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British Touring Car Championship
Brands Hatch (GP) - Race 2 Report - 11/10/15

By MJP Media | 11 October 2015

Mat Jackson takes his 2nd victory of the day in race two as the BTCC Drivers' Championship is blown wide open with Gordon Shedden struggling with his Honda Civic.

Mat Jackson on the podium with Tom Ingram and Adam Morgan

With the grid for race 2 determined by lap times in race 1, Mat Jackson started in pole position alongside Aron Smith on the front row. Row 2 saw Adam Morgan and Dave Newsham with Tom Ingram and Jack Goff on row 3, Jason Plato on row 4 and Gordon Shedden on row 6. The simple maths is that if Gordon Shedden were able to out-score Jason Plato in race 2, he would become provisional Drivers' Champion. This was a point made by Jason Plato who told ITV that team-mates Aron Smith and Colin Turkington were supposed to move behind him in race 1 and as a result of not doing so may have ruined his title chances.

Off the line Mat Jackson took a huge lead ahead of Adam Morgan and Tom Ingram with Aron Smith 4th and Jack Goff 5th. There was a then a Safety Car period as Rob Austin and Martin Depper went off at Clarke Curve and the cars needed to be recovered. In a separate incident, Derek Palmer also went into the same gravel trap meaning three cars needed recovering! By this time Jason Plato had slipped to 8th but crucially, Gordon Shedden was back in 16th. With five cars on soft tyres in front of Plato, tyre wear could become a major player in the championship.

Tom Ingram gets his best ever BTCC result with 2nd place

When racing resumed, Jason Plato was able to get in front of Andy Priaulx into Paddock Hill whilst Gordon Shedden stayed in 16th. On lap 8, Shedden was able to take Jeff Smith for 15th however Plato was closing in on the top 6. At this point Shedden was desperate to get into the top 10 to try and benefit from the potential reverse grid draw. At the front at the halfway stage it was Mat Jackson from Adam Morgan, Tom Ingram and Aron Smith. Behind them was a big battle between Dave Newsham, Jack Goff and the improving Jason Plato.

Lap 11 saw Aron Smith decide to let Plato through, moving out of the way to let Dave Newsham and Jack Goff through first, followed later in the lap by Plato, moving Newsham to 4th, Goff to 5th and Plato to 6th. At the same time, Gordon Shedden seemed to be losing time behind James Cole. The top 3 of Jackson, Morgan and Ingram were all making unruffled progress at the front.

Mat Jackson celebrates his 2nd victory of the day

Lap 13 saw Gordon Shedden's Honda Civic develop a problem and he started to lose places and was 18th by the end of the lap. By the end of the following lap, he was down to 20th with Jason Plato still pushing in 6th! At the front, Tom Ingram took Adam Morgan for 2nd place and set about chasing Mat Jackson for the lead. With 2 laps to go, Plato seemed to have settled for 6th and the battle was at the front where Tom Ingram was desperate to catch Mat Jackson. Unfortunately for Ingram he couldn't find a way past and at the flag it was Mat Jackson who won with Tom Ingram 2nd and Adam Morgan 3rd. The big story however was further back as Jason Plato took 6th with Gordon Shedden finishing outside the points in 19th place.

The result of race 2 means Jason Plato has clawed 10 points back on Gordon Shedden. With the reverse grid draw reversing the top 7 finishers for the final race of the season, the front row of the grid will see Matt Neal in pole position alongside Jason Plato with Gordon Shedden back in 19th. With Shedden now on 335 points and Plato on 323 the championship is still too close to call as we head towards the decider later this afternoon. You would have to say that it looks to be in Plato's favour, but only time will tell.

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