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Onslow-Cole wins first Oulton race

Tom Onslow-Cole took his second British Touring Car Championship victory of the year in the opening race of the day at Oulton Park

The Arena Ford driver started from pole position and led the whole race, despite incessant pressure from Honda's Gordon Shedden.

Rob Collard moved his WSR BMW ahead of Jason Plato's Chevrolet into Old Hall on the second lap and latched onto Shedden's tail as the front three opened up a lead of a second on the rest.

Onslow-Cole, Shedden and Collard remained tied together throughout most the 17 laps, with Collard three times drawing alongside Shedden's Civic on the run out of the Island hairpin, only for the Scotsman to defend his position well.

Onslow-Cole, who was himself hit by Shedden at Island on lap 12, hung on to win by 0.348s. After inheriting a victory at Brands Hatch after on-the-road winner Tom Chilton was disqualified, this was his first 'proper' success since Thruxton in 2008.

Behind the front three, Plato held fourth for most of the race, but lost it when Mat Jackson hit him from behind at Cascades with three laps to go.

Plato skated across the grass and dropped to 10th in the process while Jackson's Motorbase BMW came home fourth.

Chilton (Arena Ford), Steven Kane (Motorbase BMW) and Alex MacDowall (Chevrolet) were next up, while Matt Neal's eighth place gave the Honda driver a two-point lead in the championship over Plato.

Paul O'Neill, who began the day fourth in the championship, did not start the race after a late gearbox change for his Tech-Speed Honda.

Andrew Jordan, who started last after an engine change forced him to miss qualifying, also retired with falling oil pressure. The Eurotech Vauxhall driver will miss the second race while the team replaces another engine.

Pos Driver               Team               Time/Gap
 1. Tom Onslow-Cole      Ford             26m23.471s
 2. Gordon Shedden       Honda                +0.348
 3. Rob Collard          BMW                  +1.173
 4. Mat Jackson          BMW                  +2.097
 5. Tom Chilton          Ford                 +2.862
 6. Steven Kane          BMW                  +3.464
 7. Alex MacDowall       Chevrolet            +5.120
 8. Matt Neal            Honda                +6.090
 9. James Nash           Vauxhall             +6.330
10. Jason Plato          Chevrolet           +11.629
11. Andy Neate           BMW                 +16.851
12. John George          Honda               +17.911
13. Lea Wood             Honda               +18.868
14. Martin Depper        BMW                 +19.025
15. Martin Johnson       Vauxhall            +40.585
16. Arthur Forster       BMW                 +41.072
17. Shaun Hollamby       Volkswagen          +6 laps

Not classified

    David Pinkney        Vauxhall            10 laps
    Andrew Jordan        Vauxhall             4 laps
    Matthew Hamilton     Honda                2 laps
    Tom Boardman         SEAT                  1 lap
    Paul O'Neill         Honda                0 laps

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