Andrew Jordan continued his domination of the opening Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship round at Brands Hatch, with a hard-fought second race victory.
The Pirtek Racing driver was helped in his run to the first corner at the head of the field when fellow front row starter Jason Plato stalled his MG as the lights went out, dropping to the tail of the field.
The battle for second place into Paddock Hill Bend saw carnage ensue further when Matt Neal stuck the nose of his Yuasa Racing Honda Civic Tourer inside Colin Turkington‘s WSR BMW, the pair broadside across the circuit and allowing Gordon Shedden through into second in the sister Tourer.
Following a safety car to remove Chris Stockton‘s BTC Racing Chevrolet Cruze from the Paddock gravel trap, Jordan lead a Honda 1-2-3 ahead of Shedden and Neal, with Nick Foster heading a BMW 4-5-6.
Shedden instantly put Jordan’s lead under threat, a lunge inside at Paddock Hill Bend not quite enough as the Pirtek man held on, and would ultimately hang on in the 27-lap encounter to beat the Scot and double his win tally of the day.
Jordan told The Checkered Flag afterwards: “it was a really, really hard race. If i can get a top six in race three then that would be amazing.”
Turkington’s charge was a highlight of the race from sixth, recovering past both his team-mates Rob Collard and Foster in identical moves under braking at Paddock Hill, before chasing Neal for third.
Turkington made another fine lunge up the inside of the Honda man at the same spot on lap 14, and rounded out the top three ahead of Neal, Foster, Collard and Aron Smith, who recovered from a lap one delay to pass Adam Morgan‘s WIX Racing Mercedes.
Tom Ingram again finished within the top 10 for Speedworks, while the top 10 was rounded out by Fabrizio Giovanardi for Motorbase.
Plato recovered through the field to a 14th place finish, passing fellow double champion Alain Menu along the way into Druids as his former 1997-98 team-mate ended 17th for BMR.
After being excluded from race one for an incident with James Cole, Martin Depper finished race two in the barriers after being turned around exiting Graham Hill Bend by Marc Hynes‘ MG, causing a safety car late in the race and a three-lap shoot-out.
The top six will be reversed for the final race of the day, meaning Collard will start the third encounter from pole position.
