Plato win takes title decider to finale

The 2001 champion was outsprinted by Tom Chilton off the line and sat on the tail of the Arena Ford Focus until two laps from the end, when the RML Chevrolet driver nudged his rival slightly wide at Druids and slipped by for his seventh win of the season.

Fabrizio Giovanardi, who had latched onto Plato at the start, then passed Chilton three corners later, making his move stick at Hawthorn Bend after previously being elbowed onto the grass exiting the preceding bend at Surtees.

Just as that was happening, Colin Turkington, who had latched onto the back of the five-car leading pack at half-distance, took his WSR BMW past Rob Collard's Motorbase-run version and at the very next corner he too got by Chilton to complete the podium behind his two title rivals.

With just one race to go, Turkington leads Giovanardi by four points with Plato a further four behind, meaning any one of them could still be crowned champion.

Collard came home fourth, followed by his team-mate Jonathan Adam, while Chilton dropped to sixth.

Paul O'Neill elbowed Matt Neal onto the grass at Druids while the pair battled with Turkington early in the race. The Tech-Speed Honda driver finished seventh, just one spot ahead of the recovering Vauxhall man, who set the fastest lap along the way.

Neal will start the final race from pole position on the reversed grid, meaning that the title contenders will be sixth, seventh and eighth for the start.

Tom Onslow-Cole made it a double helping of points for Arena in ninth, while Gordon Shedden recovered from his race one retirement to complete the points scorers.

Pos Driver                    Car                  Time/Gap
 1. Jason Plato               Chevrolet          30m24.717s
 2. Fabrizio Giovanardi       Vauxhall               +1.317
 3. Colin Turkington          BMW                    +1.486
 4. Rob Collard               BMW                    +1.981
 5. Jonathan Adam             BMW                    +2.338
 6. Tom Chilton               Ford                   +4.828
 7. Paul O'Neill              Honda                  +5.516
 8. Matt Neal                 Vauxhall               +6.004
 9. Tom Onslow-Cole           Ford                  +15.305
10. Gordon Shedden            SEAT                  +15.525
11. Stephen Jelley            BMW                   +15.636
12. Mat Jackson               Chevrolet             +15.830
13. Harry Vaulkhard           Chevrolet             +16.245
14. David Pinkney             Honda                 +18.355
15. John George               Honda                  +1 lap
16. Andrew Jordan             Vauxhall               +1 lap

Retirements

    Johnny Herbert            Honda                 15 laps
    Anthony Reid              BMW                   13 laps
    Matthew Hamilton          Honda                  0 laps
    Martyn Bell               Honda                  0 laps