As Team Aon Fords dominate the Siverstone rounds of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship……..

Tom took two wins in the day’s first two races, starting both from the front row; on a weekend which saw the Calor LPG powered Ford Focuses take a clean sweep of wins.Team mate Tom Onslow-Cole won the final race and Tom was set to join him on the podium before he was knocked out of third place following a hit from Mat Jackson’s BMW.

His results moved Tom up to 5th place in the Driver’s Championship and along with Onslow-Cole’s performances, moved the Team Aon squad to the top of the points table for the Manufacturer / Constructor title.

It had been a great weekend for the whole team and Tom reflected on that and his personal performance;

“It’s my biggest points haul of the season” he said, “That’s two events on the trot where I’ve picked up 30 points or more so obviously I’m really pleased. Having said that it could have been even better, I think I could have had a podium in the third race if I hadn’t been hit by Jackson. The team has yet again given us a car that is very hard to beat and I hope that remains the same for the last three events.”

Tom had shown the Ford’s pace around Silverstone on Saturday, topping the time sheets in the free practice session that morning, but he had to settle for second place in the afternoon’s qualifying session. Beaten to pole position by his Team Aon team mate, Tom still made it an all Ford front row for the first time in a decade. He commented afterwards;

“A really great result for the team in qualifying but I’m slightly gutted Tom got a bit of a tow off me which helped him. Then when I went out again for a final run at the end, the circuit seemed to have lost a bit of grip so that was that.”

The first race was a dominant affair for the Ford pair. They both got away well and Tom settled in behind his team mate in the early stages and waited for an opportunity. There was little to choose between them on race pace, but the result was decided on lap 11 when Onslow-Cole had a problem shifting up through the box and Tom seized his chance.He drove past on the front straight into a lead he would never lose.Race two, now starting on pole, Tom was a bit slow away and had to slot in behind Onslow-Cole again. This time, carrying the maximum success ballast, Tom decided to look after his tyres in the early stages of the race and this paid dividends later on as he was able to close up to and then pass his team mate to score his second victory of the weekend. Following the race, Tom drew number six for the reverse grid in the day’s final encounter and would therefore line up on the third row of the grid.

A fantastic start in that final race lifted Tom to 3rd place after the first corner and after a safety car period he initially built up a cushion to his pursuers. By half distance the success ballast was starting to have an effect on his tyres and he gradually slipped back. That put Jackson in touch and enabled him to drive into Tom’s Focus as the pair braked for Brooklands. Knocked wide, Tom lost three places as a result and finished the race down in 6th place.