Caught your breath yet? BTCC Snetterton 2016 turned into something of a crash-fest, with destroyed BTCC cars, furious drivers, lucky cameramen, 'obscene' hand gestures and verbals spiraling on social media deep into the night. After six weeks off, clearly the BTCC boys came back from their holidays full of pent-up frustration and Snet was the place to let it all out.
Honda had a pole for the first time in years
It all started off so routinely, too. Gordon Shedden took the first Honda pole in more than three years (yes, really - the Team Dynamics car may be a perpetual winner, but why can't it hook things up on Saturday?), although Colin Turkington's Subaru eventually reeled him in during the race to become the first three-time winner of 2016 (again, yes really - who'd have thought that back in May?). Mat Jackson proved front-wheel drive BTCC cars can make good starts too, moving from fifth to third and holding onto it to grab a podium for Motorbase's 300th BTCC start.
And then we had race two. Jackson actually did it again, moving from third past Shedden and Turkington into the lead, but it was pure carnage behind. First, Aron Smith and Emmerdale's Kelvin Fletcher clouted one another, before the ultra-nasty incident that stopped the race. It all started when Dan Welch and Ollie Jackson went wheel-to-wheel coming onto the Bentley Straight (Snet's back Revett Straight if you're old school). Jackson went wide and spun, collecting Welch; Hunter Abbott hit Jackson and an unsighted Ash Sutton smashed into Welch, the latter crash easily being the most ferocious of the two - BTCC officials told him it was the worst damage they'd ever seen.
Mat Jackson took victory in race two
In the chaos, Stewart Lines, Alex Martin and Mark Howard also became involved, leaving a mess that wasn't going to be cleared any time soon. So the race was stopped and the brooms (and cranes, and tractors) were sent out. The Proton? That's probably a write-off (Dan Welch is already talking about crowdfunding) and the repair bill for the others is also likely to be sobering. But who was at fault? Initially, the race stewards pointed the finger at Jackson, hitting him with a £1,000 fine and a three-place grid penalty. This was later rescinded upon appeal though: instead, he's received three points on his licence, no grid penalty and a half-price £500 fine.
What do you think, PHers - who was in the wrong?
Race two eventually restarted and Mat Jackson made his third hot start in as many races, getting into the lead by the end of the first lap and keeping it to the flag. Colin Turkington was second and Matt Neal emerged ahead of Rob Collard after a race-long battle, both scoring significant points in the process. The aforementioned hand gesture? Andrew Jordan was the guilty man, receiving a verbal warning for the incident that elicited it, along with the person it was directed at, Warren Scott.
Then this happened in race three...
And then, yes, we went to race three. Ready for it? Sam Tordoff was on pole and all was looking well, until Mark Howard, Martin Jackson and Hunter Abbott somehow came together at the back of the field. It was Abbott's Chevrolet that came off worse, barrel-rolling along the Snetterton straight before sickeningly smashing into a TV camera gantry. Filming the incident almost to the end, the vision of the car heading straight to camera was chilling, as was footage from another angle showing the cameraman clattering over; he held on momentarily before falling to the ground with a painful bump.
If Welch's Proton was the worst damage ever seen, this surely was one of the worst crashes seen in BTCC. ITV later reported the cameraman was bruised and pained but OK, which was an incredible relief given what could have been. Over to the marshalls to properly earn the money these brave volunteers are not paid to clear up the expensive NGTC detritus for the belated second restart of the day. Which, dammit, Sam Tordoff was unable to make due to a car problem, leaving Jason Plato effectively with pole before Rob Collard, Mat Jackson and Gordon Shedden got past.
Another front-running car problem took out Mat Jackson, meaning the battle was between Shedden and Collard. It was the Scot with the bit between his teeth, catching and running alongside Collard on the final lap to grab the lead in exciting fashion, giving the Snetterton faithful something good to cheer about. Just as good, Rob Austin snared a hugely popular third place in the Handy Motorsport Avensis, meaning a race meeting of high drama finally drew to a close with some positive news.
Chaos over; we're onto Knockhill next
And also ended with a stealthy Collard in the points lead, by three points from his teammate Tordoff (curse that race three car failure!). Matt Neal, equally stealthily, is in third, with Shedden 19 points behind in fourth. Are things closing up to a three-way title battle? We'll find out more in two weeks: next up it's Shedden's home circuit of Knockhill, always a popular BTCC venue and one hopefully rather less dramatic than Snetterton. Close racing, we love; crashes and incidents aplenty, we don't. Wonder if the BTCC suits will be thinking the same in coming days?
Unsurprisingly PHers are already discussing the action-packed BTCC weekend at Snetterton; join the discussion here.
Watch the highlights here
Results:
Snetterton 300 Race 1:
1st: Colin Turkington (Silverline Subaru BMR Racing)
2nd: Gordon Shedden (Halfords Yuasa Racing)
3rd: Mat Jackson (Motorbase Performance)
Snetterton 300 Race 2:
1st: Mat Jackson (Motorbase Performance)
2nd: Colin Turkington (Silverline Subaru BMR Racing)
3rd: Matt Neal (Halfords Yuasa Racing)
Snetterton 300 Race 3:
1st: Gordon Shedden (Halfords Yuasa Racing)
2nd: Rob Collard (Team JCT600 Racing with GardX BMW)
3rd: Rob Austin (Handy Motorsport)
Driver's championship
1: Rob Collard (188 points)
2: Sam Tordoff (185 points)
3: Matt Neal (182 points)
4: Gordon Shedden (163 points)
5: Colin Turkington (154 points)
Independent drivers' championship
1: Andrew Jordan (251 points)
2: Tom Ingram (228 points)
3: Mat Jackson (220 points)
4: Adam Morgan (208 points)
5: Rob Austin (178 points)
Jack Sears Trophy for rookies
1: Ash Sutton (294 points)
2: Michael Epps (256 points)
3: Matt Simpson (208 points)
4: Chris Smiley (183 points)
5: Mark Howard (129 points)
Previous rounds:
BTCC Brands Hatch Indy (rounds 1, 2, 3)
BTCC Donington (rounds 4, 5, 6)
BTCC Thruxton (rounds 7, 8, 9)
BTCC Oulton Park (rounds 10, 11, 12)
BTCC Croft (rounds 13, 14, 15)
BTCC Snetterton (rounds 16, 17 18)
BTCC Knockhill (rounds 19, 20, 21)
BTCC Rockingham (rounds 22, 23, 24)
BTCC Silverstone (rounds 25, 26, 27)
BTCC Brands Hatch GP (rounds 28, 29, 30)