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A look back at the carnage that was Croft

By MJP Media | 15 July 2014

Now that the dust has settled from the BTCC meeting at Croft, we take a look back at the events from the North Yorkshire circuit.

Rob Collard and Jason Plato both received penalties at Croft

eBay Motors driver Colin Turkington enjoyed a sensational double victory at Croft before a cruel retirement in race three handed Gordon Shedden the opportunity to close the gap at the top of Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship standings. The Scotsman had kept the pressure on with a fourth place finish that followed two impressive podiums from earlier in the day. Shedden subsequently moved to within seven points of the championship summit, whilst reigning supremo Andrew Jordan also fired himself back into title contention with a victory in the final frenetic showdown. Turkington was in dominant form throughout the weekend, obliterating his own qualifying lap record by more than 1.2 seconds on Saturday before going on to score a brace of lights-to-flag victories.

The carnage throughout the three races at the North Yorkshire circuit saw nearly all of the teams suffering damage to their cars and a few bruised egos along the way. It turned out to be the busiest race day for a long time for the hard working race stewards who handed out no fewer than 8 penalties to drivers, as well as appeals and non-penalised incidents to sort out! In summary, the penalties applied in race 1 were to Andrew Jordan who received a one second time penalty after gaining an unfair advantage following contact with Matt Neal and to Fabrizio Giovanardi who was fined £500, received three penalty points and was demoted to the back of the grid for the next race after contact with Aron Smith. Airwaves Racing appealed the decision, which was later upheld, and Giovanardi will now take the penalty in the opening race at Snetterton.

Colin Turkington scored two wins in the first two races

Race 2 saw Matt Neal excluded from the final classification after his car failed a ride height test. Jason Plato received three penalty points and a ten place grid penalty for race three after contact with Alain Menu.

The final race was even more dramatic as Andrew Jordan received three penalty points and a ten place grid penalty, to be taken in race one at Snetterton, after contact with Fabrizio Giovanardi. Pirtek Racing has appealed the decision, which will now be decided at Snetterton. Gordon Shedden received a four second time penalty for gaining an unfair advantage following contact with Mat Jackson. Martin Depper received a three second time penalty for gaining an unfair advantage following contact with Sam Tordoff and Rob Collard received a five place grid penalty, to be taken in race one at Snetterton, after contact with Jack Goff.

Andrew Jordan's appeal will be decided at Snetterton

For the first time since the Donington Park meeting in 2013, MG/Triple Eight have taken the lead in the Manufacturer/Constructor standings ahead of Honda/Team Dynamics. It has been an incredibly close battle between the four manufacturer-backed cars so far this year and now MG have moved ahead by just a single point. With Honda having taken the past four consecutive Manufacturer's titles, MG drivers Jason Plato and Sam Tordoff are on a mission in this, the third year of the MG6 in the BTCC, to snatch the crown from the new-for-2014 Honda Civic Tourers.

As we head to Snetterton for the second half of the season, the fallout from Croft will still be affecting matters with the various championship titles at stake which are all still up for grabs.

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