Miss anything? Read our Brands Hatch recap

The start of a new season often means lots of new information to take in, with new teams, driver changes and new cars on the grid. This year has been no exception with the first round seeing the reigning champion in trouble, two very new cars joining the grid, a first win for an established team and several other changes up and down the grid. Here we bring you a brief summary of how each driver performed last weekend at Brands.

Matt Neal (Currently 1st in driver’s championship, 38 points)
Neal experienced his strongest start to a BTCC season since 2005 by taking pole position, a win and two third place finishes. Race one saw him head home team-mate Giovanardi, although he had to work for the win after losing out at the start to the fast-starting BMW’s. Another poor start in race two again dropped him back to fifth, although with success ballast on board this time Neal worked his way up to third, benefitting from Giovanardi’s demise. The final race of the day saw Neal again working his way upto third after another poor start, with Neal using his favourite overtaking move at clearways to good effect.

Colin Turkington (Currently 2nd in driver’s championship, 32 points)
Despite not winning a race Turkington had an extremely strong weekend, scoring consistently and only just missing out on the race two win a handful of laps from the end. The Team RAC driver ended the weekend with a 2nd, 3rd and 4th place finish and admitted “you don’t need to win every race to be in contention for the Championship.”

Rob Collard (Currently 3rd in driver’s championship, 29 points)
Will have been ecstatic to have taken Motorbase Performance’s (Airwaves BMW) first win, especially at the team’s local track. Came away from the circuit with his best results from a BTCC meeting in his whole career, and his first win since the final race at Brands Hatch in 2005. Got off to an excellent start to lead the opening race of the day, but ultimately slipped back to fourth. Didn’t make the same mistake in race two and pressured Turkington all race long before taking the lead with only two laps to go. Third race was more of a disappointment, the reverse grid and contact with Stephen Jelley making a good result tough to achieve.

Jason Plato (Currently 4th in driver’s championship, 22 points)
Made a surprise late-entry with an RML prepared Chevrolet and didn’t disappoint. Was still learning the car through the practice sessions, with Saturday being the first competitive outing for the former champion in the car. Drove to a strong sixth in race one, but struggled more in the mid-pack in race two and was lucky to get into the points. Benefited hugely from the reverse grid for race three, starting from pole and leading the first laps of the race. Tagged by Jonathan Adam and lost the lead but performed an amazing save through paddock hill bend to come home second, only to later inherit the win after Adam was penalised.

Jonathan Adam (Currently 5th in driver’s championship, 16 points)
Would have had his debut win in the series if not for the 4-second penalty that gave it to Plato instead. Went into qualifying feeling confident after setting fast times in pre-season testing and qualified sixth. Race one was a disaster, contact off the line with Gordon Shedden forcing him into retirement. From the back of the grid drove a solid race two to take ninth and then got lucky with a front-row grid position for race three. Pushed Plato hard through the opening laps until he quite literally pushed Plato through paddock hill, a move that would later demote him to second.

“I had the pace to stay comfortably in front,” - Adam on race three.

Adam Jones (Currently 6th in driver’s championship, 14 points)
Jones drove superbly all day to start the season on a high for new team Cartridge World Carbon Zero Racing. Race one saw him finishing in fifth and third best independent, after having started tenth. In race two he was seventh just ahead of team-mate Eaves and in the final race of the day he was again seventh, this time following Eaves home.

Fabrizio Giovanardi (Currently =7th in driver’s championship, 12 points)
Reigning champ Giovanardi somewhat had a weekend to forget. After qualifying second and finishing round one in second it all went downhill from there. Brands Hatch has failed to bring the Italian any luck recently and this continued in round two when Giovanardi dropped out of third because of a puncture. Starting from the back of the grid for race three, he got caught up in an accident with Jelley and Collard and was forced into retirement. “It’s only the first weekend and there’s a long way to go, so I’m not worried,” he said.

Stephen Jelley (Currently =7th in driver’s championship, 12 points)
Jelley had his best weekend in the BTCC to-date, scoring two points finishes and almost as many as he amassed in the whole of 2008. After qualifying eighth, he drove consistently to take a seventh. Building on this for race two, he ended up in fourth. Having got into third at the start, he eventually slipped back as Giovanardi and Neal passed, only to then benefit from the former’s puncture. Race three was over quickly, as he tried to pass Collard on the outside down to Graham Hill bend and damaged the front of his car.

Gordon Shedden (Currently 9th in driver’s championship, 11 points)
Contact with Jelley and Adam at the start of race one forced the Scot out, after having qualified a respectable seventh. In race two he fought his way from the back of the grid along with Andrew Jordan to take sixth. Came on strong early in race three to challenge for a podium, but lost pace later in the race and finished in fifth.

Dan Eaves (Currently 10th in driver’s championship, 10 points)
Showed that he has not lost his pace after three years out of the BTCC by scoring in every race. Improved his result with each start, taking a ninth in race one and an eighth in race two. The reverse grid for race three placed him third, and he translated this into a very strong sixth position on his return to the series with a new team.

Andrew Jordan (Currently 11th in driver’s championship, 6 points)
The new-boy at Vauxhall had a mixed weekend. Showed he had the speed in race one to win, and was running in second place when forced to retire with driveshaft problems. This meant starting at the back for race two, and he drove superbly to finish in fifth place. The final race of the day saw him running in sixth position when more gremlins meant the end to his race - this time transmission troubles.

“There were a few ‘Matt Neal’ moves and a little bit of contact in Clearways, but there weren’t any big lunges and we brought the car back in one piece” - Andrew Jordan

Harry Vaulkhard (Currently 12th in driver’s championship, 5 points)
Had his best weekend in the BTCC to date for new team Tempus Sport, staying on the pace of experienced driver and other Chevrolet racer Jason Plato. Two points finishes (an eighth and ninth in race one and three respectively) give him a solid start to build upon for the rest of the season.

Martyn Bell (Currently 13th in driver’s championship, 2 points)
With a new car underneath him Bell made a strong start to the new season, finishing in the points twice and also as the top BTC-spec racer all weekend. “I had confidence in the car and was able to push a lot more,” he said.

The rest
Team Aon, running Tom Chilton and Alan Morrison in new Ford Focus ST’s struggled all weekend with straightline speed. The team are however confident of resolving the issue before Thruxton and being in contention for points finishes, after essenitally using the Brands Hatch weekend as an extended test session.

Nick Leason returned after a year out in the Team AFM diesel-powered BMW 120D, and finished two of the three races, although the car is still lacking competitive pace. “Its not been easy and we still go away with a few issues on the car regarding handling,” he admitted.

Liam McMillan’s debut weekend was far from a straightforward affair, the 18-year-old only getting to the finish in the first race.

John George was pleased with his weekend, despite only finishing one of the three races.

Both Jason Hughes and Paul O’Neill were forced to miss the opening meeting, but should be back for the next round at Thruxton.