Matt Neal crowned champion as Tom Chilton wins season finale

Honda team-mate Gordon Shedden was the only driver who could beat Neal in the championship, but started the race one place and six points behind. Neal stayed ahead of Shedden at the start. He could not drop his team-mate, but nor could Shedden find a way by to get the extra points he needed.

Rob Austin's Audi caught the duo in the second half of the race. He made it safely past both, and Neal was able to finish eighth to secure the title, Shedden losing out to a combative Frank Wrathall (Dynojet Toyota) on the final lap.

Up at the front, the fast-starting Chilton had managed to grab the lead on the run to Copse, chased by outgoing champion Jason Plato. The Chevrolet Cruze ace kept the Arena Ford driver under pressure, but lacked the straightline speed to overtake.

Tom Boardman's Special Tuning Racing SEAT Leon ran strongly once again and was the fastest car on the track in the early stages as he made his way into third.

As his tyres faded, Boardman came under pressure from the Cruze of Alex MacDowal, who could nevertheless not find a way by.

A lonely Andrew Jordan was fifth in his Eurotech Vauxhall Vectra, while Austin completed the top six after pushing Tom Onslow-Cole (Arena Focus) out of the way at Luffield with just over a lap to go.

Neal's final tally is 257 points, beating Shedden by eight, while Plato finished third with 236. Mat Jackson and James Nash, who both made pit visits (Jackson for bodywork repair, Nash for a drive-through penalty), finished on 191 points but Jackson secures fourth by virtue of having more wins.


Pos  Driver                   Car                   Time
 1.  Tom Chilton              Ford            22m16.314s
 2   Jason Plato              Chevrolet           1.481s
 3   Tom Boardman             SEAT                2.489s
 4.  Alex MacDowall           Chevrolet           2.782s
 5.  Andrew Jordan            Vauxhall            5.600s
 6   Rob Austin               Audi               11.517s
 7.  Tom Onslow-Cole          Ford               12.585s
 8.  Matt Neal                Honda              13.023s
 9.  Frank Wrathall           Toyota             13.439s
10.  Gordon Shedden           Honda              13.799s
11.  Ollie Jackson            Vauxhall           17.119s
12.  Paul O'Neill             Chevrolet          23.662s
13.  Liam Griffin             Ford               23.927s
14.  Daniel Welch             Proton             25.737s
15   Martin Byford            Volkswagen         31.866s
16   Nick Foster              BMW                31.902s
17.  James Nash               Vauxhall           32.975s
18   James Thompson           Ford               34.363s
19   Tony Gilham              BMW                36.603s
20.  Lea Wood                 Honda              36.984s
21.  Mat Jackson              Ford               42.762s
22.  John George              Chevrolet          47.502s
23.  Rob Collard              BMW                + 1 lap
24.  Chris James              Chevrolet          + 1 lap
25.  Jeff Smith               Vauxhall           + 1 lap

Retirements:

     Chris Swanwick           Audi                8 laps
     Tony Hughes              Toyota              2 laps
     Dave Newsham             SEAT                2 laps
     Andy Neate               Ford                2 laps