Jason Plato became the fourth driver of the season to win the first two races of a BTCC raceday, but a double TDi one-two evaded the SEAT Sport UK team after Darren Turner suffered a puncture while running behind his teammate.

Plato again led away from the startline for round 17, but Turner lost second position to Team Halfords’ Tom Chilton. However, the Leon’s pace quickly became evident and he was back up to second by the end of lap two. After starting seventh on the grid, Fabrizio Giovanardi picked up a couple of early places, but within a couple of laps of the start, fourth to ninth placed drivers were running almost as one. Among that pack of cars, there was a spin for Team RAC’s Stephen Jelley. Giovanardi was running with the Colin Turrkington in the second of the RAC BMWs, until a slight tap took the Vauxhall off the track and dropped the Italian down to eleventh. The big winner from that scuffle was Motorbase Performance’s Rob Collard, who stay clear of the trouble and climbed from eighth to fifth.

Championship leader Fabrizio Giovanardi did not take long to climb back up through the pack. The Italian made the most of a battle between Tom Onslow-Cole, Mike Jordan and Adam Jones which played out in front of him, passing all three cars to move back to eighth.

Jason Plato continued to lead from Turner, Shedden and Turkington. However Turkington found himself under pressure from Rob Collard, enjoying another impressive race. Behind Collard, Vauxhall’ Matt Neal was also defending from a Motorbase BMW, with Steven Kane breathing down his neck. The pair got a little too close on lap ten, when Matt Neal spun at Riches. Neal’s misfortune promoted Giovanardi up to seventh.

At the front, Jason Plato allowed Darren Turner to lead over the line at the start of lap 12, handing the second SEAT an additional championship point. There was a brief safety car period a couple of laps later, when a tyre bundle became dislodged, straying onto the racing line. Fabrizio Giovanardi made his experience pay when he raced right to the line, edging ahead of Steven Kane and therefore slotting in ahead of the BMW behind the safety car.

With the tyres back in their place, racing resumed and Jason Plato led once more. There was misfortune for Turner though, who slowed into the first corner after suffering a puncture. The Le Mans class winner was able to bring the car back to the pits for new rubber but that would have been scant consolation for losing second position. With Turner out of the way, Gordon Shedden was up to second position, ahead of Colin Turkington and Fabrizio Giovanardi, who edged out Collard for fourth after the restart. Under pressure from Colin Turkington, Shedden ended up on the grass on the outside of Coram and dropped to seventh position.

Into the last couple of laps, Plato’s lead was more than three seconds over Colin Turkington, who was busy defending from Fabrizio Giovanardi. Meanwhile, Rob Collard was sitting patiently in fourth position in the hope that Giovanardi and Turkington would clash.

At the chequered flag, it was win number four of the season for Jason Plato, ahead of Colin Turkington and Fabrizio Giovanardi. Collard finished fourth to equal his best result of the season so far, while Matt Neal was fifth. Steven Kane finished sixth in the second of the Motorbase Performance car and Mat Jackson crossed the line in seventh. Gordon Shedden, Mike Jordan and Adam Jones rounded out the top ten.