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BTCC 2012 Index

Plato takes first Cruze victory

BTCC News | Sun 25th April 2010

The second race at Rockingham was won by Jason Plato, who led from the start to take his first victory of the season and the first BTCC victory for the Chevrolet Cruze.

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After winning race one, Matt Neal started from pole position, with teammate Gordon Shedden alongside him. However, it was Plato, from third on the grid, who made the best start and he led out of the Deene hairpin for the first time. The two Hondas looked in danger of making contact with each other, but Neal eventually ran wide and they both dropped down the order.

At the end of the first lap, Plato led from Airwaves BMW's Steven Kane and Pirtek Racing's Andrew Jordan. Fourth position was being contested by two drivers that clashed at Thruxton three weeks ago – Matt Neal and Rob Collard. Neal seemed to be struggling with the ballast he was carrying for his first race win and Collard took the spot on the inside at Deene on lap five.

Behind Collard and Neal, Gordon Shedden found himself under pressure from Mat Jackson and Tom Chilton and both passed the Scot on lap five. Jackson moved inside Shedden at Brook, knocking the Civic wide, into one of the tyre bundles. That was enough to open the door for Chilton, who did not hesitate in claiming seventh position.

Into the second half of the race and Mat Jackson continued his progress, passing Neal for fifth. Just ahead, Rob Collard moved up to third when he passed Andrew Jordan at Pif Paf. Before long, Jordan lost another spot as Jackson made it three BMWs in the top four.

With six laps remaining, Jason Plato's lead over Steven Kane was just under two seconds. The Airwaves BMW driver was making rapid in-roads into the Chevrolet's lead when he ran wide at Deene on lap 13 and lost second position to WSR's Rob Collard.

With Plato clearly struggling to make his tyres last, Collard closed at almost a second a lap. Starting the final lap, Plato's lead was just over a second, but by the time they arrived at the Tarzan hairpin, they were nose-to-tail. Only a clever piece of driving from Plato kept Collard behind. The former champion slowed Collard down into the Brook chicane and carefully chose his moment to accelerate out of the final corner, leaving the BMW with no way of finding a way past before the finish line.

Victory went to Plato, from the BMW trip of Collard, Kane and Jackson. Andrew Jordan finished fisth, ahead of the Team Aon pairing of Chilton and Onslow-Cole. Paul O'Neill, Matt Neal and James Nash completed the top ten.

Click here for race two results.

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