The British Touring Car Championship was back with a bang, crash and wallop on an entertaining Easter Sunday afternoon at Brands Hatch.

It was former champions Jason Plato and Matt Neal that were the stars of the opening weekend sharing the race wins between them.

Plato won the opening two races, before Neal secured victory in the final race of the opening round leading home his teammate Gordon Sheddon in a one-two. A remarkable achievement given that Sheddon had to start the race from the back of the grid after being disqualified after race two for failing a ride height test after the race.

Unfortunately the weekend didn’t quite go to plan for Wrotham based team Motorbase with their NGTC Airwaves racing cars finishing well down the field.

In race one Aron Smith finished 9^th and Mat Jackson 20^th with Liam Griffin 17^th and in third place in the S2000 class.

The major incident of race one came in the last corner of the last lap, when Andrew Jordan tried to dive up the inside of Plato, in a gap that wasn’t there and both drivers ended up in the gravel trap. Plato and Jordan managed to keep the power on and get back onto the start/finish straight and complete the race as they were ahead of Rob Austin in third.

Race two didn’t fare to much better for the Kent team with Aron Smith not finishing the race, Mat Jackson finished in seventh with Liam Griffin winning the S2000 race to give them a moment of success.

At the front of the grid it was Plato and Jordan who were fighting out for the race victory with Plato bagging his second win of the weekend, just a second ahead of the Pirtek Racing driver. His team mate Jeff Smith joined him on the podium by bringing home his Pirtek Racing Honda Civic home in third place.

The final race of the weekend saw Airwaves Racing Mat Jackson start on pole position, a position he inherited after the disqualification of reigning champion Gordon Sheddon who was disqualified after race two for a ride height infringement.

It was Plato’s rival Matt Neal who would come through from fourth on the grid to claim victory from teammate Sheddon who scythed his way through the field from last place, despite carrying more success ballast than most of his rivals he was fighting for places with.

Third place was taken by Sam Todoroff in the sister MG to Plato’s as Plato himself could only come home in fifth place on the soft tyre option. Mat Jackson finished in tenth place just a position ahead of teammate Smith, and Griffin finished in 15^th place winning finishing first of the S2000’s after Lea Wood was disqualified.

The race was only a few laps old when there was a massive shunt involving Rob Austin who came round the bend of Paddock and was on the run up to Druids when his car was collected by the spinning Toyota Avensis of Dave Newsham. As Austin tried to avoid the spinning car, it nurfed him in the side sending him spinning into the tyre wall causing him to lose the driver’s door and lose a significant proportion of the rear end.

Speaking after the opening weekend of the season early Championship leader Plato, said: “I am delighted with the first two wins. Last year was a sign of what might have come for us at MG – but we’ve changed the balance considerably now so it’s much easier to drive. It has been a good weekend.”

The championship now moves onto Donington Park over the weekend of 20/21^st April as everyone looks to catch the early leader the vastly experienced Jason Plato.

2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Brands Hatch Indy – Provisional Results

Race 1
1 Jason Plato (MG KX Momentum Racing) 27 Laps
2 Andrew Jordan (Pirtek Racing) +2.168
3 Rob Austin (WIX Racing) +6.130
4 Sam Tordoff (MG KX Momentum Racing) +7.781
5 Jeff Smith (Pirtek Racing) +8.245
6 Frank Wrathall (Dynojet) +13.622

Race 2
1 Jason Plato (MG KX Momentum Racing) 49.124
2 Andrew Jordan (Pirtek Racing) +0.989
3 Jeff Smith (Pirtek Racing) +4.958
4 Matt Neal (Honda Yuasa Racing) +5.073
5 Sam Tordoff (MG KX Momentum Racing) +5.454
6 Adam Morgan (Ciceley Racing) +5.874

Race 3
1 Matt Neal (Honda Yuasa Racing) 27 laps
2 Gordon Shedden (Honda Yuasa Racing) +0.083
3 Sam Tordoff (MG KX Momentum Racing) +1.216
4 Adam Morgan (Ciceley Racing) +2.171
5 Jason Plato (MG KX Momentum Racing) +3.651
6 Andrew Jordan (Pirtek Racing) +4.727

2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Provisional Driver Standings – after 3 of 30 rounds

1 Jason Plato (MG KX Momentum Racing) 54 points
2 Andrew Jordan (Pirtek Racing) 45
3 Sam Tordoff (MG KX Momentum Racing) 40
4 Jeff Smith (Pirtek Racing) 35
5 Matt Neal (Honda Yuasa Racing) 34
6 Adam Morgan (Ciceley Racing) 32