Eaves Wins Race One in Thruxton

Chilton had caused a major shock when he marked his return to the series with pole position in the Arena team's Honda, and he proved his qualifying pace was no fluke as he got away cleanly at the start to edge out Plato in the early stages.

Chilton appeared to have everything under control as he pulled out a slight lead over Plato but it all went wrong on lap seven when he picked up a front-left puncture and had to dive into the pits for a replacement tyre. He dropped down the order and eventually finished 10th.

That handed Plato the lead but almost immediately the former champion had his mirrors full of the hard-charging Eaves, who had been closing in steadily on the leaders after taking third place on lap four from Colin Turkington.

Plato tried his hardest to resist the challenge from the Team Halfords Honda but, after some pretty robust defensive driving, there was nothing he could do after Eaves got his nose inside at Church on lap 11 and was able to hold his ground on the run down to the chicane.

Despite a brief fight-back into the Complex, Eaves had little trouble in holding on to take victory by 1.5 seconds.

Eaves' team-mate Matt Neal overcame his qualifying troubles to take third place, but it came after a bit of contact to wrest the position from eventual fourth-placed finisher Turkington at the Complex on lap nine.

Neal's main title rival Yvan Muller could only manage sixth place, just behind Rob Collard, after troubles on the grid left him fighting through the field.

BTCC Race Result, Thruxton - Round Four

Pos Driver            Make                  Time
 1. Dan Eaves         Honda Integra         21:33.222
 2. Jason Plato       SEAT Toledo Cupra     21:34.805 +  1.583
 3. Matt Neal         Honda Integra         21:36.028 +  2.806
 4. Colin Turkington  Vauxhall Astra Sport  21:41.066 +  7.844
 5. Rob Collard       MG ZS                 21:49.838 + 16.616
 6. Yvan Muller       Vauxhall Astra Sport  21:52.507 + 19.285
 7. James Pickford    SEAT Toledo Cupra     21:53.502 + 20.280
 8. Luke Hines        SEAT Toledo Cupra     21:55.953 + 22.731
 9. Gavin Smith       Vauxhall Astra Sport  22:03.838 + 30.616
10. Tom Chilton       Honda Civic Type-R    22:10.458 + 37.236

Not Classified

    James Kaye        Honda Civic Type-R     5:43.517 D.N.F

Fastest Lap: Tom Chilton   1:18.658