Feature race: Yvan takes champ lead

Muller took over the lead from James Thompson after the Yorkshireman was delayed in the pit stops, by a sticking front wheel, and maintained his concentration through a series of safety car periods to win from Plato and Thompson.

Phil Bennett was in the news again after a series of incidents. "Bennett's a complete and utter dipstick," said 1992 champion Tim Harvey, who reckoned he'd seen the Midlander involved in five separate incidents including two with himself. Also on the Bennett contact list were Peugeot's Steve Soper, Lexus driver Thomas Erdos and Tom Ferrier in the second Alfa.

Bennett eventually sailed off the road at Tower (prompting one of the three safety car interludes), which pushed the race time over the hour.

Thompson had led the early laps from pole position, pursued by Muller, Bennett and Plato. Bennett held onto third place until he was the first to make his pit stop. A safety car period to recover Gavin Pyper's Alfa 156, which was stranded on the exit of Tower, followed and when the safety car pulled off the mayhem began...

Bennett ran wide out of the chicane and Steve Soper pounced to move ahead into Tower. As the pair returned to the complex, Bennett pushed Soper off at the right-handed element and the pair ran wide. Thomas Erdos immediately nipped through as Bennett and Soper clashed again. "It wasn't retaliation," insisted Soper, "it was just a concertina."

The heavy damage to Soper's 406 backed the veteran's view, but that wasn't the end of it. On the way out of the hairpin Bennett and Ferrier clashed, then when Bennett again ran wide at the chicane Harvey moved past, getting a clip from Bennett for his troubles. It was all over at the next corner, Tower, as Bennett tried to re-take the place from Harvey and simply sailed straight on.

Bennett has had his licence endorsed with six points and will not be allowed to contest the sprint race at Oulton Park.

As the Bennett drama was unfolding, Plato made a move on Thompson at Tower to take second place. Thompson had thought he'd picked up a puncture and so didn't fight too hard, but he proved to be mistaken and though he again challenged Plato later in the race, broken wipers put paid to any serious challenge and Thompson was a disappointed third.

Erdos held onto fourth in another fine performance not helped by a broken brake bias system which did not allow him to wind bias to the rear to suit the wet conditions. Soper retired his Peugeot when temperatures rose thanks to the damage incurred in the Bennett shunt. "A shame. Because I was quite enjoying the conditions," said Soper.

Ferrier too missed out on a good result when a driveshaft pulled out with four laps to go - possibly a result of his clash with Bennett. Ferrier had been shadowing Erdos in a strong fifth place. Harvey had already retired with a suspected oil leak, so Dan Eaves was fifth, and last in BTCT, complaining of: "understeer, understeer, understeer and more understeer."

Jim Edwards bagged a first BTCP win in the TCR Honda Accord, thanks in no small part to a well-judged tyre choice. Whereas the BTCT drivers knew as they started the race on a track which was just starting to get fully wet, that they had the option to switch tyres at the pit stops, the BTCP runners had to guess right to be in with a chance. Most of the normal frontrunners gambled on slicks, but Edwards and Mark Lemmer opted for wets from the start - the right choice.

Lemmer led much of the way, but his Synchro Motorsport Accord was misting up and it got worse under the safety car. Eventually Lemmer was passed by Edwards and headed for the pits for a screen clean. He came out again, but shortly after he was awarded a stop-go penalty for speeding in the pits and soon after ploughed off at Tower. "It was the classic scenario of thinking the race was over and there was nothing more to concentrate on," said Lemmer. "I was wrong."

Edwards still had to fight for his win. Wrestling with the car in the conditions - "I was so far sideways I could feel the wind coming through my open window," he said - and then having to fend off the challenge of Mat Jackson's Ford Focus in a frantic final two laps which saw them side-by-side and swapping the lead twice before Edwards got the upper hand.

Gareth Howell was third in his Focus after running second ahead of Jackson until he suffered: "a touch of the Colin McRaes." Both Howell and Jackson had started from the pitlane after opting to ditch slicks for wets after the first of two green flag laps.

Title battlers James Kaye and Simon Harrison both ran slicks and had to pit to change them. Kaye finished two places ahead, to ease ahead in the points again.

Yvan Muller (Vauxhall) 1h04m53.252s/ 35 laps
Jason Plato (Vauxhall) 1h04m55.345s
James Thompson (Vauxhall) 1h04m56.430s
Thomas Erdos (Lexus) 1h05m01.846s
Dan Eaves (Peugeot) 1h05m10.751s
Jim Edwards Jnr (Honda P) 1h05m30.340s
Mat Jackson (Ford P) 1h05m32.491s
Gareth Howell (Ford P) 1h05m34.593s
Richard Meins (Ford P)1h05m40.577s
James Kaye (Honda P) 34 laps

Drivers' points
Touring: 1 Yvan Muller 235pts; 2 Jason Plato 232; 3 James Thompson 211; 4 Phil Bennett 116; 5 Steve Soper 81; 6 Dan Eaves 64.
BF Goodrich BTCP: 1 James Kaye 155pts; 2 Simon Harrison 151; 3 Roger Moen 133; 4 Mat Jackson 117; 5 Gareth Howell 102; 6 Gavin Pyper 74.