Donington BTCC: Sam Tordoff beats Jason Plato in another MG one-two
Sam Tordoff beat MG team-mate Jason Plato to win a dramatic wet second British Touring Car Championship race at Donington Park
Tordoff, with 36kg of success ballast compared to Plato's 45kg, made a good start and was able to slot ahead into Redgate.
In an action-packed race, there was little chance for anyone to challenge Tordoff in the early stages due to a number of incidents.
James Cole's United Autosports Toyota Avensis and Alain Menu's BMR VW Passat both went off on lap one, Menu being narrowly missed by the midfield as he spun back across the pack.
At the restart, Rob Collard - who had risen to third thanks to a fine start - spun off down the Craners, and a multi-car crash at Redgate put Rob Holland and Cole in the wall.
The safety car was called again and stayed out even longer thanks to Ollie Jackson's Welch Proton twice stopping on the track.
When the race finally got under way, Tordoff led Plato and kept him at arm's length to take his first win of 2014.
Collard's mistake, along with errors by Colin Turkington, Matt Neal (under the safety car), and Andrew Jordan (at the Old Hairpin) allowed Gordon Shedden into third.
He kept the MGs in sight, but could not challenge, while Jordan came home fourth.
Neal recovered from his minor mistake to make it three Hondas in the top five, ahead of a subdued Turkington in sixth.
Mat Jackson starred in his Motorbase Ford Focus, climbing from 14th to seventh, ahead of Aron Smith's VW Passat.
The AmD Focus of Dave Newsham also impressed, the former race winner passing Fabrizio Giovanardi at Redgate and then overhauling Tom Ingram in the closing stages to take ninth.
Results - 19 laps: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Sam Tordoff MG 30m09.940s 2. Jason Plato MG +1.028s 3. Gordon Shedden Honda +2.493s 4. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda +3.544s 5. Matt Neal Honda +4.814s 6. Colin Turkington WSR BMW +7.145s 7. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford +10.668s 8. Aron Smith BMR VW +12.024s 9. Dave Newsham AmD Ford +12.726s 10. Tom Ingram Speedworks Toyota +13.365s 11. Jack Goff BMR Vauxhall +14.209s 12. Fabrizio Giovanardi Motorbase Ford +16.340s 13. Glynn Geddie UA Toyota +17.974s 14. Adam Morgan Ciceley Mercedes +21.997s 15. Nick Foster WSR BMW +23.180s 16. Aiden Moffat Moffat Chevrolet +24.926s 17. Lea Wood Houseman Toyota +25.399s 18. Rob Austin RAR Audi +27.888s 19. Daniel Welch Welch Proton +29.650s 20. Simon Belcher Handy Toyota +30.708s 21. Warren Scott BMR Vauxhall +30.834s 22. Martin Depper Eurotech Honda +37.039s 23. Marc Hynes MG +39.640s 24. Jack Clarke Motorbase Ford +40.402s Retirements: Hunter Abbott RAR Audi 11 laps Chris Stockton BTC Chevrolet 11 laps Ollie Jackson Welch Proton 8 laps Robb Holland Rotek Audi 5 laps James Cole UA Toyota 5 laps Rob Collard WSR BMW 4 laps Alain Menu BMR VW 0 laps
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