Collard Breaks his Duck at Knockhill
Former Independent Champion Rob Collard broke his British Touring Car Championship duck with his maiden outright victory in the wet at Knockhill
Collard, who started second on the grid alongside pole-sitter Mark Proctor in the Vauxhall Astra Coupe, took the lead when Proctor overran the first corner, and thereafter Collard lead to the chequered flag. The victory was also Dick Bennetts' West Surrey Racing's first victory of 2005.
While Collard was the headline act in race three, the title battle also took a potentially decisive turn with Team Dynamics' Matt Neal taking second while rival Yvan Muller retired with an engine problem on his Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch.
Muller's engine problem became terminal on the run to Butchers on lap 17, and as Neal jinked round him he was hit by the SEAT of Jason Plato. While Neal just held onto his Integra, Plato then went off at the chicane when the third Integra of Gareth Howell, who had earlier spun on the straight after being hit by Plato, launched up the inside.
While Howell and Plato recovered to take fourth and fifth, Tom Chilton kept out of trouble in his Arena Motorsport Honda Civic Type-R to take a well-deserved third place.
The other Integra of Dan Eaves came back to sixth, ahead of Vauxhall's Colin Turkington, after making contact with James Kaye's independent Civic and spinning.
Proctor finished tenth, two laps down, after hitting problems in the closing stages, with the bio-ethanol Astra Coupe of Fiona Leggate bagging two points for ninth.
CLASSIFIED: Pos Driver Car Time 1. Rob Collard MG ZS 27:32.558 2. Matt Neal Honda Integra + 1.700 3. Tom Chilton Honda Civic Type-R + 6.580 4. Gareth Howell Honda Integra + 8.863 5. Jason Plato SEAT Toledo Cupra + 9.536 6. Dan Eaves Honda Integra + 12.511 7. Colin Turkington Vauxhall Astra + 22.094 8. Jason Hughes MG ZS + 33.865 9. Fiona Leggate Vauxhall Astra Coupe + 52.574 10. Mark Proctor Vauxhall Astra Coupe + 2 Laps NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS: Driver Car On Lap James Pickford SEAT Toledo Cupra 21 Yvan Muller Vauxhall Astra 18 Luke Hines SEAT Toledo Cupra 17 James Kaye Honda Civic Type-R 2 Gavin Smith Vauxhall Astra 0
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