Tom Onslow-Cole took two top ten finishes in the sixth round of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Donington Park today, the 20 year-old Team RAC driver taking eighth in the final race and the fastest lap by an independent driver after briefly holding the overall quickest lap.
In torrential day-long conditions at the Leicestershire track, the New Malden driver coped well with the non-stop rain, which saw three safety car periods alone in the day’s opening race. Starting from tenth on the grid for that, a superb getaway saw him gain two places off the line and the following lap he’d moved ahead of Jason Plato to hold seventh behind his Team RAC team-mate Colin Turkington.
The next lap saw the first appearance by the safety car, which bunched the field up. At the restart, he moved up to fifth before contact with Matt Neal sent him spinning off the track and down the order. Despite two other safety car periods, Tom held his composure to take tenth at the flag and ensure a fifth row start for race two.
“I really pushed hard in the first race and was able to get up to fifth from tenth, which was great. It was all running well until I got a tap from Matt Neal which pushed me off the circuit and back down the order. After that it was a case of recovery really and trying to claw back some points.”
Treacherous conditions again greeted the drivers for the second race, with Tom being one of several caught out in one of the rivers of water that flowed across McLeans corner. Another good start had seen him move up the order, catching up with Turkington before he slid wide in the tricky conditions on lap two. A superb recovery over the course of the 16 lap race, and despite a brief ‘moment’ towards the end of the race, he recovered to finish 11th.
“In race two we made a few changes to the car and it was great at the start so in the first few laps we were really on it. But, after passing Colin I got caught out on one of the rivers out on the circuit and lost quite a lot of time. I was really on a charge trying to catch back up, pushing hard and taking a few risks under braking. I caught back up to Colin but then ran wide which dropped me down.”
Although many other races were suspended due to the conditions, the third and final race, shown live on ITV1, got underway on schedule and proved the most positive for the reigning Elf Renault Clio Cup Champion. Another good start saw him hold station and a mid-race four-way battle for fourth, which temporarily earnt him the fastest lap, looked like giving Tom another strong finish. However, he later dropped to eighth when Tom Chilton found a way past two laps from home.
“We had a really good race three, the quickest of the BMW’s and fastest overall for a while, so that’s really positive although it took me a while to get into it. There was one part of the track that I was really struggling with and I couldn’t see through the spray in front of me. I had to lift heavily and people were all over me, which was frustrating as I was hauling others in at other parts of the track but then I’d lose it all at that section.”
“Overall I think it’s been a really positive weekend, the results haven’t been fantastic but the speed has been good, especially compared to the other BMW’s and I’m now really confident.”
The next rounds of the championship take place at Snetterton in Norfolk over the weekend of July 28/29.
Results of race one – 19 laps
1 Gordon Shedden Honda Civic 30:19.346
2 Adam Jones SEAT Toledo 30:26.227
3 Matt Neal Honda Civic 30:26.567
4 Mike Jordan Honda Integra 30:27.008
5 Jason Plato SEAT Leon 30:29.214
6 Matt Allison SEAT Toledo 30:34.586
10 Tom Onslow-Cole BMW 320si 30:45.974
Results of race two – 16 laps
1 Jason Plato SEAT Leon 23:11.490
2 Gordon Shedden Honda Civic 12:17.366
3 Fabrizio Giovanardi Vauxhall Vectra 23:18.778
4 Matt Neal Honda Civic 23:23.344
5 Adam Jones SEAT Toledo 23:23.526
6 Darren Turner SEAT Leon 23:23.903
11 Tom Onslow-Cole BMW 320si 23:56.535
Results of race three – 16 laps
1 Jason Plato SEAT Leon 23:17.182
2 Matt Neal Honda Civic 23:18.671
3 Mike Jordan Honda Integra 23:25.808
4 Mat Jackson BMW 320si 23:26.756
5 Gordon Shedden Honda Civic 23:27.289
6 Colin Turkington BMW 320si 23:27.794
8 Tom Onslow-Cole BMW 320si 23:28.808
Championship positions after 18 rounds:
1 Jason Plato 188
2 Fabrizio Giovanardi 163
3 Matt Neal 129
4 Gordon Shedden 115
5 Colin Turkington 105
6 Mike Jordan 94
7 Mat Jackson 93
8 Darren Turner 92
9 Tom Chilton 91
10 Tom Onslow-Cole 61
