Snetterton BTCC: Jackson wins shortened Race 2 after opening-lap crash

It was a drama-filled 10 laps, cut by two tours after after the initial running was red flagged following a nasty multiple car accident on the Bentley straight.

Jackson made an excellent start from third to edge his Ford Focus ST past Gordon Shedden's Honda at Riches, before passing Turkington at Hamilton to establish a lead he would never lose.

Behind Jackson, the drama was plentiful. Ciceley Racing's Adam Morgan made contact with Team Dynamics' Shedden at Wilson on lap two, before making contact again at Agostini and sending the Civic into a half-spin.

Morgan continued in third, while Shedden dropped to the lower reaches of the top 10. Advancing forward at this time was West Surrey Racing's Collard, who had made a spectacular start from 16th to run sixth.

Collard passed Team BMR's Jason Plato on lap four before Neal deposed Morgan at Agostini on lap five to move into the podium positions.

Collard also passed the Mercedes on lap six and quickly caught Neal, providing the large crowds with the battle of the race.

The BMW and the Honda ran side-by-side for several corners on lap eight, with Neal somehow managing to hang on despite running off onto the grass at Hamilton.

Out front, Jackson paced himself well to come home just over a second ahead of Turkington.

Behind the top four, Morgan held on to fifth with Plato fending off Ingram for sixth. Series leader Sam Tordoff was eighth, with Rob Austin and Shedden rounding out the top 10.

Tordoff was rewarded for keeping his nose clean with the reverse grid pole for the final race of the day.

Motorbase Performance's Andrew Jordan had another tough race, with a good start negated by heavy contact with Team BMR's Warren Scott on a chaotic opening lap. He ended up 14th.

At the first start, Scott had a lurid spin in the middle of the pack and somehow wasn't collected by anyone, although Power Maxed Racing's Kelvin Fletcher, Eurotech Racing's Martin Depper and Team BKR's Aron Smith all went off in avoidance, with the Volkswagen picking up heavy front end damage.

It was a precursor of what was to come later in the lap. AmD Tuning's Ollie Jackson and Welch Motorsport's Dan Welch making contact heading onto the Bentley straight, with the Audi spearing into the barriers and the Proton being collected at full chat by Ash Sutton's Triple Eight Racing MG.

Hunter Abbott, Stewart Lines, Mark Howard and Alex Martin were all caught up in the melee, leading to a lengthy delay.

Race 2 results - Top 10:

Pos	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/Gap
1	Mat Jackson	Ford	10	19'48.2856
2	Colin Turkington	Subaru	10	1.190
3	Matt Neal	Honda	10	1.950
4	Rob Collard	BMW	10	2.140
5	Adam Morgan	Mercedes	10	7.255
6	Jason Plato	Subaru	10	7.687
7	Tom Ingram	Toyota	10	8.421
8	Sam Tordoff	BMW	10	9.935
9	Rob Austin	Toyota	10	11.649
10	Gordon Shedden	Honda	10	11.989

Ian Gallagher / TouringCarTimes