Plato victorious in third Knockhill race

The Chevrolet driver battled past Arena Ford's Tom Onslow-Cole to secure the victory, while his title rival Matt Neal (Honda) narrowly failed to separate Onslow-Cole from second so had to settle for the final step on the podium.

Onslow-Cole and Plato were left debating the lead between themselves after a frenetic first couple of laps.

The Arena Ford driver got away in the lead, but was challenged by Mat Jackson's Motorbase BMW. The pair made contact heading into the chicane, putting Onslow-Cole off the track on the inside and Jackson in the gravel on the outside.

While Onslow-Cole retained the lead - ahead of third row starter Plato - there was more action behind as his team-mate Tom Chilton and Gordon Shedden made contact, Chilton being spun off a few yards further down the track.

Shedden spun off at the same point two laps later, his excursion leaving Andrew Jordan in a lonely third place.

After a prolonged mid-race safety car caused by both David Pinkney crashing and the rescue vehicle that had shifted his Vauxhall then getting stuck in the muddy run-off, Onslow-Cole and Plato resumed their battle.

Plato came close to passing the Ford with a better exit from the hairpin at the end of lap 19, but was rebuffed at the first corner. Four laps later, though, the move succeeded, and Plato was through into a lead he would not lose.

Onslow-Cole clung on to the Chevrolet's tail at first, before having to focus on resisting Neal - who had moved up to third as both Jordan and James Nash (Triple 8 Vauxhall) ran wide in separate incidents and fell down the order.

Paul O'Neill (Tech-Speed Honda) was thrilled to beat Jackson and Rob Collard (WSR BMW) to fourth, swapping places with the Motorbase car twice in the final few laps.

Plato's team-mate Alex MacDowall was seventh ahead of the delayed Jordan, Shedden and Chilton.

Pos  Driver           Car           Time/Gap
 1.  Jason Plato      Chevrolet   26m18.277s
 2.  Tom Onslow-Cole  Ford          + 1.675s
 3.  Matt Neal        Honda         + 1.994s
 4.  Paul O'Neill     Honda         + 4.935s
 5.  Mat Jackson      BMW           + 5.337s
 6.  Rob Collard      BMW           + 5.976s
 7.  Alex MacDowall   Chevrolet     + 7.037s
 8.  Andrew Jordan    Vauxhall      + 8.182s
 9.  Gordon Shedden   Honda         + 9.318s
10.  Tom Chilton      Ford         + 10.916s
11.  James Nash       Vauxhall     + 11.284s
12.  John George      Honda        + 13.301s
13.  Andy Neate       BMW          + 14.834s
14.  Jeff Smith       Vauxhall     + 20.922s
15.  Shaun Hollamby   Volkswagen   + 22.638s

Retirements:

     Tom Boardman     SEAT            9 laps
     David Pinkney    Vauxhall        8 laps
     Steven Kane      BMW             0 laps