Andrew Jordan wins second race at Donington Park

Eurotech Racing’s Andrew Jordan took a win in his home event at Donington Park, taking the flag in the day’s second race ahead of Jason Plato and Gordon Shedden.

Jordan passed early leader Shedden into Redgate on lap seven and extended his lead to win by just under two seconds from Triple Eight MG’s Plato, who also passed Shedden after a thrilling battle in his 400th BTCC start.

Carrying maximum ballast, Honda Racing Team’s Shedden held on to third ahead of team-mate Matt Neal, who was taking part in his 500th race. Plato and Neal ran with numbers 400 and 500 respectively as homage to their achievements.

Behind the top four, Adam Morgan impressed once again in his Ciceley Racing Toyota Avensis, finishing fifth ahead of Sam Tordoff, Dave Newsham, Aron Smith and Colin Turkington.

Tom Onslow-Cole took a maiden top 10 finish for his Tony Gilham Racing Volkswagen CC, and the reverse grid draw has put him on pole position for the day’s final race.

In the Jack Sears Trophy, Lea Wood took the honours in his JWT Performance Vauxhall Vectra, by virtue of being the only car in his class running at the flag.

The leading drivers held their positions off the line, but an incident between Welch Motorsport’s David Nye, and AmD Tuning’s James Kaye saw them both hit the end of the pit wall.

The safety car was deployed and when racing resumed on lap four, Plato passed Neal heading down the Craner Curves in a very close but fair dice.

Plato was then engaged in another spectacular battle with a Honda Civic, as he and Shedden went side-by-side down the Craner Curves on lap 13 after running in close company for several laps.

Shedden held on that time, but Plato finally battled past after getting a better exit from Redgate on lap 16. But by that time, Jordan had already opened up enough of an advantage in front to hold on for the win.

It was a race of high attrition, with both Rob Austin Racing Audi A4s among the cars in the wars. Rob Austin had contact with Dan Welch’s Welch Motorsport Proton Persona, while Will Bratt lost a wheel on the last lap.

Frank Wrathall was also sidelined with an apparent technical problem, parking under Starkey’s Bridge on lap eight.

The third and final race of the day takes place at 17:15 BST.