Chilton wins chaotic season finale
Tom Chilton took his first British Touring Car Championship victory for over three years in a chaotic final race of the season at Brands Hatch
The Team Halfords Honda driver led the pack into the pits as the race finished under the safety car due to oil that had been left on the track at Paddock Hill bend by Martyn Bell's Arkas Racing Vauxhall Astra.
The oil did cause havoc though before the safety car was deployed, with Tom Onslow-Cole sliding through the gravel in his Vauxhall and losing his second place to Steven Kane's Motorbase BMW.
Rob Collard, Fabrizio Giovanardi and Andrew Jordan were all affected by the oil as well, with Mat Jackson managing to pick his way through the mayhem to finish fourth for BMW Dealer Team UK and Colin Turkington doing likewise in his Team RAC BMW.
Jackson's result, combined with Jason Plato not scoring for SEAT, means that he has sneaked into second place in the overall championship at the season's end, although Turkington's finish right behind confirmed him as the Independent's champion for the second year in a row.
The race had earlier spent ten laps behind the safety car after John George and Darren Turner made contact going into Surtees on lap one - George's resultant collision with the tyre barrier launching his TH Motorsport Honda into a series of horrifying rolls from which he was lucky to walk away apparently unharmed.
Giovanardi finished 11th, ironically experiencing his worst weekend of the season on the day he was crowned as champion for the second time. Neither SEAT managed to score either on what was the Spanish manufacturer's BTCC swansong.
Pos Driver Team Gap 1. Tom Chilton Honda 24:47.517 2. Steven Kane BMW +0.727 3. Tom Onslow-Cole Vauxhall +1.166 4. Mat Jackson BMW +1.711 5. Colin Turkington BMW +2.475 6. Rob Collard BMW +3.201 7. Andrew Jordan Honda +3.968 8. Matt Neal Vauxhall +4.479 9. Gordon Shedden Honda +4.820 10. Mike Jordan Honda +5.713 11. Fabrizio Giovanardi Vauxhall +6.242 12. Darren Turner SEAT +6.720 13. Jason Plato SEAT +7.188 14. Harry Vaulkhard Chevrolet +7.639 15. Jason Hughes Honda +8.821 16. Alan Taylor Honda +23.788 Not classified Driver Car Laps Stephen Jelley BMW 23 laps Martyn Bell Vauxhall 22 laps Adam Jones SEAT 17 laps Erkut Kizilirmak Vauxhall 17 laps John George Honda 0 laps Fastest lap, Giovanardi 49:871 on lap 14
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments