Plato wins race one at Knockhill
Jason Plato claimed his second British Touring Car Championship victory of the year in the first of today's three races at Knockhill
The RML Chevrolet driver made an excellent getaway from pole position and, after escaping from Gordon Shedden's Clyde Valley Racing SEAT early on, was never headed as he claimed a lights-to-flag victory.
Shedden headed an intense battle for second that included the WSR BMW of Colin Turkington, the similar Motorbase cars of Rob Collard and Jonathan Adam, and Mat Jackson's RML Chevrolet.
Turkington slid wide exiting the chicane on lap 12, allowing Collard past, but as he tried to re-take third at Duffus Dip next time around, the pair made slight contact and sent the championship leader across the gravel trap - dropping him to seventh, even behind the Vauxhall of Matt Neal, which had caught the group.
Neal soon exited the fray though, as did Collard when the pair collided heavily at Clark Curve after Collard had a huge sideways moment exiting the chicane and Neal lost control on the grass as he attempted to find a piece of clear track.
Defending champion Fabrizio Giovanardi had a fine drive after starting 11th and attempted to rob Turkington of fourth at the hairpin on the final lap, but he failed and had a poor run out of the corner, allowing Adam to pass him for fifth on the run to the finish line.
Those results mean that Turkington increased his championship lead over Giovanardi from 17 points to 20.
Andrew Jordan (Vauxhall) finished seventh, but James Thompson, who had climbed up from 13th on the grid, lost eighth on the final lap as his Team Dynamics Honda ground to a halt entering the hairpin.
Stephen Jelley (WSR BMW), Paul O'Neill (Tech-Speed Honda) and Harry Vaulkhard (Bamboo Engineering Chevrolet) completed the top 10.
Pos Driver Car Time/Gap 1. Jason Plato Chevrolet 26m22.453s 2. Gordon Shedden SEAT +2.409s 3. Mat Jackson Chevrolet +2.873s 4. Colin Turkington BMW +3.385s 5. Jonathan Adam BMW +3.808s 6. Fabrizio Giovanardi Vauxhall +4.160s 7. Andrew Jordan Vauxhall +5.198s 8. Stephen Jelley BMW +7.932s 9. Paul O'Neill Honda +7.988s 10. Harry Vaulkhard Chevrolet +9.474s 11. Tom Chilton Ford +10.647s 12. Martin Johnson Vauxhall +19.253s 13. John George Honda +26.830s Retirements James Thompson Honda 26 laps David Pinkney Honda 19 laps Rob Collard BMW 14 laps Matt Neal Vauxhall 14 laps
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