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British Touring Car Championship
Oulton Park - Race 2 Report - 7/6/15

By MJP Media | 7 June 2015

Jason Plato makes BTCC history by becoming the first driver of the year to win a race whilst carrying the new maximum 75kg of success ballast in his Team BMR Volkswagen CC.

Jason Plato (centre) on the podium for his 2nd victory of the day

Having not only won the first race at Oulton Park in commanding style, Jason Plato also posted the fastest lap time so started race 2 in pole position, however he now carries the maximum amount of success ballast in his Team BMR Volkswagen CC. Conversely Gordon Shedden, who joins Plato on the front row, carries less success ballast than he did in the first race having finished 6th. Row 2 sees the MG 888 Racing MG 6GT of Andrew Jordan and the Team IHG Rewards Club BMW 125i M Sport of Andy Priaulx with Matt Neal's Honda Yuasa Racing Civic and Jeff Smith's Eurotech Racing Honda Civic on row 3.

As in the first race, Jason Plato got a good start and led the pack into the first corner however it was Rob Collard in the JCT600 Racing with GardX BMW 125i M Sport who got the best start, rocketing from 8th on the grid to pass his WSR team-mate Andy Priaulx to be running in 4th place by the end of the first lap. Unlike the first race, Plato was unable to extend a lead over the 2nd placed Honda Civic and was constantly under pressure from Honda Yuasa Racing's Gordon Shedden throughout the race.

Gordon Shedden chasing Jason Plato for the lead

Gordon Shedden continued to put pressure on Jason Plato, even lining up a few passing attempts, but despite carrying less success ballast was unable to find a way past the double BTCC champion. Further down the order, Josh Cook retired his Chevrolet Cruze on lap 6 - a double blow for Power Maxed Racing as team-mate Dave Newsham failed to make the start of the race due to a cracked sub-frame on his car. Reigning BTCC champion Colin Turkington was slowly making up places and by lap 7 was running in 10th place having started 13th on the grid for Team BMR.

At the mid-point of the race it was becoming clear that Gordon Shedden in 2nd place probably has a faster car underneath him than race leader Jason Plato, however Plato knew just what to do to drive a perfect defensive line and prevent the Scot from passing him. Behind the front-runners an intense battle was being fought for 7th place between Aron Smith, Adam Morgan and Sam Tordoff with Tordoff passing Morgan for 8th place on lap 9. Tordoff and Morgan each gained a place on lap 10 as Smith dropped from 7th to 9th.

Jason Plato celebrates his 2nd win of the day at Oulton Park

On the penultimate lap, Rob Collard in 4th place found himself in the clutches of his WSR team-mate Andy Priaulx in 5th and on the final lap the pair had an unfortunate coming together at the Island hairpin with both cars sustaining damage. Collard's BMW suffered rear suspension damage which him out of the race whilst Priaulx's car limped home in 15th place. The race victory went to Jason Plato who becomes the first driver to have won a BTCC race carrying the new maximum 75Kg success ballast. Gordon Shedden finished 2nd with Andrew Jordan 3rd, Matt Neal 4th and Sam Tordoff 5th. Adam Morgan, Aron Smith, Colin Turkington, Jack Goff and Jeff Smith completed the top 10.

With the number 6 ball being drawn randomly for the reverse grid, Adam Morgan will start the final race of the day on pole for WIX Racing alongside Sam Tordoff for JCT600 Racing with GardX. Behind Morgan and Tordoff will be five former BTCC champions with Matt Neal and Andrew Jordan on row 2, Gordon Shedden and Jason Plato on row 3 and Colin Turkington on row 4 with Aron Smith. Severely out of position on the grid due to their results in race 2 will be Rob Collard who will start 27th and the Power Maxed Racing duo of Josh Cook and Dave Newsham who will start 26th and 28th.

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