Matt Neal, Luke Hines and James Thompson emerged as winners in Brands Hatch’s three Green Flag MSA British Touring Car Championship rounds on Sunday. Neal, in Computeach Racing with Halfords’ Honda Civic, and Vauxhall driver Hines won the first two races to make it five different winners from the season’s first five rounds. Thompson, in his Vauxhall Astra, then became the first driver to win twice this season with victory in the day’s third race - a result that has put him on top of the points table.
Thompson arrived at Brands ten points behind Muller, but fourth and second place finishes in addition to his win means he is now tied with the Frenchman for the championship lead. His greater number of wins, however, gives him the advantage as the BTCC title race heads to Silverstone for rounds seven, eight and nine on 8/9 May.
“It’s been an excellent weekend for me, particularly considering Brands has always been my bogey track,” said Thompson. “It was important to get back on terms with Yvan so soon and now I think we’re going to see a very big battle between us. Last year I let him run away with the title a bit, but this year I feel a lot more on top of the situation. The racing out there is so fast and furious I think it will require an element of luck to decide who comes out on top.”
Colin Turkington, in WSR’s MG ZS, started the day’s first race from pole position but was quickly passed by Neal and SEAT Sport UK’s Robert Huff, who would feature strongly in all three races. Huff, in only his fourth BTCC race, sensationally took the lead before the end of the opening lap only to then have to slow the field behind the safety car following a major accident involving his team-mate Jason Plato. The former champion’s Toledo Cupra had smashed heavily into the pit wall after contact with a rival at the start and it required a miracle repair job from his mechanics to get him onto the grid for the day’s final race.
At the re-start, Huff belied his relative lack of experience to coolly keep Neal behind. But Neal refused to give up and on the tenth of the race’s 27 laps swept past to take a lead he would not relinquish. Huff kept up the pressure, but had to settle for second ahead of Team Honda’s Tom Chilton, who barged past Thompson at the final corner to steal third.
Chilton had needed to drive back through the pack after losing places at the start and he was able to catch Thompson after robustly shoving his way past Turkington as they fought for fourth. Turkington almost ran off the road in the incident and this allowed Muller to sneak through and take fifth, with Team Petronas Syntium Proton’s exciting South African driver Shaun Watson-Smith in seventh.
Out of luck was VX Racing Junior Tech-Speed’s Michael Bentwood. He had qualified his Vauxhall Astra Coupe second on the starting grid, but it refused to start in the pit lane and he was forced to start the race from the back of the grid. He then became caught up in Plato’s crash and was forced to retire with accident damage.
The second race’s starting grid was decided by the finishing order of the first, but with the top ten positions reversed thanks to new BTCC rules. This meant that starting from pole position was HarrierZeuros Independents Trophy champion Rob Collard’s Vauxhall Astra with the similar car of Hines alongside him.
Hines raced into an immediate lead, while Collard became embroiled in a seven-car battle for second position. Collard’s race effectively ended, however, when his car’s bonnet dramatically flew up into its windscreen and he was forced to pit for repairs. In the closing stages, Thompson closed in on team-mate Hines but the 22-year-old held on for his first BTCC race victory.
“It was a dream come true,” said Hines. “I had a few sideways moments and that nearly cost me, but I knew so long as I kept my concentration James wouldn’t try anything rash. It made up for the other two races which didn’t go my way. I got bashed about a bit out there today.”
Muller’s third position completed a Vauxhall 1-2-3 and the Luton marque has tonight left Brands comfortably in control of the BTCC’s Manufacturers Championship. Its VX Racing brand also leads the Teams points table.
Huff ran a strong fourth before slowing with suspension damage caused by repeated contact with WSR’s Anthony Reid, who survived to take the position ahead of team-mate Turkington. Watson-Smith also fell foul of a collision with Reid while in the top six, the incident forcing his Impian off the track and into retirement with a broken gearbox. Watson-Smith’s consolation was the race’s fastest lap.
The third race saw Hines’ Astra - laden with maximum success ballast - make a slow start and by the first corner it had been overtaken by Thompson, Reid and Muller. This is how the top three would finish, but in the closing stages Muller was forced to defend from the fast-closing Huff - up from 11th place on the grid. Fourth position for Huff has moved him up to seventh in the championship, right behind the out-of-luck Plato, while second for Reid has put him third in the standings as the highest-placed HarrierZeuros Independents Trophy runner.
Fourth and fifth are Neal and Hines. After his earlier win, Neal did not start the second race as his Honda hit mechanical problems in its pit garage. He started the third race from the back and, aided by the race’s fastest lap, rose to seventh by the finish - three places ahead of the ailing Hines.
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