Battle resumes at Donington Park

The Donington Park circuit in Leicestershire plays host to round two of the British Touring Car Championship this weekend. The question is can Plato hold off the Hondas?

Moving back to an earlier slot on the calendar, Donington Park played a pivotal role in the shape of the championship last year as the penultimate round, with series leader Jason Plato retiring in the first race after a collision involving Matt Neal, Tom Onslow-Cole and the corner safety markers.

This year Plato will go into the first race again carrying the maximum ballast of 45kg, after leaving the season opening round at Brands Hatch as the championship leader with two comfortable race wins in the Cruze.

Plato’s Chevrolet team-mate Alex MacDowall will be treading on tip-toes this weekend after picking up more than half a year’s worth of endorsements on his racing licence, after incidents with Matt Neal and Andy Neate at Brands Hatch. The Carlisle-driver will benefit however from running with no ballast Donington Park’s National circuit.

The Honda Racing Team will also be running light, after a mixed weekend for the team saw Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal just fourth and fifth in the championship after Shedden’s horrific practice crash and Neal being knocked out of race in Round 1. The Honda Civic is fancied by many as the fastest car on the track at the moment with its Next Generation Touring Car (NGTC)-specification turbocharged Honda engine. The car showed good race pace as well with Matt Neal securing victory in Round 3 at Brands Hatch.

“We need to make hay while we can,” said Neal.

“The turbocharged engine is very strong, but when the weather gets hotter in the middle of the season it’s going to be tougher for us. More heat means there will be extra demands on the brakes and tyres, so we need to capitalise when we can. Donington Park will be a good circuit for us, although there are still some unknowns with the new car because this is a new project for us.”

Motorbase Performance goes into the second round with second place in the standings, with Mat Jackson eight points down on Jason Plato after a consistent run at Brands Hatch finishing in the top four in every race.

“I’m looking forward to Donington this weekend as I think it will suit our car well, and with the progress that we made at Brands Hatch, it looks likely that Donington could produce some great results for us,” said Jackson.

“We will however be carrying 36kg of success ballast into qualifying and in race 1. This could take the edge off our performance, as Donington is renowned for being the hardest circuit on brakes on the Championship calendar, but, I guess that’s the price of success!”

Triple Eight Race Engineering enjoyed a strong weekend at Brands Hatch as well, and will be hoping to continue to produce similar results at Donington Park with the Vectra, after a brief scare in sponsorship for the multiple-championship winning Banbury-bases team.

Nash lies third in the drivers’ championship and second in the independents’ category after his round 1 independent win

“I’m really looking forward to Donington,” said the 25-year-old.

“We had a great first weekend at Brands Hatch scoring a podium in the first race and running strongly in the other two. We hadn’t had much opportunity to go testing beforehand and so the best thing for me to take away from Brands was the fact that we learnt so much about the car and in particular, the turbo engine we’re using for the first time this season”

Arena Motorsport had a quiet debut, with Tom Chilton caught up in a lot of the action at Brands Hatch as his new Ford Focus struggled to keep up with the pack, but as they’re the only team with a new Super 2000 specification car this year, there’s still more for the Littlehampton team to learn about their new chassis.

West Surrey Racing showed good race pace, with Collard bouncing back from an awkward incident in race one where he was damaged with contact with BTCC newcomer Liam Griffin’s Motorbase Ford. The BMW is struggling on straightline speed however compared with the turbo cars and the heavily developed Chevrolet Cruze.

Some teams and drivers will be hoping to make a more competitive showing at round two, with Frank Wrathall’s BTCC debut in the full NGTC-specification Toyota Avensis of Dynojet Racing curtailed by electronics issues, whilst rival Toyota squad Speedworks Motorsport succeeded in pulling off the first two race finishes for the car, albeit a lap down.

Rob Austin Racing, who battled against the clock to get their rear-wheel drive Audi A4 ready to race will be back at Donington Park, but haven’t been able to get their full testing plan completed due a steering rack change suggested for all of the NGTC-specification cars by builders GPR Motorsport.

With David Pinkney stepping aside for at least this round, Team Principal Rob Austin will step into the driver’s seat and will be challenging Lady Luck herself, running in car 13.

Round 4 of the 2011 British Touring Car Championship starts at 11:35 BST on Sunday 17th April, with the second race at 14:25 and the final race of the day at 17:15.