The result of the third Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship race at Donington Park remains provisional, as Triple Eight have lodged an appeal against winner Matt Neal for an incident with Andrew Jordan.
Honda Yuasa Racing‘s Neal came out on top in a thrills-and-spills final encounter by just under two tenths of a second, although an incident with Jordan remains under investigation.
The incident in question came at McLeans on lap six, contact between Jordan and Neal sending the former into a slide that dropped the MG driver places. Both drivers had their say afterwards, the result pending the protest from Triple Eight.
“He half covered the inside, but he left a car width on the inside and I committed. I think he realised at the last second and tried to close the door,” said Neal when speaking to The Checkered Flag afterwards.
“You know what they say – when the travelling salesman’s got his foot in the door, you can’t shut it.”
Besides the contact, both were then lucky to escape a further lurid moment heading down Craner Curves after a further altercation as both passed Rob Collard for the top two spots.
Jordan commented to The Checkered Flag on the McLeans incident, saying: “He said sorry to me in the interview – they showed me it live [on ITV] and there wasn’t even half a car gap there.
“Matt’s very good at outbraking there, and if there’s three quarters of a gap and he nibbles his way inside then fair enough – but he should know I’m going to cover it, and there wasn’t a gap. I’ll be amazed if they didn’t swap it back.”
The frenetic action had taken it’s toll on many of the drivers, Jordan adding: “I feel quite drained after it all!”
The result remains provisional from race three, as do the championship standings which see Neal heading the way by two points from BMR Racing‘s Colin Turkington.