Neal wins as Plato hits trouble in opening Silverstone race
Matt Neal has moved a step closer to the 2011 British Touring Car Championship with victory in race one at Silverstone today as title rival Jason Plato was hobbled by a puncture
Neal's Honda Civic led from pole as Liam Griffin and Rob Austin touched, causing Austin's Audi to spin across the track and hit Ollie Jackson's Triple Eight Vauxhall Vectra. Tony Gilham's new turbocharged Geoff Steel BMW was also involved and, with cars littering the track, the safety car was scrambled.
Neal and the chasing Mat Jackson (Motorbase Ford Focus) made good restarts, pulling a small gap over the second Honda of Gordon Shedden.
Shedden closed on the battling lead duo and shadowed them as Jackson probed for a way by Neal. The Ford could find no chink in Neal's armour and Jackson was denied a well-deserved podium when he suffered a right-front puncture with less than three laps to go.
That not only handed Honda a one-two, but also meant James Nash secured the Independents crown in third overall. The Triple Eight driver had run fourth for much of the race, under pressure from Tom Chilton until the Arena Ford driver was handed a drive-through penalty for not respecting the track limits.
Plato had been in the battle behind and was under pressure from the Arena cars of Andy Neate and Tom Onslow-Cole when he slowed with a left-front puncture before half-distance.
Onslow-Cole then overtook his team-mate to secure a fine fourth from 11th on the grid.
Alex MacDowall was the top normally aspirated runner in fifth, just ahead of Dave Newsham (Special Tuning Racing SEAT Leon) and Andrew Jordan's Eurotech Vectra. Despite clashing, the duo came through well from 13th and 12th respectively on the grid.
Plato's non-score means that he is now 22 points behind leader Matt Neal with only 34 left on offer. Shedden is the only other driver in with a chance, 10 points behind Neal.
Pos Driver Car Time
1. Matt Neal Honda 26m36.253s
2. Gordon Shedden Honda + 0.206
3. James Nash Vauxhall + 3.818
4. Tom Onslow-Cole Ford + 7.078
5. Alex MacDowall Chevrolet + 10.282
6. Dave Newsham SEAT + 11.335
7. Andrew Jordan Vauxhall + 13.525
8. Rob Collard BMW + 16.333
9. Andy Neate Ford + 16.581
10. Frank Wrathall Toyota + 16.601
11. Daniel Welch Proton + 21.391
12. Tom Chilton Ford + 23.151
13. Nick Foster BMW + 24.045
14. John George Chevrolet + 33.407
15. Liam Griffin Ford + 33.564
16. Ollie Jackson Vauxhall + 33.772
17. Jeff Smith Vauxhall + 50.020
18. Lea Wood Honda + 51.063
19. Tony Hughes Toyota + 53.943
20. Mat Jackson Ford + 54.500
21. Chris James Chevrolet + 1 Lap
22. Chris Swanwick Audi + 2 Laps
Retirements:
Driver Car Laps
Tom Boardman SEAT 20
Martin Byford Volkswagen 20
Jason Plato Chevrolet 19
Paul O'Neill Chevrolet 16
James Thompson Ford 2
Rob Austin Audi 0
Tony Gilham BMW 0
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