Tom Chilton gives new Ford Focus its first victory in Knockhill British Touring Car race

Chilton led from pole in his Arena Motorsport Focus and immediately started edging away from Matt Neal's Honda Civic.

Neal's team-mate Gordon Shedden started fifth, but nudged Frank Wrathall's Dynojet Toyota Avensis out of the way on the first lap and then overcame the Audi of Rob Austin at Clark's the next time round to move into third.

He then closed on Neal, but - despite a safety car period caused when Austin and Tom Onslow-Cole (Arena Ford) clashed - could not find a way by.

Not only did the all-Honda fight allow Chilton to build a sizeable advantage, ultimately winning by over six seconds, it also helped those behind to catch up.

Wrathall therefore finished a close fourth, just ahead of the WSR BMW of Rob Collard. The rear-wheel-drive machine was the fastest car in the closing stages and fought past Jason Plato's Chevrolet Cruze out of Scotsman with just over five laps to go.

He then tried the same move on championship leader Mat Jackson's Motorbase Focus as they fought for fifth. Contact was made, resulting in a front-right puncture and a costly off for Jackson at the hairpin.

Collard survived to complete the top five, finishing clear of James Nash, who forged his Triple Eight Vauxhall Vectra up from 12th to sixth.

Plato came home a distant seventh, ahead of Tom Boardman's Special Tuning Racing SEAT Leon and Andrew Jordan's Eurotech/Pirtek Vectra.

Nash's new team-mate Aron Smith held off a charging Nick Foster (WSR BMW) on the run to the line to take a point on his BTCC debut.

Results - 27 laps:

Pos  Driver           Team/Car                Time/Gap
 1.  Tom Chilton      Arena Ford            27m02.441s
 2.  Matt Neal        Honda                   + 6.341s
 3.  Gordon Shedden   Honda                   + 6.937s
 4.  Frank Wrathall   Dynojet Toyota          + 7.281s
 5.  Rob Collard      WSR BMW                 + 8.278s
 6.  James Nash       Triple 8 Vauxhall      + 12.043s
 7.  Jason Plato      Chevrolet              + 13.925s
 8.  Tom Boardman     Special Tuning SEAT    + 15.431s
 9.  Andrew Jordan    Eurotech Vauxhall      + 15.952s
10.  Aron Smith       Triple 8 Vauxhall      + 19.306s
11.  Nick Foster      WSR BMW                + 19.491s
12.  Alex MacDowall   Chevrolet              + 20.296s
13.  Paul O'Neill     Tech-Speed Chevrolet   + 20.315s
14.  Andy Neate       Arena Ford             + 22.343s
15.  Dave Newsham     Special Tuning SEAT    + 25.640s
16.  Jeff Smith       Eurotech Vauxhall      + 26.507s
17.  John George      Tech-Speed Chevrolet   + 29.882s
18.  Chris James      ES Chevrolet           + 55.350s
19.  Mat Jackson      Motorbase Ford           + 1 lap

Retirements:

     Martin Byford    AmD Volkswagen           17 laps
     Daniel Welch     Welch Proton             13 laps
     Rob Austin       Rob Austin Audi           6 laps
     Tom Onslow-Cole  Arena Ford                6 laps
     Liam Griffin     Motorbase Ford            3 laps