Rockingham review

It was a mixed bag at Rockingham for a number of reasons this season, with the weather changing constantly across the weekend which lead to dramas for the teams when it came down to tyre choices, and a couple of shock results which really helped to shake up the championship standings once again.

The MG duo of Jason Plato and Sam Tordoff dominated qualifying, with Tordoff battling out for pole position with the Audi of Rob Austin, who had to settle for third after a superb lap from Plato locked out the front row for MG KX Momentum Racing.

The conditions for the first race of the day were far from perfect as far as MG were concerned, and a damp track seen the pair drop into the pack, Plato finishing 5th and Tordoff a dismal 16th. Title challenger Andrew Jordan took full advantage of MG's falterings, as he claimed his fifth win of the season. Rob Austin just snatched 3rd after a last ditch move on the home straight against reigning champion Gordon Shedden, while Airwaves Racing's Mat Jackson finished 2nd in a strong showing for the Motorbase Ford Focus.

With similar conditions for the second race, it was the rear wheel drive Audi of Rob Austin that got the best getaway, as he lead from the first corner and managed to hold on quite comfortably to take his first ever win in the BTCC, and showed once more what he and his team are capable of doing in the right conditions and settings. Gordon Shedden claimed another podium finish in 2nd, while Colin Turkington kept his brief championship hopes alive by taking third, another rear wheel drive car showing its prowess around the Rockingham track.

The final race of the day saw Andrew Jordan take another win, which enabled him to stretch out his championship lead to over 30 points heading towards the penultimate round at Silverstone. Colin Turkington took 2nd place, showing once more the progress eBay Motors have made with the new BMW 1 series and that the Irishman still wants to fight for the title. Jason Plato completed the podium, though the result was enough for the MG driver to officially rule himself out of this year's title race.

After the three rounds at Rockingham, Andrew Jordan continues to lead the championship, thirty points ahead of the current defending champion Gordon Shedden. Colin Turkington maintains third spot, three points behind Shedden and is still within a strong shout of the title. After a fairly quiet weekend, Matt Neal drops to fourth in the standings, who is just one point behind Turkington. Plato is fifth in the standings and has ruled himself out of the title race due to the 62 point gap between himself and Jordan.

Photo credit: Phil Laughton Photography