btcc:action Report: Wet and wild at Croft

Colin Turkington was the main victor in a day that saw torrential rain, two red flags, both SEAT’s struggle and some unexpected faces in the top ten. Andrew Abbott Reports.

Qualifying on Saturday was a hot and sunny affair, with SEAT’s Darren Turner scoring the first pole position for a diesel car. His was not the only SEAT to run well during the session as Jason Plato, who was second for so long, set a time placing him third on the grid. Gordon Shedden put in a customary good qualifying performance in second, whilst some big names struggled during the session - Fabrizio Giovanardi could only manage twelfth, whilst Tom Onslow-Cole who had taken the last two qualifying pole positions could only manage sixth.

Sunday was to prove to be in stark contrast to Saturday, the glorious sunshine substituted with overcast, soaking wet conditions.

Round 13

Gordon Shedden made good use of his second position on the grid to pass pole-sitter Darren Turner in the extremely wet conditions. Behind them, Mat Jackson made good use of the rear-wheel drive starting advantage his BMW has and passed Turner on the exit of the first corner with a slight nudge to move into second, whilst further back Steven Kane was the first victim of the Croft circuit’s puddles and slippery surface. Turner would also fall foul of the opening lap conditions as he went straight on at tower bend, dropping to last place.

Jackson kept pushing Shedden through the first two laps of the race, clearly extremely comfortable with the way his BMW was handling in the wet. On lap three, looking for the fastest exit to Tower corner, Jackson pulled alongside Shedden and made the inevitable pass, before beginning to move clear of the Team Halfords driver before the red flags were shown. The rules for the restart state that grid positions be taken from one lap prior to the race stoppage, which would hand Gordon Shedden the lead once again.

Stephen Jelley’s crash into the barriers on lap three initally brought out the yellow flags and marshalls onto the outside of the circuit. However the race was stopped after Alan Taylor slid off in the same way and place as Jelley and caught a couple of the marshalls as his car collected the barriers. Both marshalls required treatment for minor injuries and the race was stopped as a precaution.

At the restart Jackson immediately made up for being put back a place by taking the lead again. His lead would not last, however, as he repeated Darren Turner’s off at Clervaux corner along with Tom Chilton and Tom Onslow-Cole, such were the increasingly wet conditions. Jackson rejoined in 18th position and would be unable to move any higher by the time the race was red flagged again due to the atrocious conditions.

So the declared result left Colin Turkington with the win after the Team RAC driver benefitted from Shedden running wide at the final corner. “It was so wet, it was ridiculous,” commented Shedden. “We needed flippers and paddles rather than wheels and tyres and I have to admit I was surprised they restarted it as you couldn’t even commit to full throttle in a straight line.”

Matt Neal, who has put in some strong performances this year in wet conditions, including his only win of the season at Rockingham, was looking relatively comfortable with the wet conditions up until the red flags, passing Turkington on lap two to move into third place, inheriting second when Shedden went wide at the second restart. Series leader Fabrizio Giovanardi immediately made up for his twelfth place in qualifying by moving up to eight place by the end of the first lap, despite carrying maximim success ballast. He finished the race in a remarkable fourth position after benefitting from others offs and just managing to keep his Vectra on the road, even admitting this - “it was not really a race. It was just a case of who crashed out in front of you!”

Rob Collard was a surprise with a fifth place finish, showing how strong the BMW’s were looking in the wet around Croft; his team-mate Steven Kane also bagged some more valuable points with seventh.

Father and Son duo Mike and Andrew Jordan both scored, with Mike finishing in 6th and Andrew in 10th. Mike, who at 50 years old is the voice of experience, commented on the race: “When they started it, the track was okay. But when we went again, I was on the radio on the sighting lap saying to my guys that I really didn’t think they should re-start the race. There was so much standing water, so I was pleased when it was stopped. We were struggling to keep up with the safety car.”

Scoring his first points of his BTCC career was young Scot Michael Doyle, who finished in ninth.

It was a disappointing first race for SEAT, who had looked so strong going into the race with Darren Turner having taken pole position and Jason Plato third. The troubles began before the first race had even started though, as Plato slid off the track when his power steering and engine cut out. Starting from the pit lane, the best that he could manage in such a shortened race was 12th, while Turner had no time to recover after his oepning lap off. Plato summed up the teams main problem of the day by saying “We didn’t consider the brake pads wouldn’t work in the wet!”

Round 14

By the time the cars lined up on the grid for race two the circuit had become drier, or perhaps less riddled with puddles would be a more accurate description. Turkington, on pole as a result of his race one victory, got a clean start and would lead the field for most of the race, until a hard-charging Jackson caught him on the final lap and was only one tenth of a second away from snatching the win. It was an impressive drive by Jackson, who as a result of his race one off had to overtake numerous cars in conditions that were still far from easy. “The car felt fantastic pretty much all the way around the lap”, Jackson told BTCC.net. “The obvious places were where it was at its strongest, where I could take advantage of its rear-wheel-drive traction out of corners.”

Behind the two battling BMW’s Matt Neal was once again proving strong in the damp conditions, running second for most of the race until being passed by Jackson on lap 14. His race wasn’t entirely without incident as on lap three while passing Shedden the slightest contact between the two sent the Scot off the track and into the wall. “After I took second place I pushed quite hard”, said Neal. “But with the front-wheel drive our tyres wore off towards the end and I was unable to attack any further.”

Both Motorbase BMW’s of Collard and Kane went well again, with the former scoring the team’s best ever finish in the championship. However, whilst the team were very happy with Collard’s race there were thoughts of what could have been, as right up until the penultimate lap the cars had been running in fourth and fifth until an electrical problem struck Kane’s car, dropping him out of the race.

It was a relatively quiet race for the likes of Giovanardi, the Italian holding onto fifth place for much of the race and not putting up too much of a fight when Jackson came up behind him. The SEAT’s of Plato and Turner also had relatively quiet races once they had settled into ninth and tenth places, both drivers struggling with the Leon in the wet and the development brake pads which were proving so troublesome in the wet conditions.

Mike Jordan once again fancied his luck with the works cars and was battling with Giovanardi for much of the race, the two taking the first series of corners side by side at one point, before Jordan had to skip the chicane to avoid a collision. “I sat it out with him round the outside at Clervaux, skipped through the gravel and then sat it out with him through the next corner”, explained Jordan. “Just as I needed it to turn across his nose at the chicane my car was understeering and I had to miss the chicane.” Which, it seems, is also a handy way to gain a position! Jordan would slip back into seventh behind Giovanardi and also Adam Jones only a few laps later, although the trio were battling hard right up until the chequered flag.

Rounding out the top ten was Stephen Jelley, who added to his points tally by finishing tenth.

Round 15

The random reversal of the drivers who finished sixth to tenth in Round 14 would see Mike Jordan once again take pole position for the final race of the day, with Adam Jones alongside. Conditions looked ideal and in stark contrast to the first race of the day, the track having now become relatively dry with no rain or spray.

Jordan made a respectable getaway at the start but the traction of his Honda Integra was no match for the fast starting BMW of Rob Collard, who jumped from fourth to first. Jackson also made a customary good start, but went wide at the first corner whilst trying to follow Collard into second. Jackson crossed the line going into lap two in seventh place, having lost a place to Plato as the cars in front started to form a queue behind Jordan.

The queue of cars was set to get longer as at the end of lap two the safety car was deployed following a shunt for John George, who lost control of his Integra at the Jim Clark Esses, slamming into the wall at high speed. The drama wasn’t over there either, for Plato topped off an already miserable day for the SEAT team by
running up the rear wheel arch of Turkington and being biffed off the track. The resulting steering damage and time loss through a pit stop ultimately put paid to the former champions race as he could manage no better than twelfth position.

At the front of the field Giovanardi had a trouble free race to take his fourth win of the year. Having passed Collard on lap two the Italian was untouchable in his Vectra, carrying only 9 kilograms of success ballast. With Plato out of the points and nearest championship rival now team-mate Matt Neal the reigning champion extended his points advantage to 23 points. “It was a great result for us”, commented Giovanardi. “After my disappointing qualifying on Saturday I couldn’t have hoped for a better result.”

If SEAT thought that their day couldn’t get any worse, they were about to be proved wrong. At the restart Turner, defending from Jackson, made contact with the BMW driver and was sent spearing into the gravel at Clervaux. Unable to escape the ‘kitty litter’, it was set to be 0 points for the SEAT team in round 15.

Whilst Giovanardi was looking comfortable at the front, the battle for second place was a highly contentious affair, involving Collard Jones and Mike Jordan. Lap eight saw Jones attempt a move on Collard at Sunny which put the BMW into a slide that ended with the front section being removed against Jordan’s car. With the front splitter section having been removed, Collard was left with no choice but to return to the pits and retire.

With the competition for second somewhat removed, Adam Jones was able to consolidate his position in second and as top independent runner. On lap ten Matt Neal would also slot into a position he would remain in until the end of the race when Mike Jordan slide wide and lost a handful of places. It would later transpire that Jordan was struggling with the handling of his car with suspension damage picked up as a result of the contact with Collard.

Team Halfords driver Tom Chilton scored his second-best result of the season in coming home fourth after a consistent drive in which he cooly picked up places as others came to grief in front of him. Speaking about his result, Tom said: “I got a cracking start in the final race and made up ten places to fourth which is a hell of a job to do as everyone is so quick on the grid.”

Mat Jackson, despite applying plenty of pressure to Chilton in front, had to settle for fifth in the end, just ahead of Gordon Shedden who inherited sixth position on the final lap after Tom Onslow-Cole made a mistake coming out of Sunny. Colin Turkington came home in eigth place, the ballast for winning and contact with Plato taking him out of contention for any higher placing. His team-mate Stephen Jelley scored his best ever BTCC result behind in ninth, while Andrew Jordan completed the top ten.

Following what was by far the BTCC’s wettest race of the year the championship now takes a six week break until returning to action at Snetterton in Norfolk for Rounds 16, 17 and 18.

Related articles:

1. btcc:action Report: High speed action at Thruxton
2. btcc:action Report: SEAT rule supreme at Snetterton
3. BTCC Action Report: Three different victors at Oulton
4. BTCC Action Snetterton Report
5. Croft Race 2: Turkington heads BMW 1-2