Plato takes title with another win
Jason Plato sealed the British Touring Car Championship with a lights-to-flag victory in the penultimate race of the season at Brands Hatch
The Chevrolet driver led Matt Neal for the entirety of the race distance and eventually crossed the line 0.887 seconds ahead of the Honda to take his 60th career victory and equal Andy Rouse's all-time record.
Neal dropped to third off the line, but re-took second at Druids on the opening lap when he punted Alex MacDowall's Chevrolet off onto the grass.
After that he was able to run his own race and was followed home by Rob Collard's WSR BMW.
Paul O'Neill was a superb fourth in his Tech-Speed Honda while Tom Chilton held off a charging Steven Kane for sixth.
Chilton's result, coupled with a technically-induced retirement for his Arena Ford team-mate Tom Onslow-Cole, means that he trails his namesake by just two points in the independents' championship with one race to go.
Kane, who charged up from 11th at the end of the first lap, to sixth by the finish, is just six points behind Onslow-Cole himself.
Key to Kane's race was passing both his Motorbase BMW team-mate Mat Jackson and Tom Boardman's Special Tuning UK SEAT in one go on lap 14 after Jackson had helped his rival wide.
Andrew Jordan (Eurotech Vauxhall) finished seventh ahead of Jackson, James Nash (Triple 8 Vauxhall) and Andy Neate, who took his WSR BMW past Ben Collins' Motorbase example after the latter had helped off Boardman.
Pos Driver Ca Time 1. Jason Plato Chevrolet 22:11.749 2. Matt Neal Honda + 0.887 3. Rob Collard BMW + 4.783 4. Paul O'Neill Honda + 5.671 5. Tom Chilton Ford + 8.314 6. Steven Kane BMW + 9.485 7. Andrew Jordan Vauxhall + 16.022 8. Mat Jackson BMW + 16.333 9. James Nash Vauxhall + 16.848 10. Andy Neate BMW + 20.094 11. Sam Tordoff Vauxhall + 20.760 12. Ben Collins BMW + 21.876 13. Tom Boardman SEAT + 22.842 14. John George Honda + 36.110 15. Lea Wood Honda + 37.391 16. Arthur Forster BMW + 42.761 17. Shaun Hollamby Volkswagen + 43.973 Retirements: Driver Car Laps Gordon Shedden Honda 22 Tom Onslow-Cole Ford 13 Alex MacDowall Chevrolet 9 Martin Depper BMW 5 James Kaye Honda 0 Fastest lap: Rob Collard, 48.898
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