MG's Jason Plato has scored his second victory of the day as he once again made a stellar move past championship leader Colin Turkington in the early stages of a race that was later cut short following a huge crash involving Rob Collard.
Turkington's BMW 125i M Sport immediately blasted by Plato's MG6 off the line and with Dunlop Sport Maxx soft compound tyres on his machine he looked to make a quick getaway. Plato had other ideas, however, and the double champion made another impressive move down the inside of Turkington's BMW at Brooklands on lap two. It was an almost carbon copy of his race one effort although he seemed to be even later on the brakes the second time around.
Plato never looked back and managed to peg the gap at around one second until the finish.
Airwaves Racing's Mat Jackson held third until his pace faded at mid-distance. Swiss star Alain Menu eyed the opportunity and attacked the Ford through Copse before completing the move at Becketts. Menu's BMR team-mate Aron Smith was busy making his own moves too and the Irishman pressured Jackson all the way home to take fifth.
Sam Tordoff took sixth for MG with Italian Fabrizio Giovanardi just him in seventh. Pirtek Racing's Andrew Jordan held eighth ahead of a dramatic battle for the final places in the top ten.
Collard had been in fifth during the early stages but faded as the performance of his soft tyres dropped off. He then became embroiled in a battle with Warren Scott's VW, Jack Clarke's Ford Focus and Gordon Shedden's Honda. Collard was further shuffled down the order before drama struck on the penultimate lap of the race
Collard's BMW made contact with Clarke's recovering Focus, which was in the midst of a wild slide on the exit of Becketts. Collard's car barrel rolled several times before coming to rest upside down. A shaken and winded Collard has since been taken to hospital for precautionary X-rays.
Jason Plato said: "That one was a bit more comfortable. Colin was quick mid-race but then he seemed to drop back. I was driving within the limits to conserve the tyres – it's easy to push too hard. It's important for the team to increase our lead in the manufacturers' standings - it'll be interesting to see what we can do on soft tyres and I'm in a fighting mood."
Colin Turkington said: "I struggled a bit at first on the softs but in the end it turned out just like race one. It's great to wrap up the Independents' but our full focus is still on the big one."
