Jason Plato has won today’s first Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship race of 2011 at Brands Hatch to set a new series wins record.

Reigning champion Plato led every lap in his Silverline Chevrolet Cruze after Honda’s Matt Neal, who’d started from pole position, was pushed into a spin and out of the race after just two corners (see photo).

The victory is the 61st of Plato’s incredible career in the BTCC and it means, in terms of wins, he is now the most successful driver in the championship’s history – he’d gone into the race tied with Andy Rouse on 60.

Oxford’s Plato said: “It’s a really good way to start the season. I wasn’t expecting a win as we certainly don’t have Matt’s pace at the minute. Third was on my radar but I got a decent start and managed to block Andrew Jordan out so that was second. Then Matt made a tiny error and went wide at Paddock Hill Bend and I got the overlap on the run up to Druids Bend. I wasn’t home and dry but knew then I had a chance to win. Matt having a problem made it a lot easier.

“The wins record is a bonus but I’m not bored yet of the feeling I get from winning so I want to win a lot more before I’m done.”

James Nash finished a best-ever second in his 888 Racing with Collins Contractors Vauxhall Vectra while third, giving Team Aon’s new Global Ford Focus a podium result on its debut, was Tom Chilton.

Nash, who started fourth and set a new lap record, was delighted with second place – a position he held from Druids on the opening lap. At the finish he was just 0.709s behind Plato. The youngster from Newport Pagnell said: “There was a bit of a mess in front going into the corner which opened up the door for me very nicely so thanks very much!”

Closely following Chilton throughout for fourth was Mat Jackson in rival Ford team Airwaves Racing's Focus, while Plato's team-mate Alex MacDowall and Honda's Gordon Shedden completed the top six – the latter with the drive of the race having started back in 22nd and last following a heavy crash yesterday.

Elsewhere, there were points on their BTCC debuts for both Nash’s team-mate Tony Gilham and Dave Newsham in his Geoff Steel Racing BMW as they finished in eighth and tenth places respectively.

Just ahead of Gilham in seventh in the GoMobileUK.com with tech-speed's new Chevrolet Cruze was Paul O'Neill, while behind in ninth was the Pirtek Racing Vauxhall Vectra of Jeff Smith.

Smith’s team-mate Andrew Jordan, who started from second on the grid, finished 16th and a lap down after a troubled race. He lost places in a tangle with MacDowall at Druids Bend on the opening lap which led to the Chevrolet bumping Neal's Honda into a spin. Jordan then set about making up lost ground and had just passed MacDowall for fifth when he slowed with a left front puncture.

Tom Boardman had looked set to finish sixth but retired his Special Tuning Racing SEAT Leon with front-end damage after a clash with Shedden's Honda in the closing stages.

Of the other top names, Tom Onslow-Cole was 13th in his first outing in the AmD Milltek Racing.com team's VW Golf. Robert Collard was 17th, two laps down, after a pit stop to cure his wounded WSR BMW following a collision on the green flag lap with Airwaves rookie Liam Griffin's Focus. Griffin's car was too badly damaged in the impact to make the start.

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