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00:00Now ahead of us, there's some good news and some bad news.
00:04From our point of view, the good news is that we've got three different manufacturers in
00:08the first three positions.
00:10The bad news, well that's Anthony's, because between him and the sharp end, two more of
00:14these things, yellow and blue Fords.
00:16That's Ricard Rydell's, and on pole position, you guessed it, Alain Menu.
00:20Reedy isn't going to do it from here, Waddy.
00:22Thanks Charlie, well I didn't have to pass my 11 plus to work that one out, but it is
00:25the teammate of Anthony Reed, Alain Menu, here at Alton Park.
00:29The Alton Park Meister in his fourth pole position of the year on his favourite circuit,
00:33joined by Tom Christensen, his best qualifying to date.
00:37Muller and Rydell in the second row, and Thompson and Plato make up row three.
00:42Those 40kg did hurt Anthony Reed, and Vincent Rademacher in the third of the Vauxhalls.
00:46Tarquini and Colin Blair in row five, and then the first of the Class B cars, James
00:51Kay and Alan Morrison in his Peugeot.
00:54The two Nissans of Collard and Norton make up row seven, and Matt Neal after a big half
00:59in qualifying in Lammer, row eight.
01:01Rebs are up, there's Menu in the foreground, Christensen alongside, jumping start from
01:06Menu, he's well away, Muller away cleanly as well, Alain Menu streaking into the distance,
01:11right behind him is Christensen, and that's Ricard Rydell in the second of the fourth,
01:16looking for a re-round, on board with James Thompson now, getting a little bit of a squeeze
01:20from Ivan Muller, down cascades for the first time, Muller on the right, Rydell on the left,
01:25that's tricky, just through, mind the manners please, Rydell just slides through there,
01:31great pass on board with Thompson, that's Muller alongside us, coming down under the
01:35hairpin for the first time, got a break soon, under brakes now, there's some contact, that's
01:41Jason Plato, Jason Plato looks like he tagged his teammate, Rydell is off as well, Muller's
01:48caught up in that, Plato went into the middle of that like a grenade, meantime Menu's away
01:53cleanly, and so is Christensen, some damage there to Anthony Reid's car, looks like some
01:58tyre smoke there, tyre hitting the side of the car there, I think he was in behind Jason
02:02Plato and all of that, now we're on board with Matt Neal meantime, and that's Gabriele
02:07Tarquini chasing this up Clay Hill, we're on the first lap, the field trying to recover
02:12from that great big shuffle, the order from qualifying will be dramatically changed from this.
02:17Out in the lead though, look at that, Alan Menu and Tom Christensen have absolutely bolted
02:23away courtesy of that accident. Well then you're doing a superb job as ever and on that
02:27pole position, in spite of having to carry 30kg of weight, Ford Mondeo doesn't seem to
02:32feel it at all. Well the safety car's out Waddy, no wonder, Ricard Rydell's car remember,
02:38and Muller's car for that matter were blocking the track down at the hairpin after that great
02:43first corner incident, they'll be trying to clear that away, bad luck for Christensen
02:47and bad luck for Menu because they've got a big lead, now here's what happened.
02:50Thompson went down the left hand side, the two Vauxhalls, Muller and Plato, bang, bang
02:54and then all of a sudden Anthony Reid appeared and whether Reid was the perpetrator or just
02:58joined in for the fun of it, difficult to tell from those shots.
03:03There you can see Rydell's car and indeed Muller's car stranded in the middle, now here's
03:07another view, we're on board with Muller, what happened?
03:10Muller just about tags the back of Rydell and then all of a sudden, bang, he has a go
03:15at the front as well, in the meantime you'll see Anthony Reid just slide through on the
03:19right hand side, James Thompson not very happy but Muller, his hand up saying, Jason Plato
03:24what have you done to me?
03:26Well there's the front of Muller's car, being wheeled back in, rotten luck for him, he was
03:33right alongside James Thompson and challenging for position, work all of that out later,
03:38we're on a restart, we're on board with Tom Christensen, a great lunge from him, you can
03:42tell he's done some GT racing, great at a rolling start, he's on a real manoeuvre.
03:46Menuh, he saw him coming, Menuh backed off, forced Christensen to lift off but look at
03:52Christensen, can he do it again, side by side as we go down Cascades, Menuh on the left,
03:57Christensen on the right, this could end in tears, side by side through that bottom bend
04:01through Cascades, Christensen just running a little bit too wide there, carrying too
04:05much speed, now that's Rademacher to his left, where is he, there is he, Rademacher's
04:09passed.
04:10Braided very well, Christensen there was no way on the outside, tracks dirty, last grip,
04:14Rademacher saw the chance, slipped up to second.
04:17Lovely drive Vincent, now what can he do back up the hill, Christensen to try to regain
04:21that position over the hill, Alan Menuh in the centre of the screen, Rademacher to your
04:26left, Christensen to the right and right behind them, Matt Neal's having a real go at the
04:30back of Anthony Reid in the second of the boards, through pretty cleanly but Rademacher
04:35is coming under some big pressure, jumping over the kerbs, there's Matt Neal chasing
04:39the back of Anthony Reid's car up and over Clay Hill.
04:42Now here's Christensen ahead of us is Rademacher, what can he do?
04:45Well coming into the double right hander at Ruiz, watch the box, well it doesn't look so
04:49stable, Christensen now you see at the end the way the car wags the tail on the exit,
04:54Christensen's got to get past Rademacher if he's got any chance to get on the podium.
04:58Plenty of attacking body language from Christensen's car, moves it to the centre of the track again,
05:03threatening to fake a pass, trying to distract Rademacher, up and over Deerleaf and across
05:08the strike again and Menuh already as we can see, he's got a lead of a second and that's
05:12what a second looks like.
05:13Now this is going to be tricky, Matt Neal in that red Nissan, he's on the bootlid now,
05:19Anthony Reid in the second of the boards, the second of the remaining boards because
05:24Matt Neal is already out of this and the third guy trying to play is Thompson, we're
05:27on board with him ahead of us now is Neal having a bit of a squirm down through Cascades,
05:31Neal trying to get off at the back of Reid.
05:33James Thompson very unlucky in that opening lap, he lost position here to come back into
05:37the field behind these two cars ahead of him and that's going to be difficult in a short
05:4116 lap race.
05:42Yeah our race order has really been stood on its ear, James Thompson there taking a
05:46very different line as he went down through the hairpin.
05:49Now there's a bird's eye view of Matt Neal and Anthony Reid at play on the right hand
05:53of the screen, Matt Neal deciding he's got to nuzzle up to Reid all the way back down
05:57the hill, Reid's defending then moves back, takes a real shortcut over those kerbs.
06:02Yes and the car doesn't look very good, it really bunches, he's aggressive over the kerbs,
06:06Matt Neal looking for a way round but watch James Thompson, got to be the quickest of
06:09these three right now.
06:10Pretty fair bet that Reid's car isn't handling quite as his engineer had intended after that
06:15bang in the opening lap.
06:17On board with Thompson, ahead of us is Matt Neal and ahead of Matt Neal is Reid, I think
06:22they're doing themselves out of a bit of position here, James Thompson's up alongside,
06:26coming down into Lodge, he's driven straight around the outside, amazing stuff, speaks
06:31to himself, well you guys are going to have a scrap, I've got a race to do.
06:34Fantastic from James Thompson but Anthony Reid and Matt Neal, they've got less proliferal
06:38vision than Redron had on the Grand National and he ran with blinkers.
06:42This is getting complicated, Reid he moves back across the front of Neal, Neal gives
06:46him a little bit of a touch now, on board in front of Gabriele Tarquini's car, here's
06:51Matt Neal ahead of us, Matt and Anthony Reid have allowed Gabriele to close up and catch
06:56them, down through Cascades again, literally looking through the headlight of Gabriele
07:02Tarquini's Honda, Matt Neal in the Independent Nissan in front of us, Anthony Reid in the
07:08Ford in front of him, now Tarquini taking a much different line there, that's how close
07:12Matt Neal and Anthony Reid are, they are welded together through that hairpin and James Thompson,
07:17headlights ablaze, already starting to clear away from that little group.
07:20Well it just shows how easy it was for Thompson, Reid and Neal soon locked into their own battle,
07:24they forgot about other cars on the track, they've paid the price.
07:29Nick of Brookes chicane, this is getting close again, nice run, Reid gives Neal a bit of
07:34a hip and shoulder coming out of the chicane, but it lets Tarquini slide in, Matt Neal again
07:39not using his mirrors, not using any track sense and he's allowed another Honda to take
07:43a position away.
07:44That's Tarquini right on the bumper of Anthony Reid's car and there's Matt Neal now at the
07:49back of that procession, he's storming to the back of the grid.
07:54Down in the lights corner, Reid is carved, pretty damage there, but there's James Thompson
07:58and there's the gap, he's been able to open up on that squabbling pack.
08:02Matt Neal pulls away, takes the pressure off Matt Neal, he once again can focus on Anthony
08:07Reid, his nemesis all race.
08:09I reckon he might be limping exiting Tarquini, he's lost miles of ground on Matt Neal already,
08:13Matt Neal through the Nick of Brookes chicane and back up the hill, and Tarquini facing
08:18the wrong way back up the hill.
08:20And look, the left rear, the tyre's either flat or it's actually come away from the rim.
08:25Well, that may explain why Gabriele went wide a corner ago, or maybe he did it there, but
08:31here's another look on board with him.
08:33Coming down into the chicane, turns in, all of a sudden there's a very neat one point
08:38parking, that's the result of having no grip on the left rear.
08:41No, just like all good Formula One drivers, keeps that engine running though.
08:45Now, back in the Class B battle, and here is Collard, and he is chasing Lemmer.
08:49Lemmer in the Honda, Collard in the Class B Nissan.
08:54Craig back up the hill from the island hairpin.
08:57Coming down now towards that Nick of Brookes chicane where we just saw Gabriele Tarquini
09:01spin a moment ago.
09:03And here are our race leaders coming down, they're going to hit the Nick of Brookes
09:06chicane at the same time, that's Menu, then Rademacher, then Christensen, three in a row,
09:13they are about to catch that Class B battle.
09:15Up Clay Hill, Collard's moved to one side.
09:17On board with him now, Menu's through.
09:19Goes Rademacher, there goes Christensen.
09:22Oh, and a big hit in the side of Lemmer's door, and another rub then.
09:26First Menu, now Rademacher gives him the once over.
09:29Christensen tries to capitalise, and then Rademacher moves to one side.
09:33Poor old Lemmer getting done by these schoolyard bullies.
09:36Who's stealing his lunch money next?
09:38Now Christensen down the inside of Lemmer, and yes, Christensen touches him as well.
09:43And can you imagine how Lemmer and Collard must feel?
09:46They're battling for second place in Class B,
09:48and they're being hunched forward and countersunk every which way.
09:51Now there's our Class B leader, James Kay,
09:53their outright leader is Menu, then Rademacher.
09:56Thompson in fourth place, Reid fifth,
09:58and Matt Neil, the lead independent, is up in the top six.
10:01But that's a pretty handy lead that LM Menu's got,
10:03courtesy of Schuffman through the traffic.
10:05And it's also given us the benefit of allowing James Thompson
10:08to catch up to the tail of team mate Tom Christensen,
10:11and always looking forward to Vincent Rademacher.
10:15There is Christensen.
10:17You just saw Rademacher ahead of us.
10:19Very different lines they're taking through this hairpin,
10:21trying to get a run back up the hill.
10:23Very important, because this is the quickest part of the circuit,
10:26and the run down into the chicane, easy to outbrake yourself,
10:29but very important to be quick on,
10:31because then you're going to go all the way back up Clay Hill,
10:34into Druids, back to Lodge,
10:36and before you know it, start finish line.
10:38And these two are still at play, Anthony Reid and Matt Neil.
10:41Everyone else has gone, and they're still slugging it out around the track.
10:45They actually should just pull over and sort it out in the car park,
10:47and I don't know why they're just racing each other.
10:49Will not let each other out of their sights.
10:51The two Honda's are long gone.
10:53We saw them further up the field there, chasing the lead,
10:55but these two, not a bit of it.
10:57It's just like they've got themselves polarised to each other.
11:00Chasing over Clay Hill,
11:03up towards Druids, the double right-hander.
11:07Collard's Nissan, just having a lick in the back of Lemmer's car,
11:09seeing what it tastes like.
11:11Lemmer just cuts his nose off, coming into Old Hall.
11:14Collard hasn't seen the last of this though, closing up on him again.
11:17Cascades, the very big, nasty right-left-hander is coming up.
11:20Down the drop we go. There's the Class B leader, Kay Meanside.
11:28Not what he needs to hear now.
11:29There was not a comfortable lead,
11:31but this battle, and interestingly, how quick the Nissan is
11:34compared to those two Honda's.
11:36And good to see the two Nissans coming along finally,
11:38and running reliably as well.
11:41I think Mark Lemmer's running in his spare Honda this weekend,
11:44maybe not his chosen vehicle, but in any case,
11:46it's a great showing by this Nissan.
11:48And what's encouraging is that these are the cars
11:50we're going to see next year in the British Touring Car Championship.
11:53Nissans, Hondas, Peugeots, and hopefully many, many more.
11:56Well, this is going to be interesting to see how they sort that out,
11:59Collard and he are side by side.
12:01A nice line, Maney, I don't think anyone noticed.
12:03Good shortcut.
12:05Just two in the one didn't go there.
12:07It's just a little bit of inexperience.
12:09Collard, he was never going to get round the long way.
12:11He should have backed off that little bit earlier
12:13and allowed Lemmer to take the line.
12:15Well, the bad news for Matt Neil is, as he takes to the grass,
12:18that there's only one lap left to follow Anthony Reid.
12:22Matt Neil, of course, going off an old hole corner,
12:24much, much worse than qualifying.
12:26Alerted with it once again on this last lap.
12:28He's tried everything, but nothing has worked.
12:30Highly entertaining for us, but not the most efficient for them.
12:33What can he do? Coming down into the hairpin.
12:36One last lunge.
12:38It was a lunge in the wrong direction.
12:40And he comes, a lunge too long for Matt Neil.
12:43Never mind. It's the end of it now.
12:46Anthony Reid can breathe pretty easily.
12:48Matt moves to the left-hand side of the track.
12:50Coming down into the nick of Rooks of Cain.
12:52He can't get in from here, Wally.
12:54No, it's not. It's all over and done and dusted.
12:56And also Anthony Reid now knows he's got the mental measure of Matt Neil.
13:00Neil's thrown everything he can at the Ford Mondeo.
13:03Reid's resisted, and now it's only a few corners to the finish.
13:06There's another Ford Mondeo that's had everything thrown at it as well.
13:09It's Alain Menu in the lead Ford Mondeo.
13:11Behind him, Vincent Radamacker with his headlights ablaze in the Vauxhall.
13:15And Tom Christensen is still lurking in there in third place,
13:18but that's the last corner.
13:19And a relatively easy win for Alain Menu,
13:21but a great drive from Radamacker in the Vauxhall for second.
13:27Thank you, guys. Thank you.
13:30Alain Menu sounding like a Swiss mountain goat.
13:34Great drive for him, considering he's carrying 30 kilos,
13:37but still takes the win.
13:39Great stuff from Vincent Radamacker.
13:41His best finish in the championship.
13:43He's had a second only once before.
13:45Tom Christensen, he's looking menacing, isn't he?
13:47Up into third. James Thompson salvaged to fourth.
13:49And Anthony Reid hung on to a fifth place.
13:51And don't we know all about it.
13:53No prizes for guessing who was sixth.
13:55But Neil, who'd been right on his bumper all race through,
13:57Plato, Blair, Tarquini, and James Kay in Class B,
14:01rounding out the top ten.
14:06But back to that motorway-style concertina shunt at the hairpin.
14:10What was Muller's take on it all?
14:16I missed my start, but that was not really a problem.
14:19I was still fourth on the first corner,
14:21and because we are quick on the race, I was not too excited.
14:25But unfortunately on the hairpin corner,
14:28one has lost the brain, switch off the brain and forgot to brake.
14:32So he hit me quite hard, and I hit Richard.
14:38Locked up, mate.
14:39Was you?
14:40Yeah, I don't know if I got a whack from behind,
14:42but I was all locked up.
14:44So, racing Jason Plato puts on his hair shirt,
14:47while Alain Menu takes the trophy and forwards Big 500.
14:50That's one for the record books, isn't it?
14:52It's great to be the one who gets that victory for Ford.
14:56That's good, but the main thing for me
14:59is that I got one more win for this year's championship,
15:02and with my main competition not finishing,
15:05or not finishing very highly,
15:07it's very high at the finish.
15:10It's good.
15:13John Watson, 500 wins for Ford.
15:15Good day for them.
15:16I think it's pretty outstanding.
15:19Pretty outstanding.
15:20I'd forgotten really how many races Ford had won on touring cars
15:24over the years in BTCC,
15:26and so Alain Menu let it slip in.
15:29It almost went unnoticed,
15:31but I think we'll be made aware a bit more as the day goes on.
15:35You'd actually think now, though,
15:37it's probably a bit of a turning point for Menu, isn't it?
15:40Because in that race he scored a win,
15:42Rydell got no points.
15:43That's going to start opening up the gap,
15:45because they went into this level today.
15:47Yeah, they did, and Alain knows how to win.
15:50That's the most important thing.
15:52Once he gets a bit of steam behind him,
15:54he's going to be very difficult to stop.
15:56At the beginning of the year, I thought Ricard Rydell
15:59might be the man that would do the job for Ford.
16:02I suppose the only thing in common is they're not British.