BTCC round 1 at Thruxton

[ales]

3 races, 3 winners, all 3 BTCC Champions.

The first race went to James Thompson, 2002 champion, in a Vauxhall Astra from Matt Neal and Yvan Muller.
Then the top 10 from the first race had to start in reverse order in race 2, which played a trick on Neal and thompson as they took each other out. This time the race went to Jason Plato (2001 champion) in a ETCC-spec Seat Toledo, helped by his strategic giving up of 2 positions in race 1 and thus having less weight and a higher starting position. Muller kept on his tail for almost all of the race yet was unable to find a place to pass and had to settle for second and championship points, considering that his two closest rivals in the championship were out and would get no points for this race.
In the third race, which the drivers started in the order they finished the second one Yvan Muller (the reigning champion) gets a good start and after driving side-by-side with Plato for several corners takes the lead and never looks back. Anthony Reid in an MG, equipped with a lighter I4 in place of a V6 they used previously, and who was without a job 72 hours before the race and in a team probably not having enough funding so far to finish the season (no works MG effort this year unfortunately) gets a second place finish. James Thompson finishes in third after a drive from the back of the grid and after passing Plato in the latter stages of the race with a very forceful overtaking maneuvre.

The standings after round 1

Yvan MULLER 38
James THOMPSON 28
Jason PLATO 28
Anthony REID 25
Dan EAVES 15
Matt NEAL 14
Micheal BENTWOOD 14
Luke HINES 10
Robert COLLARD 9
Colin TURKINGTON 7
James KAYE 6
Robert HUFF 5
Shaun WATSON-SMITH 5
Tom CHILTON 2

Some pictures from Thruxton

[NSX-R-SSJ20K]

was cak

note that i hate Speed Sunday that guy who presents it was a complete wanker.

Also the guy who faxed or phoned whatever BS that BTCC and Rally is better than F1 is on Crack.

[2.2 Straight six]

btcc is great ! it's simple cars, simple technology and it's really something people can relate to since they use road cars as a base. plus the seats are looking good this season especially jason plato, that man has skill he does so well even when carrying maximum ballast go him !