Colin Turkington and Matt Neal voiced their opinions on the incident that took both out of the opening Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship race of the season at Brands Hatch, both suffering suspension damage.
Starting from fifth on the grid, Turkington made a rapid getaway in the rear-wheel drive Team BMW 125i and challenged the Halfords Yuasa Racing duo of Gordon Shedden and Neal ahead of him.
Contact between the BMW’s left-rear quarter and the front-right of Neal’s Honda Civic Type-R put both cars out with suspension damage, Turkington lucky not to be collected by the coming pack.
“Fifth I thought was a good place to start”, Turkington told The Checkered Flag afterwards. “Gordon was ahead, but it’s Matt that’s come down and closed the door.
On the damage, the Northern Irishman said “the tyre’s come off the rim and there’s a broken toe-link. It’s just cosmetic.”
Neal added his opinion on the incident, saying that the gradient of the Kent circuit’s front straight played its part in the incident.
“I got a bit of wheelspin off the line at the start”, Neal told ITV. “By the nature of the circuit I was coming down the hill a little bit.
“Colin seemed to get a blinding start behind me but then went for a gap that was ever decreasing. It’s broken the front suspension.”
Race two gets underway at 14:17, with race one winner Tom Ingram starting from pole position ahead of reigning champion Shedden.
