Rockingham BTCC: Tordoff comes from 10th to win Race 2
Sam Tordoff muscled his way through the field from 10th on the grid to win the second race of the BTCC race day at Rockingham.
Photo by: PSP Images
The WSR driver came home ahead of Motorbase's Andrew Jordan and teammate Rob Collard.
Drama began even before the lights went out as Dan Welch stopped just after the start of the formation lap, while Tom Ingram was forced to return to the pits due to a turbo problem.
At the start, once again Motorbase's Mat Jackson was quicker off the line in his Ford, but Race 1 winner Gordon Shedden managed to stay ahead.
But there contact at the first corner involved Jackson, Subaru drivers Jason Plato and Colin Turkington, Triple Eight's Josh Cook and WSR's Jack Goff. While Plato retired on the spot, the others continued with damaged cars.
Amid the carnage Shedden still led from Jackson, Jordan and Tordoff. It was soon clear that Shedden was struggling on the option, harder compound tyre, as the Honda driver began to lose track positions.
Turkington had a big moment on the main straight as he made contact with Dave Newsham and spun at high speed, just avoiding the wall.
On the sixth lap Rob Collard jumped up to fourth and launched himself in the pursuit of the leaders.
Meanwhile, teammate Tordoff overtook Jordan and, on Lap 10, took the lead of the race with a clean pass at the first corner. From then on, the BMW driver was able to open up a gap and his lead was never under threat.
Attention then shifted to Collard, who closed a six-seconds gap in six laps, overtaking a struggling Jackson to challenge Jordan's second place, but the Ford driver held on and finished second. A close fight for 10th saw Turkington spin on the last lap.
Tordoff won the race ahead of Jordan and Collard, with Jackson a quite distant fourth. MG's Ashley Sutton finished a consistent race in fifth ahead of Team Dynamics' Matt Neal in the Honda.
A close fight behind saw team BKR's Aron Smith finish seventh - and on pole position for Race 3 - ahead of Ciceley Racing's Adam Morgan.
The twin Mercedes A-Class of Aiden Moffat came home ninth, while Gordon Shedden successfully defended 10th from Newsham.
Tordoff extends his championship lead to 18 points from Neal, with Shedden in third, now 37 points behind the leader. Jackson's fourth place leaves him fourth in the standings, 2 points behind Shedden.
Race 2 results - Top 10:
Pos | Driver | Car | Laps | Time | Delay |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sam Tordoff | BMW | 16 | 22'44.838 | |
2 | Andrew Jordan | Ford | 16 | 22'47.724 | 2.886 |
3 | Rob Collard | BMW | 16 | 22'47.923 | 3.085 |
4 | Mat Jackson | Ford | 16 | 22'51.701 | 6.863 |
5 | Ash Sutton | MG | 16 | 22'59.865 | 15.027 |
6 | Matt Neal | Honda | 16 | 23'03.499 | 18.661 |
7 | Árón Smith | Volkswagen | 16 | 23'06.179 | 21.341 |
8 | Adam Morgan | Mercedes | 16 | 23'07.462 | 22.624 |
9 | Aiden Moffat | Mercedes | 16 | 23'10.327 | 25.489 |
10 | Gordon Shedden | Honda | 16 | 23'13.374 | 28.536 |
Pietro Casillo / TouringCarTimes
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments