Heavy rain played havoc with the fifth British Touring Car weekend of the year. Appropriately enough it was round 13 that suffered the most being red-flagged twice.
Racing first came to a halt as the rain got heavier and two cars crashed separately at Tower bend. One of the marshals that attended the first car to spin was then struck by the second and was briefly trapped underneath it, but luckily this horrific scenario resulted in only light injuries for the marshal.
Shortly afterwards the race was restarted but by then the rain had grown even heavier. Colin Turkington was leading when it was red-flagged for a second time, but with only three laps of green flag running completed it remains to be seen whether full points will be awarded for the race.
Jason Plato had started from the pit lane and only got as far as 12th. His eighth in race two would be the best result of the weekend for Seat.
Turkington claimed a rather more satisfying win in race two but had the race lasted one more lap he surely would have lost to Mat Jackson. Jackson, who threw his car off the road while leading in race one, battled brilliantly from 18th to chase Turkington down on the final lap. When Turkington got his BMW hugely sideways on the final tour it looked like Jackson would clinch an improbably victory, but he was held back by just one tenth of a second.
Fabrizio Giovanardi took advantage of the reverse grid to take an easy win in the last race while Adam Jones picked up an excellent second in the Team Air Cool Seat.
It bolstered Giovanardi’s title opes as Plato lost damage following a collision with Turkington and finished 12th. His team mate Darren Turner, who qualified on pole position for the first race, retired after clashing with Mat Jackson at turn one. Third place for Matt Neal means he has taken over as Giovanardi’s closest championship rival, althoug it remains to be seen whether the points will be adjusted following that chaotic first race.