Punctures hit several runners in the second Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship race of the day at Silverstone, the 22-lapper won by West Surrey Racing‘s Andy Priaulx.
Mat Jackson again made the perfect start but this time was under pressure from the West Surrey Racing BMW 125i of Priaulx, the 75kg of success ballast in the Ford Focus making it more of a tussle than the former enjoyed in the earlier race of the day.
Priaulx jumped the Triple Eight MG of Jack Goff as the lights went out, then set about harassing the Ford of Jackson at the front. A front quartet developed, which split briefly when Goff suffered a sideways moment through Brooklands on lap six while Aron Smith ran wide also.
The battle at the front raged on, Priaulx making his move stick around the outside of Jackson on lap eight to grab the lead at Copse, one which he would never lose.
Jackson battled on, but eventually saw his defence of Goff curtailed prematurely by a left-front puncture heading into Brooklands, promoting the MG man to second and Smith to the final podium spot.
Priaulx held on for a second victory of the season, the WSR man adding to his Croft triumph while Goff fended off Smith’s Volkswagen CC in the final laps of the race for second spot.
Andrew Jordan was looking set for fourth spot, but he also suffered a similar puncture to Jackson that gifted the Honda Yuasa Racing Civic of Gordon Shedden the position instead, the latter extending his series lead in the process further while Jordan limped home 19th.
Shedden’s team-mate Matt Neal finished fifth therefore ahead of Sam Tordoff (BMW), while Jason Plato recovered from 11th place on the grid to seventh overall.
Plato overtook Team BMR team-mate Colin Turkington at Brooklands along the way, Rob Collard (BMW) and James Cole (Ford) rounding out the top 10 behind the Volkswagen CC pair.
Nic Hamilton was one of those that failed to reach the flag after an off into the barriers, Dave Newsham forced to pull over meanwhile in the Power Maxed Racing Chevrolet Cruze.
Race three gets underway at 17:17, and you can keep up with the action here at www.thecheckeredflag.co.uk, or via Twitter at @tcfBTCC.
