Knockhill BTCC: Rob Collard prevails in dramatic opener

The rear-wheel-drive S2000 turbo outdragged poleman Jason Plato's NGTC MG6 at the start and was 1.6 seconds clear at the end of lap one.

Plato seemed to struggle in the early going and had to defend from Aron Smith's Motorbase Ford Focus, which was fast in a straightline.

On lap two, Smith tagged the MG at Clark's, firing a furious Plato into the barriers, and allowing WSR's Tom Onslow-Cole to snatch second.

With Plato's team-mate Andy Neate and Frank Wrathall (Dynojet Toyota Avensis) also off in separate incidents, the safety car was called.

At the restart, Collard and Onslow-Cole headed off into a race of their own, while Smith defended third from Paul O'Neill's Speedworks Toyota Avensis.

As the Focus struggled more and more, a large queue formed behind. By the end, the pack would comprise seven cars.

Just before two-thirds distance, O'Neill hit Smith at the hairpin, but lost momentum himself. That ultimately allowed Gordon Shedden's works Honda Civic to secure fourth into Butcher's.

For lap after lap, Shedden harried Smith, but the power of the Mountune-engined Focus kept him ahead.

Finally, at the last corner, Shedden hit Smith hard enough to get ahead, and reached the line just 0.011s before the Focus.

Challenging Smith across the line was team-mate Mat Jackson, who worked his way up to fifth from row five in Motorbase's NGTC Focus.

O'Neill took sixth, ahead of subdued reigning champion Matt Neal (works Honda), Nick Foster's WSR BMW and Andrew Jordan's Eurotech Civic.

Over 15 seconds ahead of that group, though, Collard had secured his second win of the year, having allowed Onslow-Cole ahead briefly to lead a lap.

Results - 27 laps:

Pos  Driver           Team/Car             Time/Gap
 1.  Rob Collard      WSR BMW            28m53.088s
 2.  Tom Onslow-Cole  WSR BMW              + 1.300s
 3.  Gordon Shedden   Honda               + 16.725s
 4.  Aron Smith       Motorbase Ford      + 16.736s
 5.  Mat Jackson      Motorbase Ford      + 16.909s
 6.  Paul O'Neill     Speedworks Toyota   + 18.017s
 7.  Matt Neal        Honda               + 18.507s
 8.  Nick Foster      WSR BMW             + 18.602s
 9.  Andrew Jordan    Eurotech Honda      + 19.139s
10.  Adam Morgan      Speedworks Toyota   + 21.589s
11.  Dave Newsham     ES Vauxhall         + 21.688s
12.  Daniel Welch     Welch Proton        + 34.503s
13.  Chris James      ES Vauxhall         + 55.584s
14.  Jeff Smith       Eurotech Honda       + 3 laps

Retirements:

     Robb Holland     Gilham Honda          17 laps
     Lea Wood         Wood Vauxhall         16 laps
     Jason Plato      MG                     2 laps
     Frank Wrathall   Dynojet Toyota          1 lap
     Andy Neate       MG                      1 lap