Plato wins again in race three

The result further strengthened the SEAT driver's championship lead as his title rival Fabrizio Giovanardi struggled to 11th.

Pole-starter Colin Turkington had led the opening lap, before Mike Jordan moved ahead on the exit of Redgate - a move that could attract controversy after the race as yellow flags were shown from Redgate to the Old Hairpin in the opening laps due to the amount of standing water on the track.

Turkington then began to drop down the order as the factory SEATs started pressuring Jordan.

Plato soon took second from teammate Darren Turner and then passed Jordan when the independent driver ran wide at the Old Hairpin at half-distance.

But the SEAT team were concerned that the pass might have taken place within the yellow flag zone and instructed Plato to relinquish the lead. He did so at Redgate three laps later, but was back in front by McLeans.

There was slight contact between the SEAT and the Honda as Plato went through, and this allowed Matt Neal to pounce on Jordan and take second at Coppice.

Plato then edged away in the remaining laps to beat Neal by 1.4 seconds, with Jordan fending off a crowd of cars to secure the last podium spot.

Mat Jackson made assertive progress through the order to take fourth, just ahead of Gordon Shedden, Turkington, Tom Chilton and Tom Onslow-Cole.

Turner fell to ninth after contact with Shedden sent him wide out of Redgate. Matt Allison completed the top ten.

Giovanardi had to grapple with non-functioning windscreen wipers again, and fell out of the top ten after a long trip across the grass. He eventually worked his way back on to the tail of the podium battle, but could only finish 11th.

Classified:

Pos  Driver               Car          Time
 1.  Jason Plato          SEAT         23:17.182
 2.  Matt Neal            Honda        +   1.489
 3.  Mike Jordan          Honda        +   8.626
 4.  Mat Jackson          BMW          +   9.574
 5.  Gordon Shedden       Honda        +  10.107
 6.  Colin Turkington     BMW          +  10.612
 7.  Tom Chilton          Vauxhall     +  11.397
 8.  Tom Onslow-Cole      BMW          +  11.626
 9.  Darren Turner        SEAT         +  13.332
10.  Matt Allison         SEAT         +  14.415
11.  Fabrizio Giovanardi  Vauxhall     +  15.322
12.  Tom Ferrier          SEAT         +  22.000
13.  Erkut Kizilirmak     Vauxhall     +  30.786
14.  David Pinkney        Alfa Romeo   +  38.242
15.  Jason Hughes         MG           +  43.539
16.  Chris Stockton       Lexus        +  51.833
17.  Richard Marsh        Alfa Romeo   +1:06.530
18.  Fiona Leggate        MG           +1:06.729
19.  John George          Honda        +   1 lap
20.  Martyn Bell          BMW          +   1 lap

Not classified:

     Driver               Car          Laps
     Adam Jones           SEAT         13
     Simon Blanckley      Honda        7
     Eoin Murray          Alfa Romeo   0