Everybody was running on adrenalin in the opening weekend of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship which saw team mates Jason Plato and James Thompson clinch overall victory for SEAT at the Brands Hatch circuit.

The first race was a non-starter for newbie Dave Pinkney in his eye-catching aluminous pink and black ex-Honda Integra of Dan Eaves with rumours that he’d flooded the engine. Similarly, dramatic action came from Fiona Leggate’s camp as she was pushed down the grid in her Vauxhall Astra after a starter motor failure and Gordon Shedden’s Team Halfords Honda Integra had to start from the pit lane on lap four, after reports the throttle cable had snapped. However, 21-year-old racing prodigy Tom Chilton who had six BTCC wins last season, lead the pack in his VX Racing Vauxhall Astra sport hatch to what was a fantastic start to the season.

Thompson’s team mate Plato, who had a bad race from the beginning, was forced to retire on lap eleven after an incident at Clearways that left his car with broken suspension. He looked like a crab limping back to the pits!

Nail-biting close racing ensued in the battle for the top four places with Chilton leading from Thompson, Team RAC’s Colin Turkington and last year’s Team Halfords champion, Matt Neal. Neal was in fighting mood after starting from fifteenth place on the grid due to brake failure on qualifying and proved his mettle on lap 18 while attempting to squeeze in a gap down the pit straight alongside Turkington and Thompson.

It was not until the last four laps that BTCC veteran James Thompson dived in the inside at Clearways to take victory for SEAT. Chilton and Neal took second and third place respectively.

The Girlracer crew decided to go for a wander during race two of the BTCC to check out the talented Porsche Carrera Cup drivers, namely Richard 'Sex God' Williams who has defaulted from the 2005 Lexus BTCC team to the Porsches. And ladies, I'm happy to inform you that he still looks as stunning as ever and Porsche racing seems to suit him down to the ground as he finished the final race in a brilliant fifth place with new team, In2Racing. Talking of racing prodigy's, one to watch is certainly 20-year-old Phil Quaife who has worked his way up from karting into Porsches and is giving some of the older, more experienced drivers a run for their money.

If it wasn't bad enough to be told off by Gaz for dribbling around Mr Sex God, I became star struck even more after chatting to Maxi Jazz from Faithless fame whilst he was in the line up in the paddock as he is also racing in the Porsche Carrera Cup. It was fab to chat to an idol of mine just before he was swamped by fans from the Faithless massive and he told me he started racing in Ford Fiestas, but rear wheel drive cars are now his thing.

You can honestly never predict what will happen in a BTCC race and what followed in the final race of the day is no expection. Even though Chilton started on pole, Plato closed in and set the first fastest lap. By lap five, Plato and Chilton were side-by-side along the main straight with Rob Collard’s Team RAC MG ZS following suit and taking advantage of the gap. Chilton quickly dropped back to fifth place in probably his worst race of the day.

The race ended prematurely in a dramatic climax when Neal saw an opportunity to take Collard’s place on lap 20 at McLaren and further held onto this position across the line. As the two drivers entered Paddock Hill Bend Collard tapped the back of Neal’s Honda Integra, launching the 2005 champion sideways across the track into the crash barrier. This big impact crushed the doors on the Honda, trapping Neal for some time. Although Collard was initially rewarded with second place after he stated Neal braked too early causing the incident, (to a loud mumble of 'likely story' from the media centre) he was excluded from the amended results. With Plato as race winner, this promoted Turkington to second place and Chilton to third. This change of results meant that Girlracer Fiona Leggate was promoted to tenth place with championship points to boot.

Fiona had a good start to the opening rounds of the BTCC being still the only female racing driver in the series and managed to stay out of the scrappy races which occured between some of the big guns throughout the day. Although there were some grumblings about her keeping the same Vauxhall Astra from last year but with new main sponsor Thurlby Motors, Fiona proved she is still a fighter and not phased by mechanical problems and set backs. She is working with the same Techspeed team as before so no doubt if she can continue aiming for the top ten she will work her way up the championship leader board. Good luck Fiona!

Sezza