BTCC: Silverstone Race Report

With only 11 points between BMW's Colin Turkington and VXR's Fabrizio Giovanardi and six races to go, the championship is going down to the wire.

Jackson leads Chevrolet 1-2-3 finish at Silverstone
Mat Jackson took victory in a 1-2-3 finish for RML Chevrolet, although having qualified on pole, Jackson was beaten away at the lights by Airwaves BMW's Rob Collard, who defended well against the Chevrolet driver. Jackson was then to pull a move on Collard through Brooklands on lap four, leaning on the Kent driver as he passed to take the lead.

Collard fell back down the order, making way for Jason Plato and James Nash to take the remaining steps on the podium. WSR BMW's Colin Turkington was also to make his way through to finish in fourth place despite carrying a significant amount of success ballast. Plato had to work hard for his second place though, first by scrapping with Collard and pressuring the BMW driver into a wider line at Luffield. This left the door open for the Oxford based driver to out drag his competitor down Silverstone's start-finish straight into Copse, also leaving James Nash enough room to pass the BMW and Nash wasn't wasn't going to settle for third place without taking the fight to Plato.

This round was also the first outing in the BTCC for Johnny Herbert – despite being a winner at Silverstone in his Formula 1 career, the Team Dynamics driver finished 13th, after being given a hard time by VXR Racing's Andrew Jordan.

Anthony Reid failed to finish in what was his return to touring car racing, after being involved in an accident with Arena Ford's Tom Onslow-Cole on lap four, which also brought the safety car out.

Plato takes a wet race two victory
Silverline Chevrolet's Jason Plato secured victory from Vauxhall's Fabrizio Giovanardi in the second race of day at Silverstone. Rain had been threatening the Northamptonshire circuit, but by the time the cars took their positions on the grid, it had failed to materialise, meaning that the field set off on slick tyres. Things became slippery by the halfway point of the race as the rain became persistent.

Plato's chance to take the lead from his team mate, Jackson, came on lap eight. Plato had been closing to Jackson's car over the previous lap and managed to slot his car up the inside of Jackson on their way into Copse. Jackson had been holding the lead well up to this point, despite carrying success balast from his race one win.

Fabrizio Giovanardi had a strong – if forceful – drive to take second place, having made robust progress up the order. But it was a mistake from Jackson which allowed the Italian to pass, capitalising on the Chevrolet driver's misfortune.

Jackson makes it two out of three, but Collard shows class
Mat Jackson took his second win of the meeting at Silverstone in race three. Putting on a charge to take the lead from a lowly seventh spot on the grid. Jackson took first place from Airwaves BMW's Rob Collard in a near carbon copy of the move he pulled earlier in race one at Brooklands and Luffield.

Despite dropping back for the middle stint of the race, Collard then put the pressure on the Chevrolet driver, trying as hard as he could to force Jackson into a mistake over the last few laps of the race. Jackson defended well and managed to hold off Collard to take the flag, but it was Collard's drive that showed real class.

Stephen Jelley's drive was also worth a mention, passing Fabrizio Giovanardi's Vectra at Brooklands on lap 14. Jelley then played back up for Turkington, who was ahead of him, helping his team mate secure a scarce handful of points over his rival in the hunt for the championship. Jelley's drive was perhaps something Anthony Reid should have taken note of – especially as the Scotsman has been brought in by WSR to back up Turkington's championship chances.

Elsewhere in the field, James Nash pushed as hard as he could to try and pass Jason Plato, but was unsuccessful. Plato was perhaps a little unappreciative of his fellow Chevrolet drivers actions, particularly as he needs all the points he can as the season draws to a close.

Heavy contact early in the race saw an exit for Arena Ford's Tom Chilton, after being smashed out at Luffield by Andrew Jordan's wayward Vectra. Johnny Herbet was also unlucky, the Civic driver fell way back down the order from the start and was then tapped out by Jason Plato at Luffield.

Turkington's third position means that he holds an 11 point lead over Fabrizio Giovanardi, as the cars head to Rockingham's stadium style circuit for the penultimate meeting of the 2009 season.

Report: David Thomas