BTCC 2001: Rounds 15 & 16 – Snetterton

It was the second night race of the season at Snetterton for rounds 15 and 16 of the 2001 British Touring Car Championship. Yvan Muller had it all to play for after being knocked off of top spot in the championship last time out at Knockhill, and the weather was going to play its part as the rain was falling in the lead-up to the Sprint Race.

Round 15: Sprint Race

Jason Plato took pole position and an excellent qualifying session for Phil Bennett saw him take second, but disaster struck as a gearbox issue meant Bennett wouldn’t make the start. That effectively moved Yvan Muller, who qualified third, up into second for the start.

In the Production Class it was Simon Harrison starting in first, followed by Simon Graves and Gavin Pyper.

As the lights turned green it was a slippery start for all involved as the rain was still falling heavily. Plato dropped back to third after being taken by Muller and Thompson.

But it was a great start for Tommy Erdos in the rear-wheel-drive Lexus. Starting from second-last, he immediately jumped the Peugeots ahead of him, and then flew past Plato.

With Erdos up to third, Thompson went wide and off onto the grass, but managed to keep his foot in it and stayed ahead of the Lexus. Muller was already pulling a big lead on the chasing pack, and teammate Plato managed to retake third from Erdos into the next bend.

There was also weather-related chaos in the Production class, as Graves was in the lead followed by Howell and Collard.

Thompson was chasing down Muller for the lead, but as the Touring Cars caught the back of the Production pack, Kraemer managed to plant his Ford Focus right where Yvan Muller wanted to be and took a hit from the Frenchman. After getting a tank slapper on, he managed to recompose himself and rejoin the pack.

With Thompson dodging Kraemer’s Focus, Plato took full advantage and pulled off a move up the inside of the Egg Sport Vauxhall to take second.

Onto the final lap and Graves was still in the lead of the Production class and the overall race as he was still ahead of the Touring Cars. Muller was right behind him going into the final turn, but Graves took the chequered flag.

Muller won the Touring class, followed by Plato and Thompson. Graves took victory in Production, followed by Howell and Collard.

Sprint Race Results

Position	Class	Driver	Team	Car	Laps	Time	Best
1	P	Simon GRAVES	Team Kaliber Sport with Barwell	Honda Accord	17	24:59.964	1:27.256
2		Yvan MULLER	Vauxhall Motorsport	Vauxhall Astra Coupé	17	0.092	1:23.817
3		Jason PLATO	Vauxhall Motorsport	Vauxhall Astra Coupé	17	2.774	1:23.892
4	P	Gareth HOWELL	GR Motorsport	Ford Focus	17	5.372	1:27.754
5	P	Rob COLLARD	Collard Racing	Renault Clio	17	7.222	1:27.758
6		James THOMPSON	Egg Sport	Vauxhall Astra Coupé	17	7.497	1:23.957
7	P	Mat JACKSON	GR Motorsport	Ford Focus	17	14.092	1:27.898
8	P	Simon HARRISON	HTML	Peugeot 306 GTi	17	15.832	1:27.780
9	P	James KAYE	Team Kaliber Sport with Barwell	Honda Accord	17	16.929	1:27.688
10	P	Mark LEMMER	Synchro Motorsport	Honda Accord	17	25.86	1:28.402
11		Thomas ERDOS	ABG Motorsport	Lexus IS200	17	30.005	1:25.353
12	P	Jim EDWARDS Jnr	TCR/Interactive Network Solutions	Honda Accord	17	33.506	1:28.731
13	P	Paul O’NEILL	Tech-Speed Motorsport	Peugeot 306 GTi	17	34.497	1:28.203
14	P	Nick BEAUMONT	Team B&Q/Talksport Radio	Honda Integra Type-R	17	55.597	1:29.410
15	P	Tom BOARDMAN	Tom Boardman Racing	Peugeot 306 GTi	17	57.534	1:29.156
16	P	Colin BLAIR	GA-Janspeed Racing	Alfa Romeo 156	17	58.259	1:29.042
17	P	Roger MOEN	HTML	Peugeot 306 GTi	17	1:13.347	1:30.266
18	P	Joanna CLARKE	Team B&Q/Talksport Radio	Honda Integra Type-R	17	1:20.329	1:30.620
19	P	Annie TEMPLETON	Tech-Speed Motorsport	Peugeot 306 GTi	17	1:23.190	1:30.771
20		Steve SOPER	Peugeot Sport UK	Peugeot 406 Coupé	17	1:25.409	1:27.376
R	P	Rick KRAEMER	GR Motorsport	Ford Focus	10	DNF	1:29.651
R	P	Gavin PYPER	GA-Janspeed Racing	Alfa Romeo 156	6	DNF	1:29.231
R	P	Nick JAMES	Arnold James Sport	Honda Integra Type-R	3	DNF	1:34.085
R		Tom FERRIER	JS Motorsport	Alfa Romeo 147	0	DNF	N/A
R		Phil BENNETT	Egg Sport	Vauxhall Astra Coupé	0	DNF	N/A

Round 16: Feature Race

The rain had stopped just ahead of the feature race, but the track was still wet ahead of the rolling start. Plato was on pole, followed by Muller, Bennett, and Thompson. 

In Production it was Harrison, Graves, Pyper and Howell making up the first three positions.

In full darkness with headlights beaming the race got underway as the safety car peeled off, and it was a clean start for all despite the conditions.

It was a strong start for Gavin Pyper as he muscled his way past both Graves and Harrison to take the lead in the Production race. But not for long as he ran wide and onto the grass, and it was Graves who took the lead from him after just passing Harrison.

In the Touring race it was Phil Bennett on the charge as he put pressure on Muller, who in turn was all over Plato.

As Eaves pitted to experiment with slicks, Bennett was making waves at the front as he pulled off an excellent move on Muller to take second place. And he wasn’t done there, as he then overtook Plato to take the lead.

But Plato wasn’t having any of it, and no sooner had Bennett passed was he punted into the grass by Plato. Bennett was ahead but Plato got up the inside and tagged him on the right rear, sending him spinning across the track.

Bennett managed to rejoin, but further down the order and with a now battered Astra. And his radio message contained plenty of expletives aimed in the direction of Jason Plato. Understandable, given he was looking likely to win the race with the pace he had.

Meanwhile James Thompson was the first of the Vauxhalls into the pits to switch to slicks. A bit of a gamble, given there was still plenty of water on the track.

Bennett made it back to the pits, but with his bumper hanging off the crew were given the instruction to just rip it off. Thankfully for him, he could rejoin the race, but now at the back of the field.

Plato was also into the pits, followed by Muller a lap later, with everyone now opting for the slicks. A 19.3 second stop for Plato, and a much quicker 13.3 second stop for Muller, giving him the lead as he rejoined.

But the good work in the pits for Muller was short lived as he struggled to get his tyres up to temperature and slid onto the grass, giving Plato the place back in the process.

Graves was still ahead in the Production class, but was struggling for pace and was overtaken by Howell in the Ford Focus as a result, shortly before Steve Soper in the Touring Peugeot 406 overtook the pair of them by completely missing a corner and careering across the grass.

Muller was back alongside Plato for the lead, and both Astras took too much speed into a bend and went across the mud, bouncing around and destroying their bodywork in the process. Plato still managed to come out ahead of Muller, though.

But Muller wouldn’t let a damaged bumper stop him, as he was quickly onto the back of Plato which forced him into an error. Plato was off again, and both Muller and Thompson dived past into first and second.

Thompson smelled a victory on the cards, and the following lap took Muller with a great pass. Excellent driving from Thompson in the Egg Sport Vauxhall.

Further down the pack, Eaves was chasing Erdos for fifth position, and just as it looked like he would pass him, he overcooked it completely. The Peugeot was sent spinning across the grass and into the tyre barrier at a huge speed. A massive impact for Eaves, but thankfully he was able to walk away.

The carnage was really coming thick and fast now, as Rob Collard in the Production Renault was sent spinning in the same corner as Eaves. His Clio was inches away from smashing into the carcass of Eaves’ Peugeot, but thankfully he got away with it.

And then it was Howell’s turn to go off-road, but managed to retain the lead of the Production race, although the pressure was now on with Graves right behind him.

Mat Jackson was chasing Harrison for third place, and after closing the gap on him, tagged the Peugeot into Russell corner. Harrison was off briefly, and Jackson was into third.

Back at the front of the Touring race, Muller was under pressure from Plato again for second place, and he capitulated to the pressure, going wide and letting Plato through. Thompson was still out ahead.

Back at the Eaves crash scene, Muller went round the outside of John B-and-Q’s Honda and came a cropper, spinning onto the grass, narrowly avoiding the stricken Peugeot. After a few more pirouettes he was able to rejoin, but was now a way off Plato.

And with that, race control had seen enough near-misses and decided to red flag the race. The chequered flag was out too, so the race wouldn’t restart. Thompson won, followed by Plato and Muller. Soper was in fourth.

In Production, it was Howell with the win, followed by Graves and Jackson.

A treacherous race under the lights, but Plato would have been happy to stay ahead of Muller at the end of the weekend… that is, until a steward’s decision on his crash with Bennett gave him a 30 second time penalty!

And with that, Plato was knocked down to third place, behind Thompson and Muller.

Find out more about that in the next review: rounds 17 & 18 at Croft.

Feature Race Results

Position	Class	Driver	Team	Car	Laps	Time	Best
1		James THOMPSON	Egg Sport	Vauxhall Astra Coupé	27	37:17.912	1:16.031
2		Yvan MULLER	Vauxhall Motorsport	Vauxhall Astra Coupé	27	10.439	1:16.839
3		Jason PLATO	Vauxhall Motorsport	Vauxhall Astra Coupé	27	31.117	1:15.823
4		Steve SOPER	Peugeot Sport UK	Peugeot 406 Coupé	27	57.2	1:18.243
5		Thomas ERDOS	ABG Motorsport	Lexus IS200	27	1:04.269	1:17.680
6		Phil BENNETT	Egg Sport	Vauxhall Astra Coupé	27	1:13.591	1:17.891
7	P	Gareth HOWELL	GR Motorsport	Ford Focus	26	+ 1 LAP	1:23.652
8	P	Simon GRAVES	Team Kaliber Sport with Barwell	Honda Accord	26	+ 1 LAP	1:24.326
9	P	Mat JACKSON	GR Motorsport	Ford Focus	26	+ 1 LAP	1:25.772
10	P	Simon HARRISON	HTML	Peugeot 306 GTi	26	+ 1 LAP	1:25.675
11	P	Jim EDWARDS Jnr	TCR/Interactive Network Solutions	Honda Accord	26	+ 1 LAP	1:25.600
12	P	Nick BEAUMONT	Team B&Q/Talksport Radio	Honda Integra Type-R	25	+ 2 LAPS	1:23.783
13	P	Tom BOARDMAN	Tom Boardman Racing	Peugeot 306 GTi	25	+ 2 LAPS	1:26.252
14	P	Roger MOEN	HTML	Peugeot 306 GTi	25	+ 2 LAPS	1:20.500
15	P	Rick KRAEMER	GR Motorsport	Ford Focus	24	+ 3 LAPS	1:28.596
16	P	Mark LEMMER	Synchro Motorsport	Honda Accord	24	+ 3 LAPS	1:22.076
R	P	James KAYE	Team Kaliber Sport with Barwell	Honda Accord	23	DNF	1:26.237
R		Dan EAVES	Peugeot Sport UK	Peugeot 406 Coupé	22	DNF	1:17.580
R	P	Rob COLLARD	Collard Racing	Renault Clio	21	DNF	1:21.547
R	P	Colin BLAIR	GA-Janspeed Racing	Alfa Romeo 156	19	DNF	1:27.484
R	P	Gavin PYPER	GA-Janspeed Racing	Alfa Romeo 156	16	DNF	1:27.089
R	P	Nick JAMES	Arnold James Sport	Honda Integra Type-R	15	DNF	1:28.852
R	P	Joanna CLARKE	Team B&Q/Talksport Radio	Honda Integra Type-R	11	DNF	1:34.099
R	P	Paul O’NEILL	Tech-Speed Motorsport	Peugeot 306 GTi	7	DNF	1:28.683
R	P	Annie TEMPLETON	Tech-Speed Motorsport	Peugeot 306 GTi	1	DNF	1:44.555
NS		Tom FERRIER	JS Motorsport	Alfa Romeo 147	–	DNS	N/A

Touring Car Driver’s Championship Standings After Round 15 & 16 – Leaders

Driver	Points
Plato	207
Muller	203
Thompson	189
Bennett	111

Touring Car Team Championship Standings After Round 15 & 16 – Leaders

Team	Points
Vauxhall Motorsport	168
Team Egg Sport	147
Peugeot Sport UK	50
ABG Motorsport	24

Production Car Driver’s Championship Standings After Round 15 & 16 – Leaders

Driver	Points
Harrison	147
Kaye	139
Moen	115
Jackson	103
Howell	84

Production Car Team Championship Standings After Round 15 & 16 – Leaders

Team	Points
GR Motorsport	138
Team Kaliber Sport with Barwell	111
HTML	97
Tech-Speed Motorsport	38