Championship points leader Gordon Shedden has won the second race at Oulton Park for Honda Yuasa Racing.
At the start, Rob Collard made another fast start from the second row to pass Andrew Jordan’s Eurotech Honda and then Matt Neal’s Honda Yuasa Racing Team Civic to take the lead into the first corner. Motorbase Performance’s Mat Jackson soon found himself behind Collard, moving from his starting position of fifth into second before the end of the opening lap. Jackson’s team mate, Aron Smith had been forced to pit before the opening lap after a turbo pipe was dislodged, rejoining after the race start. Eurotech Racing’s Jeff Smith did not join the grid for the race.
Gordon Shedden overtook Neal on lap two to move into third, with fellow NGTC Honda Civic runner Jordan also passing him to move into fourth. Will Bratt’s race came to an end one lap later with the Rob Austin Racing Audi making contact with the barriers at Knickerbrook as a result of broken steering. The BTCC debutante had been running in eighth. Neal lost a further position on lap four after being overtaken by the Welch Motorsport Proton of Dan Welch. The Toyota of Dynojet’s Frank Wrathall had a spin at Cascades on the following lap. Andy Neate also spun on the same lap, allowing his charging Triple Eight Engineering team mate Jason Plato, who had started the race at the back of the grid, to move into eighth.
Contact between race leader Collard and second placed Jackson saw a lead change on lap seven. Both cars suffered from punctures as a result of the incident, allowing Shedden to move into the race lead. Plato’s charge through the field continued, seeing him up into fourth behind Welch, who he was able to overtake on lap 14 to take the final podium position. This was how they finished with Shedden from Jordan and Plato and Welch finishing a BTCC career best fourth.
The third race is due to be held at 17:16 UK time. The top nine race two finishing positions will be reversed for the race, which means that Tom Onslow-Cole will start on pole for West Surrey Racing.
