Andrew Jordan wins untidy Croft finale
Reigning champion Andrew Jordan took victory in an untidy final race at Croft, which was littered with incidents and accidents and saw series leader Colin Turkington retire with a clutch failure.
Eurotech Racing’s Jordan took the lead on the first lap when he appeared to rub the back of Fabrizio Giovanardi’s Ford Focus into Barcroft, with the Motorbase Performance man hitting the barriers and picking up heavy front-end damage.
West Surrey Racing’s Rob Collard was second ahead of the charging Gordon Shedden, who finished very strongly in his Honda Civic Tourer after a late pass on Mat Jackson in his Ford Focus.
As with the previous two races, controversy was the order of the day, and there was barely a car in the field that didn’t pick up body damage, in an encounter lengthened by the appearance of the safety car on lap one.
Ciceley Racing’s Adam Morgan was fifth after a sterling drive from 12th, pipping Team BMR’s Jack Goff to the line by the smallest possible margin of 0.001 seconds, with Nick Foster seventh, and Alain Menu eighth after another mighty charge from the back of the field.
Aron Smith was ninth and Jason Plato 10th, with Jordan’s team-mate Martin Depper taking a season’s best 11th in his Honda Civic.
The chaos ensued almost as soon as the red lights went out. Goff made a good start from pole and Speedworks Motorsport’s Tom Ingram moved into second, before the Toyota tapped the Vauxhall on the exit of Clervaux, causing Goff to take a trip through the infield, and Ingram to park up with damage at Tower.
Giovanardi and Jordan sneaked through into first and second, before Jordan appeared to tap a skittish Giovanardi, sending him into the wall and retirement in the pits.
Honda Racing Team’s Matt Neal made swift progress from the back before hitting Glynn Geddie’s Toyota Avensis at the complex, causing the United Autosports man to pit with a puncture.
After the safety car pitted, Neal was in the thick of it again, when he, Rob Austin and Warren Scott were all eliminated in a very clumsy incident at Clervaux, where three into one definitely would not go.
Turkington then departed on lap eight with an overheating clutch, with his team-mate Collard moving up into second on lap 11 when he tapped Goff on the exit of Sunny Out.
Jackson followed him through, but was unable to hold off the aggressive advances of Shedden, who passed him going into the chicane on lap 17.
Jordan was well clear in the lead and took his fourth win of the year, but given the nature of the race, the final result must surely be subject to change.
