Few can recall rain like that which engulfed Rockingham for BTCC qualifying on Saturday afternoon. It was like a monsoon; more winter series than summer festival. Awnings collapsed in the pitlane, headlights, windscreen wipers and Dunlop wet weather tyres were put to maximum use and, in the melee, Team Dynamics Honda driver Gordon Shedden emerged with pole position. Which was a damn sight better than current championship points leader Sam Tordoff; his WSR BMW would start down in 27th.
Shedden followed it up the next day with a textbook drive in race one, to claim fastest lap en route to a lights-to-flag victory. It was an untroubled one too: front-row starter Mat Jackson looked a bit racy at the start, but soon had to move into defensive mode for the rest of the race. Successfully so, claiming second position ahead of the Team BMR Subaru double-bill of Jason Plato and Colin Turkington (who'd later be demoted to fifth for a dodgy move on Josh Cook). Tordoff? Quite the recovery drive saw him finish 10th.
Race two was a bit spicier; at the first corner Jackson, Plato, Turkington, Cook and Jack Goff all came together. Plato retired, the others carried on in damaged cars and Shedden led from Jackson, Andrew Jordan, Ash Sutton and Tordoff. Yes, Tordoff; he'd taken advantage of the melee to leap up from 10th. Sutton was easy to pick off, as was Shedden when he started falling back due to an unfavourable combination of hard tyres and ballast. By lap seven, Tordoff was third, behind Jordan and Jackson. By lap nine, he was in the lead, and maintained it to the flag for an impressive 24-hour turnaround in fortunes.
Tordoff later explained how it came together. "I made a mistake in FP1 which left us unprepared going into qualifying and that was reflected in the result. We took a bit of a gamble with the set-up for race one and it turned out to be an inspired decision that paid dividends. We made the car even better for race two, and I think that was the first time in a long time that we've seen the BMW's true pace. For us to only lose a handful of points in the championship having started today 28th on the grid is incredible."
Shedden fell down to 10th by the end, but team-mate Neal picked through the midfield to take fifth, while Rob Collard nabbed Jackson to take the final podium slot: the Motorbase cars swapped towards the end as Jordan had more pace and Tordoff's team-mate was closing on them both. Further back, Aron Smith's VW CC nosed ahead of Aidan Moffat's Mercedes-Benz A-Class for seventh, which was a lucky result as this was picked out in the reverse grid draw to take pole for race three.
The delighted Irishman duly did what was required and led from the start and from a nail-biting three restarts to take victory in the Team BKR car, thus becoming the 12th person to win a BTCC race so far this season. In the 59-year history of the British Touring Car Championship, there have never been as many winners as this (it also makes it eight brands who've won in 2016). Both Smith and BKR's first win, it was a tantalisingly close one from Shedden and Turkington, and fully deserved, despite both Shedden and Turkington's impressive charges up through the order.
Neal was on the unfavoured hard tyre and did well to hold onto fourth, as did Jackson in fifth. But the glory of race two wasn't maintained for Tordoff, who fell down to 16th, out of the points: that's what 75kg of victorious ballast can do for you, although he does still, just, maintain the championship lead by five points from Neal, with Shedden's victory and consistency moving him up to third. Technically, 13 drivers are still in title contention but realistically, with just two race weekends to go, it's likely to be between the top five of Tordoff, Neal, Shedden, Jackson and Collard.
Silverstone is next, at which Team BKR's Mark Howard will have to be careful: he's been given a suspended one-race ban "for his general standard of driving in a number of incidents". Once again, Smith's team-mate retired from the third race, for a stark contrast in fortunes.
Off track, a tit-for-tat between TOCA and Team BMR also continued. On Saturday, TOCA said it was "disappointed that it finds itself having to further clarify and correct some of the points raised," following an earlier Team BMR 'clarification'. In a nutshell, the drivers - particularly Jason Plato - are frustrated that the boxer engine seems down on power compared to others. It didn't seem logical, said the team, a concern it said was expressed by other teams' senior personnel and drivers.
Several statements were actually issued by the team, some of which were "factually incorrect" said TOCA; the long and short of it is that the team agrees its BTCC engine power calculations are "remarkably accurate" throughout the grid, but it initially believed this wasn't enough - TOCA should have been pursuing speed equalisation across the grid. "Incomprehensible," said TOCA: "There has never been a common goal of 'on track speed equalisation'".
Many of the contentious lines have now been retracted by Team BMR, and BTCC fans now have a bit more clarity - TOCA is about equalising engine power, not top speed times. "To think that all cars should be subject to a 'speed equalisation' is nonsensical, in our view. To attempt to match each and every type of car to achieve identical top speeds is a naive and virtually impossible goal - particularly with the diversity in our championship.
"Our proven and acknowledged process simply provides each team with an engine of an equal power factor. How this then relates to on-track performance is entirely down to each team and the way in which they build, develop and race their cars." So, now we know. Which will make the next round at Silverstone, a power circuit, interesting...
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Rockingham Race 1:
1st: Gordon Shedden (Halfords Yuasa Racing)
2nd: Mat Jackson (Motorbase Performance)
3rd: Jason Plato (Silverline Subaru BMR Racing)
Rockingham Race 2:
1st: Sam Tordoff (Team JCT600 Racing with GardX)
2nd: Andrew Jordan (Motorbase Performance)
3rd: Rob Collard (Team JCT600 Racing with GardX)
Rockingham Race 3:
1st: Aron Smith (BKR)
2nd: Gordon Shedden (Halfords Yuasa Racing)
3rd: Colin Turkington (Silverline Subaru BMR Racing)
Driver's championship
1: Sam Tordoff (258 points)
2: Matt Neal (253 points)
3: Gordon Shedden (238 points)
4: Mat Jackson (230 points)
5: Rob Collard (227 points)
Independent drivers' championship
1: Andrew Jordan (342 points)
2: Mat Jackson (325 points)
3: Adam Morgan (281 points)
4: Tom Ingram (266 points)
5: Rob Austin (228 points)
Jack Sears Trophy for rookies
1: Ash Sutton (374 points)
2: Michael Epps (322 points)
3: Matt Simpson (265 points)
4: Mark Howard (193 points)
5: Chris Smiley (183 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)