Plato wins and takes points lead

From second on the grid Plato grabbed the lead going into the first corner as his pole-sitting Chevrolet team-mate Alex MacDowall slowed to a crawl with a broken gear lever.

He then sustained relentless pressure from Mat Jackson's Motorbase BMW for the first half of the race, and then pulled away from his rival to win by 1.8 seconds.

Tom Chilton dropped behind the Hondas of Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal on the opening lap, but recovered fourth from the latter on the second tour.

It took him until lap seven to then re-take third from Shedden, but he managed it by sweeping around the outside of the Civic at The Esses.

While Chilton and Shedden took easy third and fourth spots, Neal became involved in a hectic battle for fifth with Andrew Jordan's Eurotech Vauxhall.

The pair pushed each other wide at The Esses at mid-distance, allowing James Nash to pass both in his Triple 8 Vauxhall, and Tom Onslow-Cole, who started last in his Arena Ford, then also got by the pair.

Onslow-Cole's battle with Neal was spectacular, if brief. He nosed inside the two-time series champion at Riches, but ran wide, allowing the Honda - with the aid of a biff in the door - back past. The place was the Ford's two corners later, though.

Things got worse for Neal. After clipping the foam barrier positioned next to the inside kerb at Russell, he suffered a left-front puncture. He was not classified as a finisher, meaning he is now nine points behind Plato in the championship battle.

His misfortune meant that Steven Kane (Motorbase BMW), Tom Boardman (Special Tuning UK SEAT), Jordan and Rob Collard (WSR BMW) completed the top 10.