Collard takes win in BTCC season opener
Rob Collard has won the opening round of the 2015 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship with a flawless performance in his WSR-run BMW at Brands Hatch. VW duo Aron Smith and Jason Plato finished second and third respectively.
Collard made a supreme getaway from fifth on the grid, blasting by the Team BMR trio of Smith, Plato and Colin Turkington by the time the stream of tin-tops reached Druids Hairpin for the first time.
Pole-sitter Andy Priaulx looked comfortable in the early stages, setting a series of fast lap times having chosen to run the Dunlop Sport Maxx soft tyres in the season curtain raiser. The Guernseyman began to struggle shortly after mid-distance, however, and he had dropped to fourth in a blink of an eye.
Collard squeezed by on the run to Paddock Hill Bend on lap 15, which led to Smith and Plato immediately pouncing before Priaulx could settle his car on the exit of the corner. Fourth became seventh when the fast-starting Jack Goff slipped his MG through, taking Turkington and Gordon Shedden’s all-new Honda Civic Type R with him.
Whilst the lead trio remained barely a second apart it was the scrap for fourth that provided the main entertainment in the closing stages. With the soft tyres on Goff’s machine now hanging on the young talent had to fend off the attentions of two illustrious title winners behind him. The MG 888 Racing driver hung on well while Turkington just kept fifth at the finish as both he and Turkington finished almost side-by-side.
Priaulx had fallen to ninth by the finish after Andrew Jordan’s MG and Matt Neal’s Honda made relatively light work of the struggling BMW. Triple champion Neal had endured a wild start to the season after a coming together with WSR’s Sam Tordoff on the opening lap, which both were lucky to get away with, whilst the Chevrolet of Dave Newsham completed a half spin in sympathy of the incident ahead of him. Tom Ingram completed the top ten order after recovering from a bogged down start.
Josh Cook enjoyed an impressive BTCC debut by scoring championship points in 13th and winning the Jack Sears Trophy, which this season is a race for rookie drivers. All but one of the 26 starters finished in what was a clean and reliable contest.
Plato will start race two from pole position by virtue of setting the fastest lap. Priaulx will start alongside him and will look to bounce back after a challenging return bow in the BTCC.