Oulton Park: O'Neill takes shock win!

The inexperienced driver, who is the brother of pop star Sporty Spice, inherited victory in his Egg Sport Vauxhall Astra, but drove maturely to a deserved win in only his fourth race in the top Touring class.

His team-mate Matt Neal led away from pole position and ran at the front of the field until the pitstops. But that's when it all went horribly wrong for him. He managed to stop at the Honda pit instead of his own!

"I've been with Team Dynamics for all these years and they dress in red," he explained sheepishly. "It wasn't until I saw 'Honda' on one of the pit crew's chest that I realised what I had done. Today I've learnt how to look a twat in front of a TV audience..."

Neal's incredible error handed the lead to sprint race winner Yvan Muller. The Frenchman was pushed hard by team-mate James Thompson, so much in fact that Muller radioed in to ask the team whether they should back off. But Thompson was keen to race on and it proved to be a decision that would cost them dear.

Thompson suddenly slowed with a puncture, and as he did so, he noticed Muller doing the same. An engine misfire was blamed and the pair dropped down the order, eventually finishing seventh and 10th respectively.

The demise of the factory Vauxhalls left O'Neill, who had qualified an excellent fourth, in the lead. He kept his head and held on until the flag.

The Liverpudlian was so overjoyed, he briefly ran off the track on his slowing down lap and wept openly as he brought his car back to the paddock. "It's unbelievable," he said. "Definitely the best day of my life."

Warren Hughes was looking for another second place to follow his earlier result. He had survived an assault up the back by a recovering Neal, which had left the Astra in the tyre wall. But the success ballast that the MG was now carrying was making life difficult.

Tim Harvey's Peugeot harried Hughes over the final laps, and the former champion finally got past at Lodge with a lap to go to take second place.

But later that night Hughes was handed back second place. Harvey was penalised 12 seconds because his Peugeot team only changed one wheel instead of two during the pit stop.

It meant that David Leslie's superb fourth for the new Proton team became a maiden podium for the Malaysian marque. Gareth Howell gave the new Atomic Kitten MG team a successful debut with fourth, ahead of Alan Morrison's Honda. Harvey was classified sixth.

Anthony Reid was ruing his luck after retiring with a broken plug lead on his engine. He reckoned a victory would have been on had the MG's reliability proved stronger.

Spencer Marsh claimed Production class honours after James Kaye's Honda expired with fuel pressure problems.

For Paul O'Neill Q&A, click here.

Paul O'Neill Vauxhall Astra 37m41.117s
Warren Hughes MG ZS +4.227s
David Leslie Proton Impian +9.544s
Gareth Howell MG ZS +16.664s
Alan Morrison Honda Civic Type-R +19.701s
Tim Harvey Peugeot 406 +28.381s
James Thompson Vauxhall Astra +30.198s
Aaron Slight Vauxhall Astra +33.990s
Tom Chilton Vauxhall Astra +42.203s
Yvan Muller Vauxhall Astra +1m00.415s

Spencer Marsh Honda Accord 38m01.838s
Jim Edwards Jr Honda Accord +9.457s
Norman Simon BMW 320i +0.132s