Tom Onslow-Cole brought his debut Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season to a close with two more points scoring finishes at Thruxton circuit on Sunday.
The 20 year-old Team RAC driver finished tenth in the penultimate rounds despite struggling with understeer at the high-speed Hampshire track. Nonetheless a superb first season which saw him net four podium finishes and a well-earnt victory meant he ended the season with fourth place in the Independents Trophy.
Starting race one from the seventh row, Tom made the most of the superb starting power of the rear-wheel-drive BMW 320si to be up into 10th place as the pack entered Church for the first time. Sadly, his progress was stunted when he understeered off the track, dropping him down to 15th.
“We had a new set up from qualifying,” he stated. “I got as much heat as I could into the fronts on the formation and warm-up lap and they were feeling pretty hot – I even got out and checked them myself! And it was all fine up until we got to Church and, well it was understeer here we come.”
A superb recovery soon saw him back up to speed and despite being plagued with understeer throughout the course of the 16-lap race Tom was rapidly working his way through the field. By lap two he’d found a way past Rob Collard and the next lap was up into 13th after passing Adam Jones.
For several laps he kept Jones at bay as the SEAT driver tried to retake the place and as the race settled down, Tom led a four-way battle for the position. Although the understeer prevented him from mounting a strong challenge, he would eventually finish tenth, his 20th points scoring finish of the year.
Race two had Tom start from tenth place and a superb getaway saw him up to eighth early on before he dropped to ninth behind Mat Jackson at the conclusion of the first lap. After looking good for a ninth place finish, a close-fought battle with Tom Chilton for several laps eventually went the way of the Vauxhall driver on the final tour, with Tom just behind in tenth.
For the day’s third and final race, Tom again started tenth and was up to eighth before a coming together with Mike Jordan at the chicane on lap five broke a trackrod and signalled instant retirement for the Surrey ace. The retirement was particularly disappointing as Tom’s early race pace had seen him posting comparable times with the opposition and eventually resulted in the fourth quickest race lap.
“We’d got the car a lot better for race three but unfortunately I had a coming together which broke one of the trackrods and I was unable to get back round and into the pits. It’s just one of those things; they’re designed to break to save the rest of the car.
“It’s been a very tough weekend but we seem to be making progress with the car but the better the car was it just didn’t really show on track. I got held up a lot with various battles and once you have to start defending round here, you lose buckets of time on the leaders. Unfortunately I don’t think the results really showed the improvements we made in the car.”
The final three rounds brought the 2007 season to a climax and provided the BTCC newcomer with 21 point-scoring finishes, four podium finishes and a deserved maiden win at Team RAC’s home track of Snetterton. In addition, Tom’s performances assisted Team RAC to a convincing Independents Team Trophy victory, while Tom finished tenth overall as the second rookie in the overall title chase in an strong 24-car entry list consisting of several multiple touring car champions.
“It’s a shame to end with a non-finish because overall this season has been brilliant. It couldn’t have got off to a better start really winning in my first season and I look forward to building on that next year.”
Results of Round 28
1. Fabrizio Giovanardi VX Racing Vauxhall Vectra 21:33.994
2. Jason Plato SEAT Sport UK SEAT Leon 21:34.998
3. Gordon Shedden Team Halfords Civic 21:39.198
4. Alain Menu VX Racing Vauxhall Vectra 21:39.656
5. Matt Neal Team Halfords Honda Civic 21:40.323
6. Colin Turkington Team RAC BMW 320si E90 21:40.738
10. Tom Onslow-Cole Team RAC BMW 320si E90 21:52.549
Results of Round 29
1. Fabrizio Giovanardi VX Racing Vauxhall Vectra 21:35:623
2. Jason Plato SEAT Sport UK SEAT Leon 21:36.456
3. Matt Neal Team Halfords Honda Civic 21:37.352
4. Colin Turkington Team RAC BMW 320si E90 21:43.223
5. Mat Jackson Jackson Motorsport BMW 320si E90 21:43.992
6. Alain Menu VX Racing Vauxhall Vectra 21:44.638
10. Tom Onslow-Cole Team RAC BMW 320si E90 21:53.065
Results of Round 30
1. Mat Jackson Jackson Motorsport BMW 320si E90 17:33.434
2. Fabrizio Giovanardi VX Racing Vauxhall Vectra 17:36.093
3. Tom Chilton VX Racing Vauxhall Vectra 17:36.897
4. Jason Plato SEAT Sport UK SEAT Leon 17:37.756
5. Matt Neal Team Halfords Honda Civic 17:38.078
6. Darren Turner SEAT Sport UK SEAT Leon 17:38.331
Final championship positions after 30 rounds:
1 Fabrizio Giovanardi 300
2 Jason Plato 297
3 Gordon Shedden 200
4 Matt Neal 195
5 Colin Turkington 184
6 Darren Turner 160
10 Tom Onslow-Cole 109
Final Independents Trophy positions after 30 rounds:
1 Colin Turkington 285
2 Mat Jackson 270
3 Mike Jordan 260
4 Tom Onslow-Cole 226
5 Adam Jones 164
6 Matt Allison 119
