media