Jason Plato has taken a huge step towards the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship title with victory in Brands Hatch’s first race.
Plato, starting from pole position, led all the way and also set a new race lap record to earn a bonus point – despite his Chevrolet Cruze being laden with the maximum 45kgs of success ballast.
Notably, it is the 59th win of his BTCC career, putting him now just one shy of Andy Rouse's all-time record of 60.
Finishing second and third were Honda team-mates Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal in their Honda Civics. Neal had started from second on the grid but dropped to fourth away from the grid behind a fast-starting Shedden and Mat Jackson’s Airwaves BMW.
But Jackson spun mid-race and dropped to an eventual 13th, gifting Neal an easy third.
The result means Plato leads the championship by an extended margin of 25 points from Neal with Shedden a further two points behind. Plato only needs to be 18 points clear of Neal after race two to provisionally secure the crown…
But Plato said: "Let's not have any talk of the title yet. There's still a lot of hard work and a lot of racing to be done. All my energies were focused on the start and it paid off. I pushed to build a lead then saw Gordon was catching me a little bit so decided it was time to push again and demoralise him a bit."
But it’s all over for Tom Onslow-Cole – his Team Aon Ford Focus broke down, spelling an end to his title hopes. He continues to lead the Independent Drivers standings but by the reduced margin of 13 points from his team-mate Tom Chilton who has moved up to second ahead of Airwaves BMW’s Steven Kane. Jackson’s spin has cost him dear for it means he can no longer win the Independents title.
Race 1
1 2 Jason Plato Chevrolet Cruze 24 -- 49.021s 2 52 Gordon Shedden Honda Civic 24 +2.154s 49.149s 3 4 Matt Neal Honda Civic 24 +2.750s 49.259s 4 20 Alex MacDowall Chevrolet Cruze 24 +4.626s 49.468s 5 6 I Robert Collard BMW 320si E90 24 +4.886s 49.186s 6 29 I Paul O'Neill Honda Integra 24 +11.276s 49.385s 7 23 I Tom Chilton Ford Focus ST 24 +11.871s 49.546s 8 14 I James Nash Vauxhall Vectra 24 +13.002s 49.457s 9 77 I Andrew Jordan Vauxhall Vectra 24 +14.268s 49.589s 10 22 I Tom Boardman SEAT Leon 24 +16.139s 49.558s 11 11 I Steven Kane BMW 320si E90 24 +16.248s 49.533s 12 44 I Andy Neate BMW 320si E90 24 +16.789s 49.707s 13 5 I Mat Jackson BMW 320si E90 24 +19.903s 49.223s 14 12 I Ben Collins BMW 320si E90 24 +24.614s 49.753s 15 43 I Lea Wood Honda Integra 24 +27.637s 49.994s 16 46 I James Kaye Honda Integra 24 +28.734s 50.048s 17 16 I Sam Tordoff Vauxhall Vectra 24 +36.053s 49.790s 18 27 I Martin Johnson Vauxhall Astra Coupe 24 +42.227s 50.928s 19 28 I John George Honda Integra 24 +42.476s 50.685s 20 37 I Arthur Forster BMW 320si E90 24 +44.372s 50.128s 21 99 I Shaun Hollamby VW Golf MK5 23 +1 Lap 50.910s
Not Classified - 21 I Tom Onslow-Cole Ford Focus ST 8 +16 Laps 49.532s - 30 I Martin Depper BMW 320si E90 6 +18 Laps 50.679s
Qualifying
1 2 Jason Plato Chevrolet Cruze 48.647s 27 -- 88.70 2 4 Matt Neal Honda Civic 48.780s 23 +0.113s 88.45 3 52 Gordon Shedden Honda Civic 48.791s 29 +0.144s 88.43 4 20 Alex MacDowall Chevrolet Cruze 48.830s 27 +0.183s 88.36 5 23 I Tom Chilton Ford Focus ST 48.871s 27 +0.224s 88.29 6 5 I Mat Jackson BMW 320si E90 48.885s 24 +0.238s 88.26 7 14 I James Nash Vauxhall Vectra 48.902s 24 +0.255s 88.23 8 16 I Sam Tordoff Vauxhall Vectra 48.947s 27 +0.300s 88.15 9 29 I Paul O'Neill Honda Integra 49.100s 25 +0.453s 87.88 10 21 I Tom Onslow-Cole Ford Focus ST 49.110s 25 +0.463s 87.86 11 77 I Andrew Jordan Vauxhall Vectra 49.171s 24 +0.524s 87.75 12 22 I Tom Boardman SEAT Leon 49.173s 26 +0.526s 87.75 13 6 I Robert Collard BMW 320si E90 49.190s 29 +0.543s 87.72 14 11 I Steven Kane BMW 320si E90 49.249s 26 +0.602s 87.61 15 44 I Andy Neate BMW 320si E90 49.540s 25 +0.893s 87.10 16 37 I Arthur Forster BMW 320si E90 49.788s 24 +1.141s 86.66 17 43 I Lea Wood Honda Integra 49.841s 9 +1.194s 86.57 18 30 I Martin Depper BMW 320si E90 49.960s 24 +1.313s 86.37 19 27 I Martin Johnson Vauxhall Astra Coupe 50.010s 29 +1.363s 86.28 20 28 I John George Honda Integra 50.116s 22 +1.469s 86.10 21 99 I Shaun Hollamby VW Golf MK5 50.129s 28 +1.482s 86.07 22 12 I Ben Collins BMW 320si E90 -- 4 -- --
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