Onslow-Cole earns Donington victory
Tom Onslow-Cole took his fourth British Touring Car Championship win of the year in a scintillating second race at Donington Park
In what was the best race of the season so far, Onslow-Cole took second place from Mat Jackson's Motorbase BMW at the chicane on lap five and then repeated the move to grab the lead from Gordon Shedden's Honda five laps later.
After that the Arena Ford driver pulled out a lead of almost a second and held it to the finish. It was a result that moved him into equal second in the championship with Shedden and 15 points off series leader Jason Plato.
The results mean that the championship cannot be decided in the third race of the day, and will roll on to Brands Hatch in October.
Plato's was the drive of the race. The Chevrolet man started 19th after his earlier retirement, but was ninth by the end of lap two and kept on carving his way through the field.
He and his team-mate Alex MacDowall went either side of Steven Kane's Motorbase BMW at the chicane on lap five - handing Plato fifth.
He then got by both Jackson and Tom Chilton (Arena Ford) and closed onto the tail of Shedden by the finish - setting the fastest lap in the process.
Chilton took fourth ahead of Jackson and Kane. The Motorbase pair were involved in a late scrap with Rob Collard's WSR BMW. Collard went by both into the chicane on the last lap, but left his braking too late, slid across the gravel and dropped to seventh by the finish line.
Honda's Matt Neal was given a drive-through penalty for jumping the start, but took it at the end of the opening lap and was able to close back up on the tail of the pack when the safety car came out a lap later after David Pinkney spun off at Redgate.
He finished eighth, which will give him a front-row start for the reversed grid race alongside Andrew Jordan.
Pos Driver Car Time/Gap 1. Tom Onslow-Cole Ford 21m07.476s 2. Gordon Shedden Honda + 0.935s 3. Jason Plato Chevrolet + 1.542s 4. Tom Chilton Ford + 7.556s 5. Mat Jackson BMW + 10.236s 6. Steven Kane BMW + 10.978s 7. Rob Collard BMW + 11.047s 8. Matt Neal Honda + 12.115s 9. Andrew Jordan Vauxhall + 13.202s 10. James Nash Vauxhall + 13.549s 11. Alex MacDowall Chevrolet + 13.908s 12. Paul O'Neill Honda + 18.773s 13. Tom Boardman SEAT + 23.645s 14. James Kaye Honda + 25.597s 15. Andy Neate BMW + 30.150s 16. John George Honda + 30.710s 17. Lea Wood Honda + 31.587s 18. David Pinkney Vauxhall + 41.898s 19. Shaun Hollamby Volkswagen + 53.274s 20. Arthur Forster BMW + 1m07.580s Retirements: Martin Johnson Vauxhall 8 laps
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