Round 6 - race report.

Having sustained severe accident damage in Race1, Rob Collards car was ruled out of the proceedings for Round 6. The MG camp had been a frantic workplace between races, with the cars of Hughes and Reid undergoing some major surgery. GA Motorsport also replaced an engine in the Alfa 156 of Paul Wallace.

The first drama of the race was witnessed when Gavin Pypers engine failed to start as the rest of the cars set off on their formation lap. An army of Marshals attempted to push start the Astra but it would not fire up and the car was pushed onto the grass at the end of the pit lane, where a disconsolate Pyper made the short trek back to his pit.

From the lights, Neal made the better start from P2 and took the lead from Muller. Muller then acquired the lead at the back of the circuit but Neal stayed with his rival right through the Club chicane and pulled alongside the Frenchman over the start / finish line enabling him to make a daring move through Allard - demoting Muller to 2nd once more.

Running 5th was the irksome Civic Type- R of Alan Morrison which looked to be handling very nicely, perhaps benefiting from running slightly lighter than Thompson (3rd) and O’Neill (4th). In fact it wasn’t too long before that order was reshuffled, with Morrison claiming 3rd place by taking both of the VX challengers and O’Neill passing Thompson to slot into 4th.

The brace of Team Halfords Peugeot 307s had faired well earlier in the day with both Carl Breeze and Dan Eaves finishing the race, but on lap 5 the number 10 car of Breeze crawled to a halt at Allard with what turned out to be another electrical problem.

Just as it looked as though Neal was potentially heading for his second victory for Honda, disaster struck his campaign once more when a punctured front left tyre forced him to pit for a replacement before the mandatory pit stop window opened. He rejoined the race ahead of the new leader - Yvan Muller - but nearly a lap down.

Morrison, Thompson and David Leslie all pitted at the first opportunity, with Muller, Hughes, Eaves, O’Neill and Tom Chilton coming in a lap later. VX racing were faultless in their stops yet again and Muller rejoined the race as effective race leader – given that Neal had yet to take his mandatory stop. Dan Eaves retired to the pits after damaging the suspension in a clash with Phil Bennett on lap 12. Neal eventually pitted on lap 16.

The lead tourers of Muller, Morrison, O’Neill and co lapped production leader Tom Boardman on lap 21. It was turning out to be a fantastic day for Boardman who held a comfortable lead in the class.

The remainder of the race ran almost without incident as Muller claimed victory from Morrison in 2nd and O’Neill 3rd. Tom Chilton limped home over the line having suffered a last lap wheel nut failure, with Boardman notching his second victory of the day – finally getting his championship into gear after suffering some early season teething problems in the new car.

Overall, it was a fabulous day of British Touring Car Championship action at it’s best but rather worrying for the main championship hopefuls who could do nothing but watch Muller take double victory in a car that was at it’s maximum weight. They can only hope that the success ballast he earned at Round 6 will make more of a difference to his performance when they next meet at Silverstone on the 7th and 8th of June.