BTCC 2000 - Donington - Race 2

Touring Car Classics by Tony Thompson

2 days ago

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Transcript

00:00:00Fair amount of incident into the 15 laps of the sprint race some three hours ago

00:00:04Here's how all the bodywork was bent in round 17 of the championship

00:00:30Well, that was a race that gave Matt Neal and James Thompson a fair amount of excitement

00:00:42It also gave Anthony Reed his long-awaited first win of this championship season

00:00:46And it's a victory that moves him to within two points of his Ford teammate

00:00:50Alan menu at the top of the championship standings and Anthony Reed will start once again from the front row of the grid for this

00:00:56Feature race and once again alongside him will be Gabriele Tarquini getting a second chance after his first lap failure in race one

00:01:04We'll be talking to the drivers in just a moment

00:01:06But there is a fair amount of versatility in this touring car grid

00:01:10Anthony Reed has a sports car background

00:01:12Tarquini comes from Formula One back down the grid Tom Christensen

00:01:15He's a Lamar winner this year and as Mark Fogarty reports

00:01:19Vauxhall's Ivan Muller is a multiple champion in the very precise world of ice racing

00:01:27It's

00:01:30Quite difficult because is nearly out of sports because the ice races

00:01:36Of course on ice, but it's four-wheel drive and four-wheel turn and you look more on the side window than the front window

00:01:45Sometimes I do that

00:01:47Not very often

00:01:50But you have to switch the brain and you have to forget all the reflects from touring car for ice racing and vice versa

00:01:58You do spend a lot of time sideways in a touring car. So obviously the ice racing helps. Yeah for sure. That's a helper before I make

00:02:07Ice race. I didn't like so much the oversteer

00:02:10I still don't like the oversteering touring car

00:02:14But I have less problem now to manage the oversteer on the touring car

00:02:20Tom you're a very busy boy

00:02:22Honda in the BTCC

00:02:24Audi and long-distance sports car racing and also you do the Formula One tyre testing for Michelin. Don't you get confused?

00:02:32It's very very sometimes difficult to get the planning to do where where to be more than one place at one time

00:02:38but it's on the top line, so I mean I have to take that opportunity and

00:02:43Suddenly some sometimes it's it's hard, but I know I have to do it

00:02:48They're all so different though, particularly

00:02:51BTCC Honda

00:02:54Yeah, I mean what is closest is a sports kind of Formula One car

00:02:57They're certainly the more most close in terms of how you drive the cars

00:03:01Whereas a touring car you really have to pace yourself into the corners

00:03:04I left foot braking a drinker which I think then again helps me in a Formula One car where I do the same

00:03:09When the sports guy right foot brake, it's a long distance

00:03:11You have a bit more time to to adapt to the to the speed the cornering speeds and things like that

00:03:17Christensen has been piling up the test miles for Michelin leading the tyre company's preparations for its return to Formula One next year

00:03:24Trying out prototype rubber on one of last year's Williams Grand Prix cars

00:03:29And in between that and his touring car day job Christensen won last month's Le Mans 24-hour race with the Audi sports car team

00:03:36So all those hours behind the wheel make him a better racing driver

00:03:39I hope so I try to improve in every way in every area. I try to improve in all the other cars and

00:03:46Certainly I have to keep very motivated and very concentrated about which car I'm going into on how to drive them

00:03:51But especially the F1 I've done more than 2,000 miles this so far this year and it's good to

00:03:58To try all different all different areas of the racing cars. I hope it's gonna make me a better driver

00:04:04Well now the drivers have to turn all those versatile talents towards winning this 30 lap feature race here at Donington

00:04:10The start is about seven or eight minutes away

00:04:12Let's grab a word with Gabriele Tarquini who starts again on pole position after that disappointment in the opening race

00:04:18What went wrong there Gabriele? Yeah, I was just it was just my mistake

00:04:22I was too large on this corner. I locked the front tyre just I went off

00:04:27Cold tyres or anything you can blame it on? Yeah, I use very

00:04:31Hard compounds or the tyre I think was not warm enough and don't give me the feeling and for this reason

00:04:38maybe I locked the tyre but

00:04:40I know what what tyres I use. So it was my mistake

00:04:43Was there any damage to the car much work to be done before this race?

00:04:46Yeah, there's little damage on the front. Especially the splitter was

00:04:50A little damage, but my mechanics and my Italian team works really really good to repair everything

00:04:55So I'm confident but you start from pole position once again with maybe a lesson learned for a 30 lap feature race

00:05:00How is the approach different compared to a sprint race? I think it's a team job because

00:05:06Pit stop will be very important for the final result and but i'm confident

00:05:11I think my team works in the past very good on the pits and

00:05:17Will be very important also the tyre shows Gabriele better luck this time. You're starting from pole position once again

00:05:22We're going to drop back to charlie cox down the grid in just a moment

00:05:25Let's take a pause first of all for the national anthems here at donington

00:05:29It's one that others could copy ladies and gentlemen the national anthem

00:05:36So

00:06:06So

00:06:08So

00:06:31You join me at the back of the grid courtesy of some qualifying problems with david leslie touring car

00:06:37Ace making a welcome return to this series. Now. You're actually driving a nissan one from the team of last year

00:06:42Yes, it was my teammate's car at the beginning of last year

00:06:44But unfortunately, he smashed it here at donington then he became a test car after that

00:06:48Well, let's hope it's not an omen for you

00:06:50Tell us david you're actually quite a handy control here because you raced in this series last year runner up

00:06:54You drove these cars. What's it like this year? It's just as difficult this year as it was last year

00:06:59It's a very competitive series. We've got to try very very hard and it's even

00:07:03That much harder starting this far back on the grid. Yeah, you had problems

00:07:05So you've got to get your way through the class b runners

00:07:07What's the plan?

00:07:08The plan is to pass most of the class b runners before the first corner

00:07:11We had problems in qualifying because we had a gear strip and we had no qualifying time

00:07:16Well, best of luck. Keep your head down. Thank you very much

00:07:18And this is the ford of first race winner antony reed on the front row of the grid here

00:07:23And it must feel antony as if a great weight has been lifted from your season

00:07:26Actually, i've had many conversations with various different individuals including journalists over the last few weeks

00:07:32And they keep saying to me when are you going to win and I said just be patient just be patient now

00:07:36I won't have to have those conversations again. So i'm just very relieved with gabriele going out

00:07:40So early on it was a trouble-free run as well, wasn't it? It was I mean, I've got to admit gabriele

00:07:45He did gift it to me. I mean he struggled in the opening lap

00:07:48I was going to have a go at him anyway on the infield but

00:07:51The fact that he made a mistake it was a trouble-free race after that the car ran extremely well

00:07:56It remains a ford one two three in the championship

00:07:58But it moves you right up to within two points of your teammate ally menu. What's the competitive feeling like within the ford ranks?

00:08:04It's actually it's a very unusual feeling because we get on extremely well as drivers

00:08:09But there's a tremendous competitive edge amongst the three of us

00:08:12I'm, just very happy to be in the teeth of this championship battle, but we do work together extremely well

00:08:17So it's going to be an interesting close of the season turning into a heck of a battle

00:08:20Best of luck in the race to come. Let's go back to charlie down the grid

00:08:23It looks all calm on the grid at the moment

00:08:25But I can tell you between the races the crews have been working flat out to repair damaged cars

00:08:30Vincent rademacher behind me. He was one of the early victims. He was clubbed by

00:08:34Ricard ridell going into the melbourne loop

00:08:36His teammate ivan muller relatively escaped unscathed with that race long dice with james thompson swapping a lot of panels

00:08:42Jason plato knocked all of the corners off his voxel trouble in the first corner

00:08:47Then christiansen nailed him in the back. His team have been working very hard

00:08:50Similarly with the ford lots and lots of damage there tom christiansen

00:08:54He knocked the corner right off the front of his honda right on the back of jason plato's car james thompson

00:09:00Well once again relatively unscathed a lot of panel damage, I guess with ivan muller

00:09:04But kept it rolling and ricard ridell all sorts of problems with the front of his car as we know

00:09:08Because he ran right into the back of vincent rademacher in the voxel

00:09:13Matt neal look at that front of the car just like brand new even though he'd had that enormous shunt

00:09:19Running into the back of one of the class b cars, but here on the front row of the grid

00:09:22Well, amazingly they pretty much escaped unscathed

00:09:26And a very special visitor here alongside gabriel tarquin is for honda on the front row of the grid

00:09:32Is aaron slight world superbike star and aaron?

00:09:35A special visit from you ahead of next week's big race at brands hatch, of course

00:09:39How enthusiastic are you about this kind of racing? Yeah, i'm really enthusiastic

00:09:43I'd love to have a go and I think it's a really good form of racing and it's good to see the honda up there

00:09:47On number one. Let's let's hope we can do that next week

00:09:50You have had a crack at this kind of racing in I think the toka shootout a few years back

00:09:54Yeah, and I had a good crack at it there. I got cracked into the wall actually

00:09:57Um, but no I had had a good fun, you know

00:09:59I qualified fairly well and it was really enjoying it and um, I didn't go the full distance

00:10:03But it was really good fun and and you know

00:10:04I really loved loved the car and would like to do it one day

00:10:07In terms of both physical approach and mental approach. How different is it?

00:10:11To the superbike racing that you normally do

00:10:14Physical approach is probably completely different

00:10:15But the mental approach you've just got to be on tune and and like these guys are just every lap, you know

00:10:20It's within a tenth of within a thousand

00:10:21So you've got to be on tune with your mental approach

00:10:23But physically I think it's a bit more demanding on the bike

00:10:26And then you know

00:10:26The racetrack itself is a complete different racetrack in a car than what it is on the motorbike

00:10:30Long term, have you got any thoughts that this might be the future for you?

00:10:33I got lots of thoughts. Yeah, and one of them is driving a touring car

00:10:36And it would be really really good to drive with honda quick thought though about next weekend that big meeting at brands hatch

00:10:41There'll be something over a hundred thousand there

00:10:43We'll be screening it live here on grandstand feeling good about it. Yeah, really looking forward to it

00:10:47You know i've had this illness and i've had three weeks off now

00:10:49So i'm all

00:10:50All um, you know holidayed out really and want to get back into the riding and i'm really looking forward to brands

00:10:54And it's always been a good meeting for me in the honda

00:10:56Best of luck for that in the meantime

00:10:58Enjoy the entertainment here the 30 lap feature race and we'll go live into the commentary box to charlie cox and john watson

00:11:06I think steve sitting up here in the commentary booth and charlie's just made his way back as we look down on that grid

00:11:12And aaron slight what a prospect of him at brands hatch next weekend those super bikes something

00:11:16To take the light from your eyes, but here this afternoon

00:11:20Well, the first three cars on the grid they've got no weight on board a big advantage

00:11:25And we saw that in the first race tarquini did throw it away

00:11:28But anthony reed got that long overdue first win

00:11:32And a very relieved man. He must be too

00:11:34Yeah, i'll tell you what

00:11:35And really they ought to have a race where they can just pick up and run off and disappear into the distance

00:11:40And matt neil who's on the second row alongside ricard ridell?

00:11:44That's going to be a battle into the first corner

00:11:46I tell of course carrying some weight 20 kilograms against matt neil's car, which of course is free of any weight penalty

00:11:52Well, there's a case in point john. There's linford's car. Apparently there's a problem with that

00:11:55There's a yellow flag right above it letting us know there's something wrong with it

00:11:58Bear in mind the back end of that car was absolutely nailed by matt neil

00:12:02Oh, look, they're going to try to start it by the look of things. Come on

00:12:06Did it?

00:12:07Everyone's happy. It looks like it's running

00:12:08That's good. But the back of that car was removed in race one and they built it during the races between the races

00:12:14well, it's very hard work by the

00:12:16The vip touring car team to get that car back onto the grid

00:12:20and the field now makes the way down and the

00:12:23First of these two laps before they come onto the field onto the grid proper

00:12:27For the 30 lap feature race, of course with the mandatory pit stop

00:12:30Pit stop window is between laps 5 and 21 and watch for people doing the early pit stop. We've seen that before

00:12:36It seems to be the way to go

00:12:38Well, they've got two laps now to warm up

00:12:41fortunately

00:12:42We saw young linford start as well

00:12:45So all of the cars are running now, of course the championship was stood on its ear after race one because

00:12:52antony reid

00:12:54So

00:13:08Yeah, jason

00:13:09Maybe the pit stop race will actually suit the voxels a little bit more. It's been disappointing for them here. Although

00:13:15As they always say as we look at jason

00:13:17Just getting his eye in and warming up the tires and what have you moving around the track

00:13:20They always say the voxel has a good race setup. This is a longer race

00:13:24So if they're going to break through at all, this is their chance

00:13:27Well, it's been either plato or muller who've been some of the first into the pits as soon as the pit stop window is open

00:13:32They dive in and the reason they do that is to try and get as good track position as possible when they come back out

00:13:38The theory being that when they come back out everybody else will have followed their suit by going in

00:13:43So they get the advantage of a clear track to make best use of those fresh tires when they are at their best

00:13:49And then hopefully by the time the others come back out the pack will have shuffled up in such a way

00:13:54They will have gained position. Well, levan muller

00:13:57Is getting his eye in as well. He's got it all to do

00:14:00He's in ninth spot on the grid. That's as far back as you want

00:14:04There he is just moving down into the melbourne loop and vincent rademacher his teammate right behind him

00:14:08Vincent didn't get far around that loop in race one. He was taken out royally by ricard bridal

00:14:15Now mark fogarty is preparing down in the pit lane

00:14:20Well as pathetic as it sounds this looks like it's going to be the hottest in terms of track temperature and ambient temperature

00:14:26Ambient temperature race we've had so far this season now

00:14:28This provides at the moment something of a dilemma for the teams the various brains trusts are down here working out their tactical permutations

00:14:36If the track is hot tire wear becomes a factor in this 30 lap feature race

00:14:40So the debate going on is between the teams and among the team is whether they change the front two tires

00:14:46Which is the normal practice particularly when conditions are cooler because the last thing we want to do is

00:14:50Put cold tires on any on one of the rear wheels but seeing that the temperatures are up and the grip in the rear is available

00:14:59Most of the teams will be thinking about considering the option of changing the left hand side two wheels and tires

00:15:05So this is the little tactical debate that's going on the track temperature is quite warm by british touring car standards

00:15:11And that's why they're all scratching their heads waiting to see how it pans out if they change the two sides the left-hand side wheels

00:15:18That will mean of course that they're probably going to go into the middle of the pit stop

00:15:22Rather than going for the tactical early stop or leaving it later

00:15:25So there's lots of questions still to be answered and very interesting to see how it plays out and how it affects the result

00:15:31Well, it might seem pathetic but it is actually a lovely day folks, I think it's actually quite warm out there

00:15:36Maybe it's just my level of fitness

00:15:37But I worked up a powerful sweat springing from the grid up here to the commentary booth and I agree with you

00:15:42That warm weather out there will be a factor though

00:15:45I guess john watson

00:15:45Nobody's going to be taking a chance of trying to change all four that'll just take too long

00:15:49I think it's just you just got to make your decision almost on the hoof and decide whether you want to come in because

00:15:55It looks better for when you go back out again or in the case if you go on left side only

00:16:00To do that decision maybe a little bit later at the window

00:16:03Okay

00:16:04Well, here's our grid tarquinian pole reed on the front row with him watch for him

00:16:07He's dangerous neil third position as he was before

00:16:10Rydell at last up near the front where he wants a pair of hondas next james thompson and tom christensen

00:16:15Alain menu, he leads the series, but it's in seventh plato eighth muller ninth and his teammate vincent rademacher

00:16:22Round out the top ten. This is very good news for ricard. Rydell. He had a rotten race one

00:16:27He's actually lost a position in the championship after that race. He's down into third

00:16:32He really really needs to try to capitalize. He didn't have a shot at all in race one, but I guess he's a danger man

00:16:38for

00:16:39His teammate anthony reed particularly in this longer race

00:16:41Yes, it'll be about the start into red gate

00:16:43The trouble for idel is he's got to carry 20 kilograms of weight whereas anthony reed is free of any penalty weight

00:16:49And of course right now 12 points behind championship leader alan menu and that's an enormous amount to make up certainly

00:16:5615 points here for a win plus that full

00:17:01Point plus a lap for any lap lead. Yeah, just a reminder cars carry weight on a penalty basis

00:17:07Based on success in the previous round anthony reed had a rotten previous round carries no weight

00:17:15Unlike his teammates

00:17:16Tarquini on the left in pole position in the red and white honda alongside him anthony reed

00:17:21In the yellow and blue ford behind them the independent nissan the red one of matt neil

00:17:25Then behind them ricard bridal and the second of the fords then it's james thompson

00:17:30In the second of the hondas james thompson is a pretty sprightly starter. Keep an eye on him

00:17:37Everybody ready for a start now revs are up everyone getting nervous

00:17:42Look flat on the floor light screen. Everybody's away. Are they away cleanly?

00:17:46It looks a little bit slow for tarquini there and a great start for anthony reed on the right hand side of the screen

00:17:51And I think he's through. Yes. He is cracking start there for anthony reed in behind him as tarquini

00:17:55Then matt neil then ridell around the outside there

00:17:58I think that was ivan muller trying the long way around in one of the voxels and I think he made it stick

00:18:03Yes, everyone down through red gate corner the first corner cleanly and then down the craner curves anthony reed

00:18:10Can't believe his luck first into the old hairpin puff of smoke there from tarquini

00:18:14Then matt neil a little bit sideways movement there on that gaggle of cars a cracking start there for muller and for reed

00:18:20Yeah, great start for reed in particular

00:18:21He got the advantage into the first corner and pulling away

00:18:24I think tarquini probably a little bit apprehensive after what happened on the first lap of the sprint race

00:18:29Well, he'll be hoping that anthony reed falls off and does him the courtesy that he did reed in race one

00:18:34This is where tarquini had the problems, but no such

00:18:37Luck or misfortune this time around everyone's speaking up through coppice corner for the first time then down onto the back straight

00:18:43So close there goes david leslie in the nissan

00:18:47down into the chicane

00:18:49reed handsomely so far

00:18:51Then tarquini then matt neil right behind them through the chicane

00:18:54There's james thompson then muller then menu then christensen then plato right behind them

00:19:00Now down into the melbourne loop everyone liner stern. No one lining anyone up. No defensive lines. Yes, there is there's ratamaka

00:19:06He's moving to the left hand side of the field because he's trying to defend from that whiteness and of david leslie

00:19:11Ratamaka and leslie side by side through the melbourne loop and the ratamaka moves very wide and gives leslie not enough room

00:19:16No, and I mean you could read that was like a book david really knew it was going to happen

00:19:20But a big lock-up coming in there from one of the voxels

00:19:23Yeah, they should just have backed out of it

00:19:24Yeah, I think so and I think that was lm menu as well in one of the fords trying to actually side his way through

00:19:29But that did not work at all

00:19:30So it's still reed from tarquini and neil then ridell thompson and then ivan muller inside the top six

00:19:36There's christensen having a look down the inside of lm menu

00:19:39in the third of the yellow fords

00:19:41There's menu now coming into view right behind him christensen in that

00:19:45Honda really bringing him under some pressure as they go down the crane of curves

00:19:48But just look at that lead already for antony reed. He's on a charge

00:19:51You know as soon as you win a race everything changes your confidence raises your self-belief for that of the machine

00:19:57Reed made a brilliant start and he's got clear air for the second time this afternoon

00:20:02Well, everybody will be pacing themselves. They'll be running different tire strategies problems already. That's mark lemmer

00:20:08That's mark lemmer. I think yes, indeed it is and here's how it happened

00:20:12Coming streaking into the chicane there and taking the back of morrison's car

00:20:16To give him the benefit of the doubt you might say that he had a brake problem because he hit the back of morrison's

00:20:20Peugeot and I mean that was just a big big hit

00:20:23Well, I don't know whether morrison's restarted yet

00:20:25Morrison, of course is the series leader in class b very very competitive and that is not what lemon needs either because he's in

00:20:31third place in this series

00:20:32Back to the class a cars at the front of the field and one by one they're knocking over those ballards

00:20:37Indeed that was jason plato taking over the second last one making that corner shorter indeed and also what will happen

00:20:43It'll make the track quicker make it easier for anybody trying to get past to take a run sufficiently to keep his place

00:20:49So it's ford honda then nissan then ford then honda then boxall

00:20:54That's a real shuffle in the top six and this battle's still in the middle of the field in the lead. It's reed

00:21:00Tarquini his characteristic lock-up lock-up of the rear wheels

00:21:03But it's this battle that rydell thompson and muller that really is going to be the focus for this part of the race

00:21:09Certainly his first three pulling away, but the next three very little between them

00:21:12Well reed as you can see there, it's just knocked in the half fastest lap. No wonder there's no one around him

00:21:17He can just set the time he likes and try to make some distance. You can see there though

00:21:20Rydell coming under real pressure from james thompson

00:21:24As they move up towards coppice

00:21:27There's matt neil there's rydell and thompson he's lost a little bit of ground there

00:21:32And just given rydell a little bit of breathing space

00:21:35But thompson is really on his case and there is muller who's really on thompson's case now

00:21:38Remember all through race one evan muller in that red box all that's all over the back

00:21:43Of that red and white honda and that is they're picking that up again in race two

00:21:47Yeah, but the honda just got the squirt out of the corners again an acceleration dine into the melbourne loop

00:21:52Super steady from miller. You can see just what he must be feeling now. Here's the view

00:21:57There's a fly sacrificed himself on our camera

00:21:59But it still gives us a bird's eye view of the difference you're talking about if they get back up the hill

00:22:03Yeah, funnily enough. That was a little bit wide in the corner for thompson

00:22:06I don't know why he gave the opportunity but uh, but it wasn't able to capitalize. He didn't have enough grunt off the hill

00:22:12This is deja vu from race one. That's exactly where muller tried his

00:22:16Rather forceful overtaking maneuvers great race between the two of them banging panels, but no real harm done

00:22:22And muller is still in touch and all work already. You can see james thompson is trying to stalk lm menu ahead of him

00:22:27So thompson's got one eye on trying to get past menu in that blue ford and the other

00:22:31On watching evan muller who is as wily as you like in terms of trying to pick up position

00:22:35But you sort of get the sense that thompson's capable of running quicker than the back

00:22:39This is looking back to the ford, but he hasn't got the ability to do it

00:22:43So the pace of these three cars is being held back

00:22:46Great sound from that ford the v6 just whining away as he works his way up through the gears

00:22:51Up the back of the circuit. There's the left hander. Then we're going to turn right you hearing drop a couple of gears now

00:22:58Feeling on the power

00:23:06Down a couple of gears that's tom christensen breathing down his neck a little bit and then jason plato in behind them

00:23:11It's the same thing the honda leading a box or you got thompson and muller further up the field

00:23:16You got christensen and plato. There's the problem that plato has he just hasn't got the speed where it does

00:23:21Well, let's have a look

00:23:24Bird's eye view from jason through the chicane. Oh, come on guys. There's one bollard left

00:23:28You can get rid of that for us. Now. This is the drag down towards the melbourne loop

00:23:31This is downhill and there's a hairpin to follow. What can plato do?

00:23:38Looks down the inside

00:23:40Hold your breath. That's close christensen's looking down the inside of muller at the same time menu rather at the same time

00:23:46Now up towards goddard's a left-handed down through the gears again

00:23:52On the power

00:23:54Christensen gotta look how close that is. You could just reach out and touch tom christensen's car

00:23:59This is the run down the pit straight christensen side by side plato behind us. This is close

00:24:04I think of this battle going into red gate. Those are the three cars ahead of the one we've just been watching

00:24:09It's as close as you like right now

00:24:11And that's james thompson and that is ivan muller three identical makes exactly the same ballet being performed just about 50 yards apart

00:24:18Watch muller down the inside of the hairpin bend. That's strong. I think he's made it stick. Yes

00:24:22He has great pass what he brave pass well thought out well executed

00:24:26Because he realized that thompson had his eyes on ridell not on what was going on behind

00:24:30Well, that was exactly the problem thompson had wasn't that he could see ridell

00:24:33He could work out a way past ridell almost holding him up, but he was distracted and look at muller

00:24:38He's still got his eyes in hasn't he tons of opposite lock up through mcclain's corner

00:24:41He's just got to get make use of this part of track as much as possible as they come onto this straight

00:24:46That's the speed of the honda could overhaul muller before they get down to the esses

00:24:50Yeah, thompson can fight back here. Can't he? It's not over yet

00:24:53down the back straight

00:24:55Pretty much the fastest part of the circuit chicane at the end of it

00:24:59Hard under brakes. That's where we saw mark lemmer run into the back of morrison

00:25:02And now the second gaggle of three is just looming on the same part of the circuit

00:25:09Here's ridell here's muller and here's thompson

00:25:12That's trio number one now here is menu and there is christiansen and there is plato

00:25:17That's trio number two later having a lock up on the brakes there slides down the inside of christiansen

00:25:21He's got to make it stick this time

00:25:23Plenty of muscle from plato pushes christiansen sideways a bit of movement in the middle of all of that

00:25:28Rademach is trying to capitalize and look at david leslie david leslie in the white nissan up alongside christiansen side by side around goddards

00:25:35That's rademacher the last of those voxels linus stern i'm getting confused

00:25:39Yeah, I thought david leslie might have been able to take more of that than he did and he just dropped back off the tail

00:25:44Of christiansen but now look rademacher down the outside coming into red gate once again. Yeah, it's not over yet. What he

00:25:50Into that right hander red gate

00:25:53Yeah, he's still

00:25:54In the white nissan. Well, I thought he had help. No, he's having david leslie really coming under some pressure from rademacher

00:26:00He's got in front but rademacher looks to have the legs

00:26:02Rademacher is prepared to stick the nose of his voxel alongside the nissan

00:26:06But he needs to be careful because if there's any contact on the craner curves, that'll be both cars taken out

00:26:11Yeah, and it's too early in this race for that

00:26:13Up the back of the circuit again towards mclean's

00:26:17Now bear in mind david leslie is still coming to grips with this car. We spoke to him

00:26:20It's the car that his teammate raced last year

00:26:23He said it's still got some sorting out to do

00:26:25But he should be getting faster and faster as the season and maybe even the race wears off

00:26:29I think this race will be sort of a huge test session for the team

00:26:33They'll learn an awful lot here and then they go on to the next event

00:26:36Well, they'll be a little bit more certain. Well, we know the car's got legs

00:26:38It was very quick last year, although the front running cars

00:26:42Probably a little bit quicker than the nissans were last year

00:26:44It's still a competitive package matt neal is demonstrating that the independent up the front

00:26:48But meantime alan menu has got his hands full because he's got jason plato all over the bootlid alan menu is driving a defensive line

00:26:54Down the hill. This is the melbourne loop

00:26:57But look at that menu's got the position. He's able to survive around the hairpin this time

00:27:02Now the pit stop is open

00:27:03We're on lap six

00:27:04So it opened a lap ago if anybody wants to make that early break into the pits

00:27:08It could well happen here and it could be this man. Jason plato

00:27:10Les plato now we're on board and then now christiansen will be around here somewhere

00:27:13Plato's trying to find a way around menu

00:27:15But at the same time christiansen will be stalking to try to get this spot back down the pit straight

00:27:20We'll just pass the pit entrance

00:27:23So right behind him there menu to the left of your screen plato in the middle and elvan muller meantime is in the pit

00:27:29Well, it wasn't plato

00:27:30But it was a fox on evan muller and they're changing the fronts only so let's watch the foxhole team

00:27:35First stop of the afternoon. This is not a very good stop at super 10 11

00:27:39Oh, they're trouble for the foxhole team 12.2 seconds any benefit

00:27:42They may have gained from coming in early and that stop would ordinarily have been about five to five and a half seconds

00:27:48Absolute nightmare in that pit stop and we've got somebody off as well as soon as the haze clears of the dust

00:27:55tom christiansen tom christiansen

00:27:58In the honda remember he was having that very very close dice with jason plato and with lm menu

00:28:03I hope that didn't end in tears

00:28:05But it may well have done now. Here's what happened. This is the view back from menu's car

00:28:10There is christiansen and there is plato. That's plato and christiansen banging into each other into red gate

00:28:16No one yields. How do you call it john?

00:28:17Well, there's a racing incident both drivers have the opportunity to give way neither was prepared to give way once christiansen got ahead

00:28:24Then look there you see but plato just keeps driving forward which turns the honda to the left

00:28:29And then it's all over in dunmouth and leslie benefits and gets past plato

00:28:33very second hand looking

00:28:35Honda, that was pretty uh, pretty tough impact and it'll be interesting to see or maybe a problem for jason

00:28:40Plato in terms of the the handling of his car because he he hit it at least twice with the with the front right hand

00:28:46Wheel, yeah, they did these cars a lot more fragile than they used to be suspensions being made

00:28:50Right right down to the very fine limit

00:28:52So any contact we have seen in previous races does lead and in fact the honda christiansen's got a broken left rear corner

00:28:58That's contact with the wall, but may have been influenced by the contact with plato

00:29:02Well two hard men neither of them wanted to give way lm menu now into the pits in the ford and also jason

00:29:07Plato into the pits. Now. Plato is coming down the pit lane very slowly

00:29:12I hope that's not damaged a great stop from the ford team. Absolutely magnificent

00:29:16Clock still running and he's gone. No one's told him stop the clock

00:29:20Indeed. Well, at least he's gone. That's his problem out of the way now plato's in and out straight away as well

00:29:24So that was obviously a blistering stop and menu gets back out just ahead

00:29:30One of the two boxes with pedo coming out behind. Yeah, that was muller that just got in

00:29:34So menu picks himself up a spot there, but muller at least

00:29:38From his point of view keeps himself ahead of his teammate. Jason plato. Anthony reed meantime. Remember him. He's leading the race

00:29:45Just disappeared off into the distance and is well, I suppose you could call it comfortable

00:29:49He's got about three cars between himself and gabriele tarquini with his headlights ablaze in the red and white honda

00:29:55In fact, I think tarquini's run down anthony reed a little bit. The gap was greater

00:30:00Now tarquini's feeling his way around he's got the confidence back

00:30:03He's got the tires up to temperature and he's hunting down reed. He's going to give him a hard time

00:30:07Yeah, maybe I spoke too soon. There's nick james as well

00:30:10who may actually

00:30:12Play a part in this he's about to be lapped by the leaders

00:30:16You know through cleanly keeps a wide line. He was cleaned up by lmnu down

00:30:21Through the crane of curves in race one. So he will be very gun shy about getting in the way at all

00:30:27Of the front runners now, you're right. I think about tarquini. He's really starting to bear down hugely on anthony reed

00:30:36I don't know whether what should reed be doing in a time like this

00:30:39Should he be responding as ridell comes into the pits now?

00:30:42Well, I think you're going to see anthony reed coming in probably very much at the end of this lap or the following lap

00:30:47Because we've had menu in a great pit stop not quite so brilliant for ricard ridell 7.7 seconds

00:30:53And now we have into the pits

00:30:55Vincent ratamaka very busy down there

00:31:03Now right dell has picked up exactly where he left off

00:31:06So that was an effective stop for him ricard ridell still in fourth position

00:31:10Now here's that battle for the lead anthony reed in the yellow and blue ford

00:31:14Gabriele tarquini right behind him

00:31:17Up through coppice corner down under the back straight

00:31:20And the ford looks good down there

00:31:22The ford looks pretty good everywhere. I'm, not really quite sure why anthony reed should have let

00:31:26Tarquini get that little bit closer to him than it was it was over a second

00:31:29It's now just under half a second

00:31:31I don't know whether he had a problem a bit of a mistake there somewhere

00:31:33But he's absolutely driving qualifying style laps now trying to keep away from him using all the kerb and more now

00:31:39Tarquini is trying to attack meantime tarquini looking to faint down the inside

00:31:44Now here is aban muller trying to get around alain menu

00:31:47We're coming up into mcclain's corner muller. Absolutely on his boot lid menu tries to defend

00:31:53muller just

00:31:54Eases his way up on the inside with coppice corner to come of course menu

00:31:58I'm, sorry muller had been out for a lap on those new tires where menu was on his out lap

00:32:02So the benefit went to muller he had to get the job done as quick as possible

00:32:05If he let menus tires get warm, then it was all over and anthony reed race leader into the pits

00:32:10Yeah, well, that was a play-doh's eye view of that overtaking maneuver by muller a lovely job. Now this pit stop is critical

00:32:18Good job for the team six seconds

00:32:21So it only remains really life for tarquini who's leading the race

00:32:24To get in get his tires on and we have to watch where he will rejoin because anthony reed has done a good enough job

00:32:29To in my view when the pit stops sort themselves out to be back in the lead

00:32:33Yeah critical to see where tarquini is and also where the independent runner matt neal is because matt was running in third position

00:32:42Anthony reed just getting some heat back into those new tires down through the quain of kerbs

00:32:48It's a good place to warm your tires up very focusing indeed into the old hairpin being very careful on his out lap not to

00:32:53Flat spot anything because the tires are cold. He doesn't want to be nursing square tires

00:32:57For the rest of this race

00:32:59So just a reminder where we're up to so far tarquini now in the lead reed second place neil in third position james thompson in the honda

00:33:06In fourth as we watch anthony reed slide up through mclean's corner and up towards coppers

00:33:17He's got to do I guess john watson some pretty brisk out laps now to make sure

00:33:22That he's in reasonable position. He does not want to lose position in the pits

00:33:26He must be quick and this is not what he needs coming up onto a lap car now

00:33:31Given plenty of space that's ideal. Now. There's james thompson and there is our class b battle

00:33:37that's collard and

00:33:39Linford side by side down through the melbourne loop and up the other side

00:33:48Coming under some pressure there k is still the leader in class b thus far

00:33:57And pleasing to see that both morrison

00:34:01And his teammate linford are still running because morrison was turned around rather royally by mark lemmer into the s's earlier

00:34:07Here's our race lead up. Meantime. Gabriele. Tarquini still out there has not made his pit stop yet

00:34:13Now we know that because he's got that bright green flash on the window under his name when the drivers have had their pit stop

00:34:20They rip off that flash and we know that they've pitted and gabriele has not so he's trying to make hay while the sun shines

00:34:25And see if he can pick up an uptack position without breathing down the neck of anthony reed

00:34:30This will be interesting to see because reed almost looked as though he was holding him up a little bit

00:34:33Yes, but it'll be very interesting to see the lap times of tarquini

00:34:36Who's yet to make his stop at matt neal against those that have been in is there any gain or advantage and it looks?

00:34:41But what we can see on our monitors is about

00:34:44close to a second

00:34:46Advantage to those that have been into the pits and changed wheels with those that have yet to go into tarquini cannot afford to stay

00:34:52Too long. He's got matt neal now running and done only 1.2 seconds behind so

00:34:57Neil and tarquini on my view must come in as quickly as possible

00:35:00Well, here are the pair coming down into the melbourne loop. There's tarquini in the honda and matt neal right behind him in the nissan

00:35:07independently run car

00:35:09Very competitive lots of damage to that car in race one when matt neal ran square into the back

00:35:15of lee linford's

00:35:16Peugeot just a misunderstanding between the pair of them, but matt did not lose any position out of that

00:35:21now

00:35:23Pit lane now for tarquini and mark fogarty is awaiting the pair of them tarquini and matt neal as they both pit together

00:35:30Yes, this is it

00:35:30This place is battle for second could be decided here in the pits matt neal comes in bang

00:35:34He stops car goes up on the wheel jacks front tires come off and they replace tarquini also only front tires

00:35:41He's going he's underway first. So the drag out back onto the track keeps tarquini in second place and matt neal

00:35:47So pretty even stevens there back on the track, but where's anthony reed?

00:35:51There he is and it's worked anthony reed is in behind tarquini tarquini on the inside side by side through red gate

00:35:58Reed is pushed a little bit wide tarquini doesn't yield and tarquini has picked up position

00:36:02Yeah, and he's got to make sure this lap. This is the crucial lap

00:36:06Don't make a mistake because reed will be all over you like a rash and reed must be absolutely furious in a six second pit stop

00:36:12Which means all is good enough to retain the lead but great work by the jas honda works team to get tarquini into the lead

00:36:18Yeah, I have to say i'm stunned because I thought the tarquini as you said was losing position

00:36:22He was going too slowly. He has to be careful now. He'll be remembering that in the first lap of race one

00:36:27He made a mistake on this very next corner

00:36:29Headlights ablaze from tarquini to the class b guys get out of my way i'm in a hurry

00:36:33One of them makes to the woods all together gets completely out of the way

00:36:36Tarquini being oh so careful through coppice. That's where he fell off in race one

00:36:40No such mistake this time and he's starting now to at least hang up now headlights ablaze again

00:36:45He's coming down onto the back of david leslie. That's a class a

00:36:49Independent nissan so theoretically of similar speed to tarquini, but he'll need to get past quickly

00:36:54And it's going to be difficult and as david waves these two lead cars through then it's going to be hard work for tarquini

00:36:59It's going to be even harder for anthony reed. Well one for tarquini. He's through cleanly

00:37:03It's not really working for anthony reed side by side. The two scots were not making best of friends

00:37:09Leslie and reed banging panels a little bit, but I think reedy is through cleanly is he?

00:37:13Yes, well reed's now going to the left

00:37:15No, leslie is not making room bang bang bang swapping paint reed will be tearing

00:37:19What's left of his hair out trying to get around the outside these two guys used to be teammates when they drove for nissan

00:37:25But I'll tell you what david leslie's paying back some favors that occurred two years ago. Anthony reed will be

00:37:30Absolutely apoplectic at the end of this race. Oh, you can sell tickets to the bar chat afterwards tonight when these two catch up

00:37:37It'll be astonishing meantime. Matt neil's thinking. It's absolutely terrific. James thompson. You can see this someone's gone very wide there

00:37:43That's james thompson at the moment

00:37:45He is our race leader because he hasn't pitted as we know from the green flash under his window meantime

00:37:50David leslie is continuing to hang him out to dry. He is just absolutely slow boiling anthony reed

00:37:56This is astonishing stuff. This is a defensive line

00:37:59You would swear they were racing for position and there's a lap between them

00:38:02You know what david is doing maybe great entertainment and all that but really he's wrong

00:38:06He shouldn't be getting involved in this battle for the lead of this race

00:38:09He should pull over and let anthony read through that's what's happened now

00:38:12But i'll tell you what there'll be words spoken between these two later this afternoon

00:38:16Yeah, they were teammates a couple of years ago

00:38:18And that's uh going to be very ugly now

00:38:20What treatment will he meet out to matt neil now david leslie has got matt neil two independent drivers both driving nissans

00:38:26Neil down the left hand side leslie on the right hand side of the screen

00:38:29Well, I have to say he pulled over and said matt i've done all the work for you to catch up to the back of reed

00:38:34Off you go, my son. It's all yours. So what did reedy ever do to david?

00:38:38Leslie, uh, there's a chapter or two written still to be uh to be published

00:38:42Well, i'm sure we'll find out more

00:38:44As this race unfolds as anthony reed now looks for longley and the uphill gap

00:38:49He's got to close in on gabriele tarquini. There's tarquini

00:38:52Seemingly half a mile away back down the track

00:38:55Is anthony reed as james thompson who was the race leader courtesy of late pit stops is now in the pit

00:39:01And he's pretty much the last of uh

00:39:04the front runners to do that

00:39:08Pretty good, yeah, good stop 6.2

00:39:10So james thompson will be done the pit lane on the speed limiter and it is rigorously enforced he comes back out

00:39:17And there's a barn muller and muller's just in front of him. But right dill I think is behind him

00:39:22So that's very very uh slick work there from thompson and that pit stop's really paid off

00:39:27Yeah

00:39:27But muller will be very relieved indeed to being able to retain ahead of thompson because the honda we know is so quick in the

00:39:32Straight line muller up to speed and take thompson two or three corners just to get the feel of the car on those fresh tires

00:39:38Race leader gabriele tarquini in the honda

00:39:41Gabriele tarquini was our pole position man

00:39:43Gabriele tarquini who had pole position and led race one up until this point on the track where he fell off and ultimately finished

00:39:50Six this time he's in the lead

00:39:52He lost it caught it back again in the pit stops and now

00:39:56Seems to be opening up at the moment a very very comfortable gap

00:40:00Well, he's got 3.4 seconds as it went across the line

00:40:03I would say 3.3 of those are courtesy of david leslie

00:40:06The other was just the difference between thompson or between reed and tarquini rejoining the track

00:40:11Well, antony reed's problems are not over yet because he's now got matt neil breathing all over him

00:40:16We can see now as tarquini comes down towards the melbourne loop

00:40:19There's antony reed and right behind him is matt neil antony reed is moving to the inside to be defensive

00:40:23He's trying to cover on this very tight half in matt neil is looking offensive

00:40:27He is now trying to get his car side by side. There's the matt neil view of antony reed's ford

00:40:32Now there's a left-hander coming up right now

00:40:35This is goddard's now. He's trying to hold back cut to the inside

00:40:38Reed is wily enough to defend that line. Now. Here's the drag back down the pit strike over the start finish strike

00:40:45Now we just saw in the background david leslie pit

00:40:47Just to remind you 14 laps down tarquini and a honda leads reed in a ford second matt neil and a nissan third

00:40:53Don't need to tell you that you can see it

00:40:55Leslie was in fourth. He's just pulled into the pits then it's muller in a voxel and thompson in a honda

00:41:00But I tell you what

00:41:02I wouldn't want to be antony reed. He's got some big big work to do just to fend off matt neil

00:41:06Well, I think he's got a battle behind him and he wants to focus what's going ahead

00:41:10The gap has in fact increased between tarquini and reed. It's up to just under four seconds

00:41:14So tarquini running in his own clear air piling on the pressure pulling away

00:41:19While reed's got to defend matt neil in the independent remember privately owned family run nissan primera

00:41:25I was talking to matt neil's dad actually just before this race

00:41:28His dad runs the team and he was uh

00:41:30Actually expressing a bit of sympathy for ricard ridell ridell missed the one shot showdown because he missed the gap for the lap

00:41:37Matt neil almost did the same they were ready for the one shot couldn't find their driver

00:41:41Found him asleep in the back of the truck and he almost almost missed the lap

00:41:44So it just shows he's very quick when he's asleep

00:41:46Well that neil doing a very good job and now that their team have had an uprated spec engine

00:41:51They've been saying all year. We don't have the power

00:41:53We think we should have they've now found that power matt neil running at the front on merit and doing the job that that car

00:42:00Ought to be capable of throughout the year. Yeah looking very strong very competitive indeed

00:42:04I don't think either of these guys at the moment are making any inroad on gabriele tarquini up the front

00:42:09They're in a race all their own

00:42:11Important to point out though that anthony reed, although he's been frustrated and has lost his lead position

00:42:17Matt neil just has a little look down the inside there through goddard's although he's only in second place now

00:42:22He is still the lead ford and if things stay as they are

00:42:25He may well find himself in the lead of this championship at the end of this race

00:42:29Well, he will do he'll find himself comfortably because the current championship leader ellen menu down in eighth place

00:42:35And he's involved in the battle just directly behind them

00:42:39Jason pedo and vincent bradamaker

00:42:41So menu under pressure from the two voxels down through the crane of curves anthony reed very very quick through that part of the circuit

00:42:48Through the old hairpin these cars are absolutely thrown at the old hairpin

00:42:52They only slide through sideways almost with a bit of drift deliberately induced by the drivers and back up the hill

00:42:58Now we're on board with plato

00:43:00This is the old hairpin

00:43:03And that is the driving star we were talking about and he's run wide

00:43:07Plato trying to get up the inside

00:43:10Just moved back in time

00:43:12Lmn is making that car as wide as he needs to plato is still chewing on the back of it

00:43:17Up through mcclain's

00:43:19Very lucky to get away with that

00:43:21Little misunderstanding there through the old hairpin

00:43:24Well, what they've done is they've widened the exit of the old hairpin as I have of many other corners here at donnington park

00:43:29too

00:43:29If you get it slightly wrong in the middle part of the corner, you can free the car up

00:43:33Straighten it up and let it do that

00:43:34Now men you can only do that with the side of the track the grass being dry

00:43:38Mid rain here on saturday if you've been wet for this race forget about getting anywhere near the curb level on the grass

00:43:44Well plenty of curb there for jason plato and for lmn menu

00:43:49Nothing in the power of these cars that would appear here now down through the gears right now

00:43:56Plato trying to hang a little bit wide then and to cut back

00:43:59Very tightly over that exit to the melbourne hairpin very good turn in on that box

00:44:03All being able to climb up over the grass. Yeah, you can he got a very acute turn

00:44:06He's trying to get the power on but of course by riding over the curb

00:44:10It takes away from some of the traction so any advantage he may have gained by the late cut

00:44:14He loses I think by the time he goes over the curb

00:44:17But it always feels fast, doesn't it? Now?

00:44:19We're in the old hairpin there is menu and there is plato and here's just what we were talking about

00:44:24He just frees the car up. He realizes and also he gives menu. I'm, sorry

00:44:28He gives jason plato a good dusting. He said just frustrate him throw up any rocks

00:44:33Whatever may be there put it in the windscreen of plato's car

00:44:36Well plato obviously thought it was a good idea as we look at the rear view from

00:44:40Use car because plato pretty much followed him off the track

00:44:43There is menu. There is plato and behind plato is vincent rademacher in the third of the voxels

00:44:49And that was much tighter here and neater through the old hairpin that time around up towards mcclaims

00:44:56Menu is opening up a bit of a little bit of a gap here

00:44:59I suppose it's a big gap in current car terms and rademacher right on the toe with his headlights ablaze

00:45:04Yeah, I think he's sending a little message like look jason I can go quicker than you let me go fast

00:45:09Sadly for vincent rademacher

00:45:10He is the number three driver in the team

00:45:12And the team will I think want to get plato score as maximum points as he can and certainly for fuller running at fourth place

00:45:18He's out of the equation as far as these two are concerned. Yeah, rademacher has two chances of getting past jason plato

00:45:25And I mean you curb hopping so does plato. So does rademacher that is the battle for seventh place and they are as close as that

00:45:34Is

00:45:36Very very tough on the cars there. It's a really really big break in it

00:45:41Can't look at the gap between him and there he is there antony reed in the yellow ford in second position

00:45:47And matt neil the independent in this and still very much in touch. Yvonne muller in fourth position

00:45:5211 seconds off the pace james thompson in fifth and the honda ricard right now in the ford in sixth now

00:45:58Things haven't really gone right down the way because he started much further north than that

00:46:02I think this is one of the weekends. He's going to want to put behind him think forward to brands hatch in three weeks time

00:46:07And hopefully get back up to the pace and the position of the championship that he came here in

00:46:12Well the way antony reed's going he's going to be carrying

00:46:16mindful of weight

00:46:18in

00:46:18Race penalty, he'll have his full 40 kilos for the next race

00:46:21So that should take the edge off his performance a little bit and matt

00:46:24Neil is trying to take the edge off his performance now matt neil body language in his car is starting to look threatening

00:46:29Yeah, matt neil

00:46:32Most popular touring car driver

00:46:34But doing a very very good job and doing a job that an independent team should be very proud of

00:46:38Remember, that's not a factory car mom and dad and son runners

00:46:42Well, you're my favorite commentator wadi as we watch yvonne muller floor his way up from the old hairpin now

00:46:47Look here comes matt neil

00:46:48You can just see antony reed is having to really really defend now the drag down over the strike past the start finish line

00:46:56On board with neil

00:46:58That's the target

00:47:00A little bit of grip struggling there if I can make an appalling expression from antony reed's board

00:47:07But then he gets on it again down here down the old uh down the trainer curve towards the old hairpin

00:47:12Well, this is antony reed looking at 12 points for second place

00:47:16So he's not really going to be doing too much thinking about taqbindi ahead of him

00:47:20He's just going to try and spoil matt neil at every opportunity as possible lights come on though

00:47:24What are those lights doing on he's not braking what's he put the headlights on for?

00:47:28Maybe he's trying to intimidate taqweeni, but I think taqweeni is too far ahead to see them

00:47:33As antony reed runs a little bit wide there on the exit to mclean

00:47:36Dab on the brakes as you can see there is brake light the top two

00:47:39Up into coppice corner and then the big long drag back down under the dunlop bridge to the chicane

00:47:45This is a very very quick part of the circuit

00:47:48Where if you're close enough, you can pass but that's not close

00:47:51Interestingly, it was antony reed who set the fastest lap in the race

00:47:55On the second lap, we're now on lap 19 and he's applied a second slower than he did in lap two

00:48:00Matt neil's got his eyes on i'm keeping awake. Sometimes he looks a bit tired just there. Come on matt

00:48:04He's in third position. There he is. He's in the red car

00:48:07Matt, he's really putting reed under pressure. Yeah, that little lock-up just indicates that

00:48:12It is quite as comfortable as we might be thinking here. The gap has been pretty common constant for the last number of laps

00:48:18But that neil pushing and it is a big brake circuit ride to use the brakes too hard early in the race

00:48:23You'll have none at the end that neil just clipping one of the bollards through the goddard chicane talking of brakes

00:48:28Hit matt had all sorts of brake problems in race one

00:48:31Because he ran fair into the back of the peugeot and in doing so crushed the front of the car and the brake air ducts

00:48:36That was the problem that was happening. We saw him struggle did hold on for second position in race one

00:48:41But it was really really difficult because there was no air on the brakes

00:48:44So

00:48:47The way he's going to be able to use anthony reed for brakes he's getting

00:48:51He's staying in touch reed is quicker down that part of the circuit. I think the fast downhills really seems to suit him

00:48:56I think also it's slightly easier for reed. He's got a clear road ahead of him that neil is just holding back for a momentarily

00:49:02Through the crane occurs not quite so committed

00:49:05He's hoping to make up time as in the hairpin here through mcclain's and then up into coppice now

00:49:09What should gabriel exactly be doing with all of this just cruising and trying to keep the pace or still trying to open up a gap?

00:49:16I think not get frustrated with themselves for going off in the first lap of the sprint race because arguably

00:49:21What we're seeing him do here in the feature race he could have done in the sprint race

00:49:24He's thrown away 15 points and another win. Yeah, I was talking to gabriele this morning before the first race and he actually said i've got

00:49:32Nothing to lose now. I don't think I can win the championship. In fact, I know I can't

00:49:35I've got nothing to prove other than to go out and try to win some races and have some fun

00:49:39So he probably took one too many exuberance pills before race one

00:49:42But this time race two so far at least it's all hanging together. You can see a big black streak down the back of his

00:49:50Look for a minute there

00:49:51He was slowing a big black streak down the back of his rear bumper there where he's coming to very close contact with someone

00:49:56Early in the race, but now it's looking smooth and easy. Yeah

00:49:59I mean a very experienced driver gabriel tarquini whenever he lays his hand in sports cars grumpy cars, whatever

00:50:05He's a great racing driver

00:50:07Now this is where he has to be careful. These are the class b touring cars

00:50:11And that's lee linford who was clubbed very firmly by matt neil and a misunderstanding

00:50:18In the chicane in race one a dueling two about to meet up with those class b guys who are having a tough battle themselves

00:50:24collard in third position linford in fourth reed just slid through there

00:50:30Now matt neil going very wide on the exit they're getting around but also got through cleanly

00:50:34Yes, I mean he had to take his chances. He couldn't allow reed to make the break. He didn't want to get more

00:50:39He's got collard between him now and reed and that's just jumping up the gap

00:50:42Diving down the inside collard for some reason raises him into the corner not necessary

00:50:46And allows lee linford to catch up to the back of the nissan

00:50:49Yeah, well lee linford will remember that corner. Well, that's where he and matt came together

00:50:52Look linford's now got momentum and collard moves across the cover collard moves to the inside linford had a real run there

00:50:57Collard moved across tipped him now

00:50:59What can linford do hangs wide tries to cut back that little peugeot is a fast roll escape got lots of performance side by side

00:51:06It might be quicker up the hill

00:51:07We've seen it had lots of power before but there's a left-hander coming collard in the white nissan

00:51:12Theoretically has got the line and has it covered that was pretty tough defending though

00:51:16Yeah, I think it was probably a shade over what I would consider to be fair

00:51:19It was pretty blatant and particularly with somebody as inexperienced as linford in this real first turning car run this afternoon

00:51:26Yeah, he's had a baptism of fire

00:51:28He had a two wood up the backside from mcneil in race one and then forced almost off the track there

00:51:34And I really thought he had that he had a great run out of the chicane

00:51:36And he probably would have picked up the place were it not for collard defending so robustly. Let's say

00:51:42No such need for gabriele though

00:51:45Well interesting now we're watching that little battle going on in class b

00:51:48The lead between tarquini and reed has actually dropped from 4.7 down to 3.9 seconds

00:51:53I put that down to traffic and the fact that tarquini was particularly careful going through some of the back markers

00:51:59But there you can see the gap previously tarquini was at the top of coppers

00:52:03Now he's only halfway up the hill before we get sight of reed

00:52:06It's the class b leader james k in the honda accord james k is a very successful runner and is carrying a 40 kilo weight penalty

00:52:14Because of his last win out in the series, but nevertheless he is still holding on to this lead very well morrison

00:52:20The man who would have challenged him most was turned around at the start of this race

00:52:25james k well known to touring car fans

00:52:28Go for honda in a works touring car for a couple of seasons

00:52:31And has campaigned this class b much more standard version of a honda record race car

00:52:36Very successfully this year leaving the championship earlier on. Yeah, very strong car and k doing a very good job

00:52:42But of course morrison who won the first race the sprint race did get spun around

00:52:46He's running about eight and a half seconds behind james k

00:52:49Too much gap between first and second in class b an easy run this afternoon for k. Yeah, I said that

00:52:56Peugeot earlier was a little bit frail

00:52:59But nevertheless, uh, it's not the peugeot's fault when it gets punted from behind as it was by mark lemmer who had that huge breaking problem

00:53:09Tarquini

00:53:11Makes it look so

00:53:13Easy, but he's still pressing on isn't he?

00:53:14That's actually very quick down there through the crane is tarquini and the honda is in first position

00:53:18Anthony reid to remind you four seconds of drift as we can see in second in the ford

00:53:22Matt neal only a second behind him in third in the nissan then it's muller in fourth in a voxel

00:53:28Followed by james thompson in the honda and ricard bridal who had such a foul morning

00:53:33Is at least in the top six in his board

00:53:36And the championship leader alan menu behind bridal in seventh place and not a particularly brilliant afternoon either

00:53:42For the championship leader the lead of this championship will change assuming nothing remains changed on circuit

00:53:47It will go to anthony reid

00:53:48It's interesting though that alan menu is having such a problem here at the circuit because we've seen him before

00:53:55With a full car load of weight penalty a full 40 kilos be incredibly competitive stick the thing on pole

00:54:01Even with that sort of weight and win races. I don't understand why he's struggling so much here

00:54:05Well, it's just he seems to have lost the momentum and there's no particular reason that we can see certainly 40 kilograms

00:54:11Compared to that 20 of bridal and of course, no weight for anthony reid is significant amongst the board team

00:54:18Menu has been blinding when he's had those 40 kilograms on the board before I don't know whether it's attitudinal or not

00:54:23But interestingly, we are about to move into the the summer recess if you like the touring cars

00:54:27There's three or four weeks before the next round and some of the drivers will be staying on the job alan menu

00:54:33Oh contraire is actually going to have a sabbatical just take a big holiday and try to get it out of his mind for a while

00:54:38Today

00:54:40Now there's a very focusing moment for collard

00:54:42We were praising him a moment ago for his good manners and letting the class a cars pass. Oh, that's good manners plus

00:54:48Well, he went very agricultural there

00:54:50And he let morrison get past and one of the voxels around the outside three abreast under stockies bridge

00:54:55Yeah, he'll have lost count of the cars that slid past him there and he's got it all to do again

00:55:00Alan menu meantime jason plato is in front of him

00:55:02Alan menu has now got vincent rademacher in the second of the voxels or the third of the voxels I should say

00:55:09All over the back of him. So alan menu might be leading the championship, but he's storming to the back of the grid

00:55:15Not a happy day

00:55:16For the swiss the championship leader up until now

00:55:19Two points ahead of anthony reed and that's evaporating literally by the lap to a lap 24 of 30. Well, there he is

00:55:25He looks pretty calm

00:55:27Just a quick check in the rear vision mirror, where's rademacher I can see him just behind

00:55:31There are the remains of mark lemmer's honda still limping around the track courtesy of his

00:55:36Collision in lap one now rademacher right on our boot lead into mclean's

00:55:40Menu opens up the gap a tad because he's feeding on the power first, but not much mate

00:55:46Now here's here's how plato got past there is menu outbraking himself watch for plato

00:55:52Well, there he is now. Yeah, look to me like menu's got a big car handling problem

00:55:56He just couldn't get the car slowed down that maybe it's a brake problem or just suddenly the left front right front tires

00:56:01The grip is gone. He's going backwards

00:56:03He's running about a second a lap slower than rademacher rademacher

00:56:07Of course now will lose that advantage and will run at the speed of menu and he will find it hard

00:56:11To get past that ford is going to be very wide

00:56:13Yeah, well, he's running at the speed of menu, but I don't know for how long because he's on the attack

00:56:17We're going to turn left now. This is the melbourne loop. Where's rademacher?

00:56:20There he is now rademacher tries to switch back if you can't see him

00:56:23It means he's alongside us. You can just see the tail end of him. Has he got the legs up the hill?

00:56:27We're about to turn left now into goddard to go back down the pit straight rademacher hangs wide

00:56:32He'll try the switchback, but he hung too wide and the switchback just evaporated

00:56:36Yeah, he just took an extra hundred yards to make that maneuver. He's got some momentum up

00:56:40He may get a shot down the inside but menu's going to defend it

00:56:43So look to the outside and then make a very quick cut back up the inside try to outfox the swiss driver

00:56:48Well, here's red gate. Where is he? There he is now

00:56:51What can he do has he washed off momentum? No, he's kept momentum rademacher glued to the boot lid

00:56:55He's getting a toe down the hill

00:56:57These are the craner curves the death defying stuff

00:56:59You can see the front of rademacher's car wriggling maybe losing some downforce

00:57:02They're getting too close to the rear end of alan menu's car through the old hairpin cocks a wheel

00:57:08Menu running wide that's becoming a more and more popular line using all of the dirt and rademacher on a charge

00:57:14Yeah, it's very difficult coming through the craner curves. You get too close through the low and it does up the inside

00:57:19Where is he? Where is he? He must have must have got yes, he did smooth stuff

00:57:22Well, that was well planned

00:57:24Well worked out menu is in trouble

00:57:26Rademacher was almost being too impatient, but he read the situation into mclean's did a clean pass. Well done. Vincent rademacher

00:57:34Very exciting stuff now linford's off

00:57:37Now here's what happened

00:57:39Through the chicane

00:57:41Big puff of smoke

00:57:44That's mechanical. Yeah, that looked pretty mechanical will hoy

00:57:47Drove one of these cars at silverstone hit a sudden mechanical failure as well unexpected

00:57:51And for young lee linford in his first weekend of touring car racing

00:57:54Well, it's been a let's say an eye-opening experience. Yeah, he'll say he'll have something to tell his mates when he gets home. It's been

00:58:01All go and they're very fast until they stop those peugeots and that's uh, that's very tough luck for him

00:58:07But he was looking very competitive just to remind you. This is gabriele tarquini. I'd almost forgotten about him

00:58:11He is our race leader in the honda and he is just sauntering off into the distance with a four second lead

00:58:17Over anthony reed 4.1 seconds over anthony reed in the ford

00:58:21Matt neil dropping a little bit further back in that independent nissan in third then muller in fourth place

00:58:26In the voxel james thompson still in fifth

00:58:29In the second of the hondas and then ricard ridell in sixth position to remind you in terms of casualties

00:58:35We've lost already tom christensen in one of the hondas

00:58:39Off early in contact very robust contact with jason plato in the voxel, so he's been sidelined

00:58:47Tarquini making it

00:58:56Yeah, he's being much kinder to the car now not really giving it the straight line pounding he was before

00:59:01We were talking about alan menu's car though and remember gabriele tarquini

00:59:06Although he fell off in race one did not hit anything alan menu

00:59:10There's reed in second position

00:59:12And he's got a little bit of a comfort zone now over that man matt neil in third position

00:59:16And martin muller in fourth in that red and white voxel never far from the action never far off the pace

00:59:22Always there to pick up the pieces james thompson our fifth place man in the honda still in touch

00:59:27But he's going to have to really put his foot down get some squirt on quickly if he's going to close that gap on muller

00:59:33The gap I think

00:59:34And that's remaining they're coming up to the lap end of lap 26 and uh, there's not going to be an awful lot of time

00:59:39The gap is too big for thompson

00:59:41But nonetheless the headlights are on he uses every trick in the book to try and distract

00:59:45Or unsettle the car ahead of you and if you could look in your mirrors and suddenly you pick up headlights

00:59:49Oh, who's that?

00:59:50Are they coming quicker and that's where you rely on the team to give you the information?

00:59:54Both by the visual signs from the pit board and also by the two-way radio

00:59:57Yeah, well, we're scratching our heads about why these cars are actually struggling like this

01:00:01But remember in the case of alan menu

01:00:03He had a very big hit in race one

01:00:05And as I said when I was down on the grid most of these teams are working flat out trying to repair panels

01:00:11Get suspension fixed get wheels pointing the right way

01:00:13Sort damage out and alan menu's car had front end damage and substantial damage so substantial

01:00:19In fact, you might remember he had was black flagged and had to come into the pits in race one

01:00:23To have his bonnet strapped down and the car sorted out. So it's quite likely that it's not actually straight

01:00:28No, that's the thing with front wheel drive touring cars it all happens around the front end of the car

01:00:33Everything else gets dragged around you have to live with the rest of the car

01:00:37But if the front end isn't correct isn't working as it's intended to do

01:00:40Then the performance isn't there the driver can't do the job and that's what we've seen menu

01:00:44He's managed to go quicker backwards and he's done all day going forwards. Well, here's james thompson in the office

01:00:49Now his car should be going quite well, although he had a lot of panel damage in race one

01:00:54Courtesy of his car and ivan muller's banging together like castanets

01:00:58But around most of this circuit for all of the lap. He was fine. He holds the steering wheel

01:01:02Look at that. He's got about a quarter to three or maybe 20 to four hold of the steering wheel

01:01:06Very casual very relaxed so far. Well, it's nice on a long drive, isn't it? It saves your arms getting tired

01:01:12Very very unstressed though

01:01:14And here's the here's the outside here

01:01:15I mean the attitude of the car on the track is fine, but he's very very unhurried looking driver

01:01:19Well in terms of tarquini, he's running about three tenths of a second

01:01:23A lap slower now, that's not very much but it certainly looks quite casual from the onboard camera james

01:01:28Johan sort of sitting there thinking well i'm on lap 28 now, so

01:01:32Not a long way to go, but he's carrying 20 kilos of success ballast not 40 like alan menu

01:01:38Enough to give tarquini a little bit of an advantage

01:01:40Remember the men at the front of the field both tarquini and anthony reed in first and second place

01:01:45Have no success ballast at all

01:01:48Tarquini's in a great deal of risk of getting tons of it for next time. In fact, he

01:01:52Almost certainly will he's only going to hang on to this lead now and he's in line for it. Anthony reed will

01:01:57as well

01:01:58Hard for calcuini to keep pacing himself like this when there's no one around in the pressure room

01:02:02No, it is and the one thing you must try to do is maintain he'll be in a lovely rhythm

01:02:06Everything will be happening for him in a nice rhythmic almost slow fashion

01:02:11What he mustn't do is actually try to deliberately slow down just to ensure in the final lap

01:02:16That he doesn't make any errors because that's when you do you must maintain the rhythm and even though he's running at a fairly high speed

01:02:24That's the way to keep the concentration. Yeah. Well, this man is providing all the concentration that anthony reed needs

01:02:32As we listen to him stroke down through the gears and matt neal

01:02:34Of course we're talking about and ahead of us is anthony reed in the ford

01:02:37And he is keeping anthony reed very honest reed you can see hanging to the left hand side of the track there

01:02:42He's not he's paying a huge compliment there by saying you could pass me right now

01:02:47Matt neal is the quickest car on the track

01:02:49Running 138.8

01:02:52And he's taken a 5.4 of a second out of reed in the last couple of laps

01:02:55So maybe this is the last hurrah in this 30 lap race for matt neal

01:02:59Yeah, well, he may well have tried to keep a little bit up his sleeve for one

01:03:02Last lunge as you say and this is the time if he's going to play it. It's now

01:03:07or

01:03:09There's the gap there's the race leader tuck weenie and it's basically the length of the crane of kerb back to anthony reed in second

01:03:15Matt neal in third

01:03:18Now these two finished one two in race one

01:03:21And they're more than capable of

01:03:23Dealing toughly with each other. That was about muller in fourth position in the box

01:03:26All we just saw hop skip and jump through there. And here's mr. Highway cruiser himself. James thompson

01:03:32Arm resting on the window ledge in fifth position trying to change the cd to get something more to his liking

01:03:37He's bored with the songs. He's listening to

01:03:40There's ricard ridell in sixth position inexplicably in sixth position. I don't know what's happened to him

01:03:45It's just not happened at all for him today. It's been a weekend. I think he'll want to put behind him

01:03:50Move forward to brant's hatch. We've got three rounds remaining after this one at donington park

01:03:54And he can still get on with the program and be significant in the championship

01:03:58But today's results will put anthony reed in the pole position

01:04:01Well, once again significant for ricard ridell in this ford. He ran very firmly into the side

01:04:08Badly enough to sideline ricard's car and also forced vincent's car into the pits jason play-doh as well

01:04:14He had all sorts of accidents

01:04:16Bent his suspension in the first corner may lee on board with him now as we can see

01:04:21Ridell just ahead of us knocked his suspension around and then christians have absolutely hammered the back of jason's car

01:04:26So nobody or most of the people in this field including these two are not driving the cars they drove this morning

01:04:32They're much changed. Yes, and also for ricard ridell

01:04:35It's not as if he doesn't like coming to donington park in two second places here earlier in the year

01:04:40But that of course was on the the short circuit not on this the grumpy circuit

01:04:49Just hang it together gabriele, this is the last step. This is what you've been waiting for

01:04:53Unforced error

01:04:55Sidelined him in race one. He did fight back to six this time around. All he's got to do is keep it square

01:05:03Know that

01:05:04And i'm sure his pits will have been telling him that anthony reed has got his wing mirrors full of matt neil

01:05:09So he's busy and he's not going to challenge all he's going to do is stroke at home. Yeah, they were

01:05:130.4 of a second

01:05:14Separating the day you can see the gap whether you can barely tell whether it's 0.4 or 0.5

01:05:19Really it's going to be difficult. We've got about five quarters remaining and reed is going to be defensive

01:05:25Down the back straight for the last time you can see tarquini's buttoned off

01:05:28That's as close as they've been now for quite a few laps, but tarquini knows he's got that under control

01:05:33Three corners left. I'll tell you I wouldn't want him to relax anymore

01:05:36Well, matt neil's not relaxed. Look at that big lockup

01:05:39Yeah, he dragged that left rear wheel almost as if it was just on the limit gets a good run out of the chicane

01:05:44And this might be might be it as you say tarquini flashes his lights over in fourth who'd have thought it

01:05:51Well easy run for tarquini, but a great drive from matt neil

01:05:54He waited until the end he hung back hung back

01:05:56He knew he'd have one chance

01:05:58He went into the last corner virtually the penultimate corner dived on the inside forced it out to the left job done

01:06:04Well done, matt. Yeah the brilliant stuff. You can just see the tire marks there all over the

01:06:08the number on

01:06:10Door anthony reed will be

01:06:13Very very cross about that, but it was a fair pass

01:06:16Now here's the exercise you see all touring car drivers do at the end of the race drive offline

01:06:20Why do they do that?

01:06:21Well, there's lots of rubber offline get it onto the tires that helps raise the car's ride height just to ensure

01:06:28Drive off the dirt as well get a couple of inches of mud caked onto those tires

01:06:32Make sure there's no problem with post race scrutiny

01:06:34Yeah, indeed that ride height is absolutely critical. Nothing worse than having your car fail the ride height

01:06:39Especially if you've had a win now

01:06:42Here's the view from matt neil's car coming down into the melbourne loop anthony reed is defending as he should

01:06:48So matt neil's holding wide to switch back, which he does

01:06:52Firm as you like anthony just overran the corner indicates to me. That was a fundamental brake problem

01:06:57He's been having in the last half of this race. Well, here's the external view

01:07:02It's copybook stuff little puff of smoke from matt

01:07:04But he's got more momentum as he turns in just avoids the back of reed's car

01:07:08So he doesn't lose any momentum and just a little wet and dry wet and dry rub down on the exit

01:07:13Yeah, that was the that was a sweet spot

01:07:15If you like of the pass once he got himself in

01:07:17Inside and alongside he then could afford to run reed wide out and anthony would have to have backed off

01:07:22Yep, got passed in a cup under the ear for good measure, but a very good very fair pass

01:07:27There's the man we're talking about

01:07:29Matt neil he's the independent runner as you say a family team and what a stunning day thumbs up indeed matt two second places

01:07:38Great drive really good drive

01:07:41It's all coming together for matt in some ways

01:07:45At the wrong end of the season because he's further down the championship order than he would like

01:07:49Courtesy of too many races where he didn't finish but he's finished them both today and in fine style

01:07:54Well, he was he was ninth going into this race

01:07:57Out of second place finish. He's going to find himself. I think pretty much. Well, certainly up up to eighth place and uh,

01:08:03Could even be tackling. No, he's going to move ahead

01:08:05So i've been able to move further ahead with that 15 points plus one for leading 16 points of this race

01:08:10Now matt neil will be making matt neil and anthony reed will both be making a b-line for david leslie

01:08:16As soon as this race is over for different reasons matt to give him a big kiss on the cheek

01:08:20And anthony reed i'm sure to remonstrate with him for holding him up

01:08:24now, here's the uh

01:08:26The weight check you're talking about and there's the ride height check that you were mentioning. Yeah, very very critical

01:08:30It's so easy for cars during the course of a race if there has been damage that body work could be

01:08:35Outside the regulations, but by driving round offline you do pick up rubbish. It does help that situation

01:08:40of course the weight check also critical and

01:08:43A lot of the weight is done these days by fuel to ballast the car

01:08:46And if you use too much that could be enough to see you excluded as well

01:08:50Yep, they literally run a roller on a stick under the front of the car to make sure that it's still high enough

01:08:56Now, let's confirm the result gabriele. Tarquini as we know our race leader in the honda second position matt

01:09:03Neil stunning second position by him in the independent nissan

01:09:06Anthony reed in a ford in third devon muller fourth position strong drive in the voxel

01:09:11James thompson easy drive in the honda in fifth ricard right dell makes the top six in the ford

01:09:16Jason plato in the voxel in seventh position vincent rademacher. He had quite a good scrap, especially with alan menu alan menu himself

01:09:24In ninth frustrating day for him and david leslie making a welcome return to touring cars makes it into the top 10

01:09:35Just see leslie there cruising into park ferme

01:09:38And gabriele tarquini is with steve rider

01:09:42And just throwing his gloves to his crew in some triumph and some relief

01:09:46I should think after that first race that one went to plan didn't it? Yeah at the end I use

01:09:51At the best my pole position

01:09:55In the start I was not so good

01:09:57But I was first on the end. This is the most important. I think the

01:10:02the guy the guy of italian job mechanics

01:10:05Was really really good the job. We were took

01:10:09Read that pissed off good start optimistic

01:10:12and I think that my job of

01:10:16Together with the italian team was perfect

01:10:20Strategy was really perfect at the past. We we was really we wasn't really good on the pit stop strategy

01:10:27But he's sure because I learned they learn so this time was really good job race winner. Gabriele tarquini

01:10:34Congratulations, forgive me. I must go and have a quick word with matt neal here matt

01:10:39That's not a bad weekend's work for an independent two second places. Tell us about the last lap maneuver. First of all

01:10:44Oh, that was nice. I really enjoyed that

01:10:47um, well I was worried about um, I didn't think i'd have the legs to catch antony and then

01:10:52tim harvey came on the radio said

01:10:55You better pull, uh

01:10:57whatever it is out

01:10:58and get going because the van's after you so

01:11:01I've been trying to save my tires and everything a bit to the end and the brakes and the car everything was superb and he

01:11:05Just I didn't think i'd have him but he made a tiny mistake got on the dirt coming out of the chicane

01:11:10And that gave me a run but I thought well it'll defend for the hairpin

01:11:12But he just ran that a little bit wide wide enough for a nissan primera

01:11:14So I was in I wasn't going to be asked a second time and what kept you within range possibly was was the intervention of?

01:11:20Of david leslie mid race. Now. How did you see all that unfolding? Very fair

01:11:25As far as i'm concerned now, I must give uh, go and buy david a beer afterwards. Um, good lad goodness and tactics

01:11:32We might get a different opinion from antony reed here antony third place for you. Take over the championship lead

01:11:37Let's let's make that point. First of all, maybe not the double victory that you'd hope for perhaps

01:11:42Uh your view of what happened with david leslie in in that mid race section

01:11:45I thought it was obstructive based on where he is in the field and where I am leading up the championship

01:11:51So, uh, I definitely lost an opportunity to pass tarquini there

01:11:55Yeah, old teammates, of course, no love loss though today. Unfortunately when you change teams, that's the situation you find yourself in

01:12:02It's just uh, that's british touring car championship racing. It's great fun without that. Do you think that you had gabriele tarquini with it?

BTCC 2000 - Donington - Race 2

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