A lights-to-flag victory by Tom Chilton in the second race at Donington Park this weekend was a fantastic way to end his 2004 British Touring Car Championship campaign

Qualifying

The half-hour session on Saturday afternoon started with a soaking wet track, but the rain had stopped. Tom and the Arena team had no choice but to go out on wet tyres first of all and set a time that would ensure they at least qualified. After the first few laps, Tom was third fastest, but he radioed in to the team with a suggestion to go to slicks. A brave gamble which very nearly came off as he explains:

"We knew from the practice sessions earlier in the day that the track would dry out during the session, but also that it was very difficult to get any heat into the tyres quickly. I took a bit of a risk and decided to go onto slicks very early in the session with the hope of building up enough heat in them to get a good lap time by the end of the half hour. Initially it was treacherous, I had no grip whatsoever and was very careful not to go off. The times were also quite slow to start with and I wondered whether I had made the right choice. Then with only a few minutes left, the tyres came on, the track dried and the lap times started to come down significantly. Starting my final lap I knew I had got it right - all the sector times were up, my exit speeds were way up and I thought I could take pole position. Then I got held up through the final chicane by a car that was coming into the pits and that was it. No more laps and my best lap had been ruined."

The data showed that Tom had lost at least 1.5 seconds - enough for the pole. Unfortunately several drivers had gone quicker than him on the wet tyres at the beginning of the session while Tom was cruising round on slicks building up some heat. He therefore ended up 10th fastest and would start the first race on the fifth row.

Round 28

From 10th, Tom and his Team Honda personnel were faced with a choice. Did they play the game for a 10th place finish and take advantage of the reverse grid for the second race?- a tactic that has worked well for SEAT driver Jason Plato this season. They decided to go for the best result possible to start with and see how the land lay after the first few laps.

Tom was boxed in at the start and found himself pushed to the outside through the first few corners. That dropped him to 11th at the end of the first lap and favoured the race strategy for a 10th-place finish. The vital place was gained on the next lap and the team radioed through to Tom to hold station. However, the race action ahead of Tom was frantic and moved up to seventh without really trying:

"After the first lap it was pretty obvious we should go for 10th, but I could see Shaun Watson-Smith was closing in on me so overtook James Kaye for ninth as he was holding me up a bit because I didn’t want Shaun to catch us. But then Matt Neal’s engine blew and that caused a bit of a bottleneck. Cars shot each side of Matt and I found myself down the inside of two cars going towards Redgate. I had to take the place. Then Luke Hines hit me and that knocked me off through the gravel trap at McLeans. I really didn’t know what position I was in until I came past the pits again. The team told me I had dropped to 13th and I was gutted. Apparently a few cars went off ahead of me on the last lap which was very fortunate and I finished the race in ninth place."

Tom’s ninth place finish would give him a great opportunity in the second race as he would start from the front row of the grid...

Round 29

As the lights changed, Tom got a good start but not as good as Yvan Muller from the second row. Rob Huff got away well from pole too, so Tom appeared to settle into third place as they turned into the first corner at Redgate. All was not as it looked though as Tom explained:

"I got off the line reasonably well but couldn’t get over to the right as Yvan had made a fantastic start and was blocking that move. I didn’t want to get pushed wide through the first corner or get boxed in so I actually braked very early for Redgate, I let Yvan and Rob fight for the lead going into the corner and then I got fantastic traction on the exit and managed to get down the inside of both of them on the run towards the Craner Curves."

Tom braved it out around the outside of the reigning champion through the awesome Craner Curves and held his nerve under braking into the Old Hairpin to emerge in the lead. It was a fantastic move and with Muller’s mirrors now full of Huff’s SEAT and Dan Eaves’ Honda, Tom was able to pull away. Over the first few laps he extended his lead little by little until he could relax:

"I could see Yvan dropping back as he was battling with the others so I just settled into a rhythm and tried to be as consistent as possible. It always seems to take forever for a race to end when you’re leading and every lap I looked at the pit board and the laps just weren’t going down fast enough for my liking!"

When Muller got clear of the pack, he did start to close in and the gap shrunk to under a second by the final lap. But Tom was always confident that he had the race under control:

"I knew Yvan was closing the gap but I had a little in reserve and on the last lap I pushed a bit harder just to make sure he wouldn’t attack me at the last corner. It was great to see the chequered flag though. That was a result the whole team really deserved."

So Tom claimed his second win of the season and deservedly mounted the top step of the podium after a dominant performance.

Round 30

The third and final race was always going to be a tough one for Tom, as although he would start from pole position, he would also have to cope with carrying an extra 42kgs of success ballast in his Honda Civic Type R.

A great start helped Tom hold second place through the first two corners, but that was as good as it would get. The additional weight meant he had to brake earlier at each corner and this inevitably let more cars through. So at the end of the first lap Tom was fifth:

"I was really surprised actually. I had expected it to be worse than that, but the car felt pretty good considering all the success ballast I was carrying. I could definitely live with Eaves in front and he was about 30kgs lighter. It would have been interesting in the closing stages as our Honda is very easy on it’s tyres."

Unfortunately Tom never got to find out how competitive he would be as following a very brief safety car period, he was knocked off by Matt Neal.

"Matt apparently said I closed the door on him, but that’s rubbish. I saw him coming and actually left some extra room for him. He was just way too ambitious, if he hadn’t have hit me he would have ended up at East Midlands Airport!"

Either way it effectively ended both their races. Matt retired to the pits with extensive damage and Tom ended up in the gravel trap. He did manage to get going again, but way down the field and out of the points.

A frustrating final race of the season, but Tom wasn’t too disappointed;

"I came here this weekend with two objectives: to take another win and to overtake Luke Hines in the championship. I achieved both those goals so I’m quite happy."

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