Silverstone BTCC: Priaulx takes victory, Shedden moves further clear
Andy Priaulx took his second win of his return campaign to the BTCC, as Gordon Shedden increased his championship lead to 25 points over Jason Plato.
Andy Priaulx, Team IHG Rewards Club, BMW 125i MSport
PSP Images
Mat Jackson, who broke the race lap record in the weekend’s opener, made a good getaway from pole and stayed in front, with Priaulx's rear-wheel drive BMW easing past Jack Goff for second.
And Jackson was unable to pull away despite carrying the maximum 75kg of success ballast, as the trio of Priaulx, Goff and Aron Smith formed behind him.
Eager to reclaim second, Goff tried to take advantage of Priaulx’s attacking manoeuvres, but he ended up slightly nudged by Smith and dropped back, allowing Priaulx to focus on taking the lead.
The BMW driver soon made a tight move by edging ahead of Jackson around the outside of Copse and defending his position through Maggots and Becketts.
Jackson managed to stay with Priaulx for a couple of laps, but eventually fell back to the clutches of Goff and Smith before his race took an unfortunate turn in the form of a front-left puncture, which forced him into the pits.
The remaining six laps saw no further changes at the front, and Priaulx took the chequered flag first by 1.8s ahead of Goff and Smith.
Andrew Jordan was set to secure fourth after withstanding race-long pressure from championship leader Shedden, but the MG driver suffered a puncture on the final lap and dropped down to 19th.
As a result, Shedden grabbed fourth, holding off Matt Neal and Sam Tordoff for the final couple of laps.
Plato, 11th on the grid, made his way up to seventh, while the top 10 was completed by his BMR teammate Colin Turkington, Rob Collard and James Cole, who has been handed reverse-grid pole for Race 3.
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