BTCC 2000 - Snetterton - Race 2
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00:00Ladies and gentlemen, it's party time now at Snedderton.
00:05As you can see, plenty of celebration going on in the track centre as the cars make their
00:10way down the pit lane and work their way around here to form up on the grid for tonight's
00:14main race.
00:15And the feature race is just that, a full-blown feature, including pit stops, done of course
00:20under lights, all due to start at the stroke of midnight.
00:23But I tell you what, for some of these drivers, the witching hour really came early, particularly
00:27Yvain Muller, he trashed his car in race one, he's actually had to commandeer Vincent
00:32Rademacher's car to start in P5 on the grid, so no Vincent Rademacher at all.
00:37Also the Honda boys, they've been working flat out trying to fix James Thompson's car
00:41and also in Ford, they haven't been partying either, because Alan Menuhin's car was badly
00:45damaged, the good news is they've literally just done the job.
00:49Now I reckon Jason Plato is a man to watch, remember he was blisteringly fast in race
00:53one, great starter in all the starts, even the restarts, so I really, really think he's
00:58going to be alright as long as he can get around this richest corner properly.
01:01Now remember, these guys had no luck doing that when it was daylight, now it's going
01:06to be pitch dark, and on top of that, it's starting to spit with rain.
01:09Yes, it's a little bit of a case of ET or close and conscious of a wet kind I think
01:14right now.
01:15Well all the cars coming around to form up on the grid, a huge crowd here and a very
01:19stoic one, they have not been budged by the rain, the appalling weather at all, we are
01:24going to start this race, it's been much delayed, ready to go and it's being started under the
01:27Union Jack flag because the starting lights are broken, and that's Riccard Rydell, that's
01:32wheelspin, he's going nowhere, that's Alan Menuhin just streaking past him on the left
01:36hand side, that's Jason Plato following through as well, now there's Anthony Reid as well
01:41coming right alongside Riccard Rydell, I don't know how this shuffle will unfold, but you're
01:46bumping and boring into the first corner in the rain, that's the view from Tom's car,
01:50that's James Thompson on the left of us, and it's Yvonne Muller in a Vauxhall on the right,
01:56side by side, oh, a cup look, everybody seems to have recovered, all cars running wide,
02:02all off the track, they've got through Sear Corner, this is the drag down the back straight,
02:06and I can't see a thing, don't know about you.
02:08Well there's pretty poor vision, look at that, isn't that unbelievable, the combination of
02:13rain, light.
02:15It's all very odd, he really takes your breath away, Christensen now, in behind James Thompson,
02:19this is the tight right hander of the chicane, a bird's eye view to see, Matt Neal just slides
02:24past us, whilst ahead we saw Muller just slipping down the inside of Thompson, down into the
02:28bomb hole for the first time, there goes Muller, then Thompson, then Matt Neal, around Corham
02:33Corner, still managing to lift an inside wheel, even though it's wet, that's the sort of grip
02:39they're getting, astounding stuff.
02:40Yeah it is, but it really is still very tippy too, the first race in the rain this evening,
02:44a lot of rubber and oil on the track, and just very careful for the first lap.
02:49Very difficult to find your way, Muller seemed to get out of that Russell complex there very
02:53well, and pull up a little bit of a gap on Thompson going up the straight, there they
02:58are, bathed in light, then disappear off into the night, Menuh, Plato, and then Reid.
03:05Rydell in fourth place, Muller in fifth, and Thompson, we've been watching that battle,
03:09absolute darkness around the back of the circuit here, they wash off a lot of speed, drop a
03:14couple of gears, then they go onto the hugely long, very very high speed Revit straight,
03:18well they'll get onto it sooner or later, once again Muller this time running very wide
03:22on the exit, to join the Revit straight.
03:24And all the spray we saw there with the first lap, now the second lap down the straight,
03:28the spray's just going up, there's no wind to blow the spray away, it just falls from
03:33where it was actually blowing up in the first place.
03:37Now we are looking back from Ricard Rydell's car.
03:43And the view back's not much clearer is it, but I can tell you that that is Ivan Muller
03:47who was actually driving Vincent Radamacher's Vauxhall.
03:51Muller commandeered the car after his was so badly damaged in race one.
03:55The view from behind, he's just eating the spray, and a big slide there from him as well
03:58through Corham corner, very long fast corner, not the sort of place you'd be wanting to
04:02drive in the dark, in the rain.
04:05Bouncing, clubbing over the kerbs must be extremely difficult to see.
04:09That's James Thompson having a really big kerb hop there, as they drag back up the pit straight.
04:14All of this worked so well for Alain Meunier who's out in front, made a cracking start,
04:18Rydell must be kicking himself.
04:26While Meunier increased his lead on the rest of the field, out of the dark the Class B boys
04:30were at play.
04:31Mark Lemmer being turned around at Russell corner.
04:38With the rain eventually stopping and the track drying, the only question on the minds
04:42of the crew was, could Jason Plato catch and overtake Alain Meunier on the last lap for
04:47the race victory?
04:53Plato isn't close enough to Meunier as they come into Russell and Plato's going to exceed
04:56to second place.
04:58Great drive from Meunier though, and a brilliant drive from Plato as well and he's going to
05:01take the pipe right to the wire.
05:03Russell corner for the last time, Plato right on the boot lid of Alain Meunier, thinking
05:07to himself and proving the point, if this race had been a couple of laps longer, I might
05:12have just got there.
05:18Well done, well done, fantastic race.
05:21It was very tricky because we were waiting on the grid for the proper start and he started
05:25a bit.
05:26And then I asked my engineer, Jerry, if I could come in and start from the pit lane,
05:31but everybody did that, so start delay and everything.
05:33And then I had a good start, got right there at the start, and then the car was great to
05:38start with, so I was pulling away, and then after the pit stop I had a big lead, but I
05:43think the tyres were not quite as good as the first set I had.
05:47So Jason was catching, but I had everything under control, I only did just enough so I
05:52could win the race.
05:55You know, sometimes you get good tyres, well not good tyres, they're all good tyres, but
06:00sometimes you just get a set that works well.
06:02And Alain had that set at the beginning and I'll be dead honest, I couldn't live with
06:06him, he was off like a scalded cat.
06:08So I just thought, OK, I'll sit here and I'll run my own race at my pace and maybe it will
06:12come back to me.
06:13And for sure, you know, as the race went on, he started to struggle with tyres and then
06:17our car came very good, which it normally does to be fair, even in the dry.
06:21So, yeah, I reckon, you know, another couple of laps he'll probably disagree, but another
06:24couple of laps I think I might have had him.
06:26But, you know, a win in the second is a great weekend.
06:30A good weekend indeed.
06:31Nicely done.
06:32Mate did not hurt his championship hopes either, moving Jason Plato right behind his teammate
06:36Ivan Muller in the point standings.
06:38That man Menu still leading though.
06:40Rydell and then Reid, a top three lockout for Ford.
06:43Ivan Muller, as I said, in fourth, and Jason Plato breathing down his neck.