Ahead of race two, there was a gearbox change for the VX Racing Vectra of Matt Neal, which was the reason for him being late on to the grid. The short gap between races one and two also saw the John Guest Racing team change the engine in Mike Jordan’s Honda Integra. He started the race from the pitlane but would go on to complete just a handful of laps.

Away from the line it was Darren Turner who led in the diesel-powered SEAT Leon, from Fabrizio Giovanardi, who managed to get his Vectra from fifth to second by the time he exited Deene for the first time. Gordon Shedden started from pole position after his first race victory, but with 45kg of success ballast on board, he quickly found himself down in third.

The safety car was deployed at the end of lap one to allow the recovery of Stuart Oliver’s BTC Racing Lexus IS200 from one of the Rockingham gravel traps.

At the restart, Darren Turner backed the pack up as they entered the straight, but he found himself defending from Giovanardi in the early stages of the lap. There was a change for third position as Mat Jackson passed Gordon Shedden at Tarzan. Before long, the front five started to break away from the rest of the pack, and it looked like any of them could end up with the race lead. Behind the lead bunch, there was another train of eight cars running hose to tail.

Fabrizio Giovanardi seemed keen to add to his two Brands Hatch victories as he challenged Turner for the lead lap after lap. Eventually the Italian was able to make a move stick as both he and Mat Jackson passed Turner at Gracelands. The next question was whether Giovanardi could hang on to the lead, and it did not take long to get an answer. Jackson took to the front at Yentwood on lap 11 in a move that appeared all to easy. It later emerged that Giovanardi was running with a damaged rear axle after contact in the early stages of the race.

Mat Jackson went on to take victory for BMW Dealer Team UK, and he was joined on the podium by Giovanardi and Turner. Gordon Shedden finished the race in fourth, with Tom Onslow-Cole fifth. Colin Turkington crossed the line sixth after an attempted pass on Onslow-Cole failed to come off. Tom Chilton finished seventh for Vauxhall, while Adam Jones was eighth, ahead of Jason Plato and Steven Kane.