Time, belatedly, to start a thread for today's BTCC races. Good race one, I thought — some very clean battling in places, even if the field became rather strung out. Plato looked to be in a class of his own. Terrific job by the Power Maxed Chevrolets to qualify and race so well, a credit not just to the team as it stands, but also Chris Stockton and BTC Racing for putting the groundwork in place. Collard's drive was mighty, but Jack Goff's last corner pass on him was a superb bit of racecraft. Goff looks far racier in the MG than does Jordan. And, again, I must say that Derek Palmer's doing a pretty good job in the Infiniti. I thought he'd be right at the back of the field, but he's not.

A shame again, though, that the soft-tyred runners such as Neal and Cook fell back so dramatically. It really does add little to my enjoyment of the racing when good drivers in otherwise quick cars simply become sitting ducks.