Tom secured three top five finishes at Donington, the second highest points tally of any driver over the weekend, but his Championship hopes have faded as it wasn’t quite enough to earn the Surrey youngster a chance of the title going into the final races at Brands Hatch in three weeks time……..

A best result of 2nd place in the opening race was backed up with 4th and 5th places later on and together with a point for pole position and for setting the fastest lap in race one, Tom closed the gap to the top of the points table, but there will not be enough points available at Brands to win the title.

There were still smiles from the Chilton and Team Aon camps though, with the chance of winning the Independent’s, Teams and Constructor’s Championships still up for grabs.

It had been a tough weekend with some hard fought races, the most recent TOCA restrictions really hurting his Ford Focus’s performance around the sweeping Donington track, but Tom battled hard especially when he had to carry the success ballast.

“Three points finishes for me today,” he commented, “But I had hoped for more after securing pole position yesterday. I struggled with the car on the brakes all day and so didn't gain as many points as we would have liked. That is the way it goes sometimes though, the BTCC is an ultra-competitive series and today proved that.”

As he mentioned, Tom had the pace to secure his 5th pole position of the season on Saturday, but it took a real team effort when conditions presented them with a difficult decision. As the rain started to fall with qualifying just minutes away, Tom and his engineer Greg Simmons had to change their tyre choice and strategy. It paid off. Tom was quickest in the slippery opening minutes, but as he pitted for fresh rubber the circuit got quicker and he dropped to 5th in the times. A great run on new tyres after a brief red flag session and Tom was back on top of the pile with a lap that no-one else could better. His team mate Tom Onslow-Cole came closest to make it a Team Aon Ford front row for Sunday’s first race.

Speaking on Saturday evening, Tom commented “I’ve got a lot of ground to make up tomorrow if I’m to stay in the hunt going to the final round at Brands Hatch next month but this is a great start. Ideally, I need to come out of the first corner tomorrow in the lead, look in my mirror and see the other four taking each other off into the gravel…”

In the first race on Sunday there were indeed plenty of cars in the gravel, but Tom kept out of trouble after a slow getaway had dropped him to 3rd place. Two safety car periods interrupted the action which Tom was never far from. Rubbing door handles with eventual race winner Gordon Shedden from the race’s early stages – right through to a final dash to the chequered flag. It was always close with the LPG powered Ford Focus having the pace to keep Shedden under pressure with Tom setting the fastest lap of the race early on.

Now carrying an increase in success ballast Tom started the second race better than the first, but still lost places on the opening laps. Having dropped to 5th after a brief safety car period his main protagonist this time was Mat Jackson in the BMW. A race long battle was settled in Tom’s favor when the Ford driver out-foxed Jackson and found a way past with just three laps remaining. He held on and another good points scoring finish was in the bag.

The final race produced an epic scrap for positions and again Tom was in the thick of it embroiled in a race long, three-way scrap for 4th place with Steven Kane and Shedden again. Tom got the better of Shedden’s Honda on the final corner of the final lap, but he couldn’t get back past Kane’s BMW so 5th place was the result at the flag.

There will still be plenty of racing and opportunities to end the season on a high at the last races of the year at Brands Hatch on Sunday 10th October.