.......  At Oulton Park

SEAT Sport UK’s Jason Plato, Team Halfords’ Matt Neal and Arena Motorsports’ Tom Chilton were the winners of today’s three Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship races at Oulton Park, Cheshire – an event that once again received live terrestrial television coverage on ITV. As a result, Neal has extended his championship lead over team-mate Dan Eaves as the BTCC now heads to Croft, North Yorkshire on 17 July.

Plato’s Toledo Cupra, fastest in Saturday qualifying, led all the way in race one, but in the closing stages came under increasing pressure from Neal’s Honda Integra. Neal also set the race’s fastest lap, but Plato’s victory, his first of 2005, was a clear sign that SEAT remains a major threat in this year’s title race. Eaves finished third, just ahead of Yvan Muller’s Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch.

Plato then led the opening laps of race two until Neal sensationally drove around the outside of him through the fast Old Hall corner to take the race lead. Their battle allowed Muller to close in and, sensing an opportunity, the French driver also tried to pass his great rival Plato. But their cars collided and Plato span off the track while Muller continued in second.

Neal, with the race’s fastest lap, went on to take his fifth win of the season with Muller close behind in second. Eaves was again third but chased hard by Rob Collard who took a strong fourth in reigning Independent Trophy champion team WSR’s MG. Much of the crowd’s attention, though, was on the all-important battle for tenth position between Plato and Vauxhall’s Gavin Smith, the latter recovering from a spin after a collision with team-mate Colin Turkington. Smith initially held the spot, but 2001 champion Plato eventually got past – a crucial result for it gave him pole position for race three thanks to the top ten reversed grid rule.

But Plato’s chances of adding his second win of the day in race three – held on a soaking wet track – ended on the opening lap when he slid straight on at the hairpin and fell to last position. The opening lap was also a disaster for Vauxhall – Turkington span out in another collision with team-mate Smith and Muller retired in the pit lane after damaging his Astra in a clash with Richard Williams’ spinning HPI Racing with Friends Reunited Lexus.

Following a safety car period to enable marshals to clear Turkington’s stranded car, Collard led in the spray from Chilton, Neal and Eaves. But Collard, on course for his first BTCC race win, slid wide in the tricky conditions and allowed Chilton to sneak past into the lead. From there, 20-year-old Chilton was never challenged as he calmly drove on to the third BTCC race win of his career at the wheel of the Arena team’s Honda Civic. By the end of the race, Collard had further slipped to fourth behind Neal and the fast-recovering Plato who set the race’s fastest lap. SEAT’s Luke Hines was fifth with Eaves back in sixth after he too had briefly slithered off the track.

As a result of today’s three races, Neal has more than trebled his championship lead over Neal to 24 points. Muller stays third in the standings, nine points behind Eaves and 15 in front of fourth-placed Plato. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, Vauxhall leads SEAT by just six points. Team Halfords has extended its lead in both the Teams’ and Independents Teams Trophy as have Neal and Eaves in the Independents Trophy for drivers.

Despite his sizeable lead at the top, Neal believes the title race remains wide open. Neal, chasing the champion’s crown for the first time in almost 15 years of racing in the BTCC, said: “Today has been really good to me – three podium finishes with a lot of success ballast in my car are fantastic results, but I’m not naive enough to think the rest can’t catch me. One non-finish, like Yvan in race three, and it will be back to square one. SEAT is going to be very strong from now on and Vauxhall is not far away with a car that it is still developing.”

Indeed, 2003 champion Muller believes he and reigning champion manufacturer Vauxhall remain strong title challengers: Muller said: “It’s not over yet and we are still learning more about the Astra with every race meeting. If we find just one tenth of a second per lap, it will make all the difference – we will be right on the pace of the Halfords cars and then we can try to pressure them into a few mistakes.”