Huge Accidents Mar Enthralling Thruxton Meeting

Several large accidents marred the British Touring Car Championship's visit to Thruxton, as Andrew Jordan, Gordon Shedden and Colin Turkington took the spoils in Round Three. 

The Hampshire speed bowl is the fastest circuit on the BTCC schedule and famously tough on tyres, but it was the lack of run-off on the exit of the 140 mph right-hander at Church and the somewhat inadequate provision of tyre bundles - more effective as launch-pads than for stopping errant cars - that was the focus of much scrutiny.

Race Two was stopped one lap short after Nick Foster was tagged into a spin by Rob Austin, sending the BMW sliding across the grass and vaulting backwards over the tyre bundle. A shaken Foster emerged unscathed, but there was more to come.  Ollie Jackson crunched his Proton into the wall at the same corner in Race Three, before Simon Belcher's Toyota vaulted the barriers and cartwheeled into the trees. Another lucky escape, but more questions will surely be asked in the coming weeks. 

Foster (background) disappears over the wall at Church,
while Austin (foreground) made a lucky escape.

Despite the tyres being in less than peak condition, the race was restarted and Church neutralised by waved yellow flags, although that didn't stop Shedden appearing to pass Jack Goff under yellows.

Controversy aside, the racing was fast and frenetic, the BTCC at its brilliant best. Fabrizio Giovanardi was the chief beneficiary of the reverse grid to start the final race on pole alongside Goff, but it was Turkington who utilised the BMW's rear-wheel drive to make his customary lightning start from the third row of the grid to run second by the Complex. Behind them, Rob Collard knocked Adam Morgan sideways into Jason Plato, broken rear suspension ending the MG man's frustrating off-day early. 

Eager to make up for missing out on victory at Donington at the final corner, Turkington wasted no time getting past Giovanardi - having his most competitive showing since his return to the championship - and set about building a small lead, although the intervention of the safety car allowed the chasing pack to close up once again. 

After the second safety car for Belcher, the BMW set off into an untroubled lead as Mat Jackson in the second Motorbase Ford set about hassling his team-mate Giovanardi. The Italian eventually relented to the pressure with three laps to go, but was able to hold on for a podium finish ahead of race one winner Jordan, Shedden and a disgruntled Goff, with Aaron Smith recovering from an accident in free practice to finish seventh. Morgan recovered from his early clash with Plato to beat Sam Tordoff to eighth, with Collard a frustrated tenth after contact with both Dynamics Hondas, the second of which eliminating Matt Neal from the proceedings. 

The non-scores for Plato and Neal thus meant Jordan left Thruxton with a slim seven point advantage over Shedden and Turkington a further 11 points back in third. The five week gap to Round Four at Oulton Park might just be long enough for the dust to settle...