BTCC Live: Croft – Race 1

12:42We hope you enjoyed the coverage of the first BTCC race of the weekend, join us again at 14:37 for the second race.

12:38Non-finishers: Wrathall, Plato, J Smith, Welch, Newsham

12:37Provisional race result: Neal, Collard, Shedden, Jordan, Austin, Neate, Onslow-Cole, M Jackson, Bratt, A Smith, O Jackson, Gilham, Wood, Griffin, Morgan, James, O’Neill, Foster

12:36Tom Onslow-Cole brings home the BMW with a broken front-right wheel to take seventh place.

12:35Matt Neal takes the win with Rob Collard in second, Gordon Shedden takes third place.

12:34It looks like Neal has got this one under his belt, but Collard is still there

12:34Final lap – Neal leads.

12:33Adam Morgan moves himself up to the final points position as he overtakes Chris James coming out of the last chicane.

12:32Nick Foster is getting in the way of cars lapping him and nearly takes out Tony Gilham  at the chicane

12:30Will Bratt has moved up to tenth place in his second BTCC weekend in the Rob Austin Racing Audi.

12:29We’re now on lap 15 of 18, Neal continues to lead Collard and Shedden at the front.

12:29Wrathall is moving slowly off the track, looks like a retirement for the Toyota driver

12:28Rob Austin and Andrew Neate having a great battle as the Audi driver moves up to fifth place

12:27Top 10 with 12 laps completed: Neal, Collard, Shedden, Jordan, Neate, Austin, M Jackson, Onslow-Cole, A Smith, Wrathall

12:26Matt Neal takes the lead at Tower as he pushes by Shedden, Collard follows through

12:25Matt Neal is hungry for the win, let’s hope that there isn’t a repeat of Oulton Park 2011 between the twoHonda team-mates

12:24Jeff Smith has slid off the circuit and has had a big impact with the barriers as he tried to pass Aron Smith

12:22Paul O’Neill has just had to reboot the Toyota as it stops out on track, it fires up and he gets going again.

12:21Rob Austin forges by the Ford Focus of Aron Smith for eigth place

12:20Matt Neal is now on the bumper of Gordon Shedden as Tom Onslow-Cole spins off track at tower, dropping him down the field.

12:19Shedden leads the race at the halfway point with a break-away group of six cars at the front as Onlsow-Colemoves up to fifth.

12:18Matt Neal pushes is way through at the last chicane by Andrew Jordan with Collard following him through.

12:17Shedden completes his 5th lap at the front, Jordan second and Neal in third with Collard right on his bumper. Adam Morgan is in the pitlane as Liam Griffin serves his drive through penalty.

12:15Neal and Collard go side-by-side through the first corner and through the chicane.

12:14Race resumes as the safety car heads back in to the pitlane.

12:13Top 10 on lap 4: Shedden, Jordan, Neal, Collard, M Jackson, Neate, Onslow-Cole, A Smith, J Smith, Austin

Safety car remains out on track as Nick Foster rejoins the track with a lot of tape holding the front of the car together

12:12Dave Newsham is hoping to get back out for Race 2 as he reveals he was pretty much a passenger in the accident. It’s going to be another busy race weekend for the Team ES Racing squad.

12:09It looks like Daniel Welch was squashed between the BMW of Nick Foster and Vectra of Dave Newshamtriggering the incident.

12:08SAFETY CAR

12:07Shedden leads in to the first corner as Nick Foster spins off track at the start, possible contact in theNewsham incident. Dan Welch has pulled off the track just meters from the start.

12:06Matt Neal gets bogged down on the start as Jordan leaps in to the lead. Dave Newsham has had a massive shunt against the pit wall

12:06Race 1 is GO

12:05The cars are lined up and ready to go.

12:04Paul O’Neill will be looking to improve on his 18th place in qualifying in the Speedworks Toyota

12:03The cars are heading off for their formation lap, when they form up on the grid the fifth place slot will be empty with Plato in the pits

12:02We’re ready to go at Croft, who will get the jump in to the first corner? Jason Plato remains in the pits as the team work frantically on the car.

11:53Jason Plato is being pushed by marshals as he seems to have stopped on circuit.

11:49The grid for today’s first race looks like this:

 1.  Matt Neal        Honda              1m24.900s
 2.  Andrew Jordan    Eurotech Honda     1m25.037s  + 0.137s
 3.  Gordon Shedden   Honda              1m25.114s  + 0.214s
 4.  Frank Wrathall   Dynojet Toyota     1m25.156s  + 0.256s
 5.  Jason Plato      MG                 1m25.221s  + 0.321s
 6.  Rob Collard      WSR BMW            1m25.371s  + 0.471s
 7.  Rob Austin       Austin Audi        1m25.410s  + 0.510s
 8.  Mat Jackson      Motorbase Ford     1m25.461s  + 0.561s
 9.  Andy Neate       MG                 1m25.580s  + 0.680s
10.  Tom Onslow-Cole  WSR BMW            1m25.589s  + 0.689s
11.  Adam Morgan      Speedworks Toyota  1m25.814s  + 0.914s
12.  Jeff Smith       Eurotech Honda     1m26.060s  + 1.160s
13.  Aron Smith       Motorbase Ford     1m26.079s  + 1.179s
14.  Daniel Welch     Welch Proton       1m26.123s  + 1.223s
15.  Dave Newsham     ES Vauxhall        1m26.133s  + 1.233s
16.  Nick Foster      WSR BMW            1m26.388s  + 1.488s
17.  Lea Wood         Central Vauxhall   1m26.420s  + 1.520s
18.  Paul O'Neill     Speedworks Toyota  1m26.564s  + 1.664s
19.  Tony Gilham      Gilham Honda       1m26.845s  + 1.945s
20.  Ollie Jackson    AmD Volkswagen     1m26.965s  + 2.065s
21.  Will Bratt       Austin Audi        1m27.078s  + 2.178s
22.  Liam Griffin     Motorbase Ford     1m27.440s  + 2.540s
23.  Chris James      ES Vauxhall        1m28.757s  + 3.857s

11:47The grid is starting to line up for Race 1, Matt Neal starts from pole position alongside Andrew Jordan.