James Nash takes his first BTCC win in the final race of the day at Rockingham..

Two times BTCC champion James Thompson did the honours in deciding which driver would be starting from pole on the reverse grid for the final race of the day at Rockingham.
     10^th place finisher Rob Collard was on pole, joined by Rob Austin in the Audi and Jeff Smith’s Vauxhall Vectra. With the clouds rolling in, and light rain in the air – what would race three bring in the hunt for the championship?
     Changing conditions saw the rain disperse and all drivers started the race on slicks. Team ES Racing’s Chris James was in the pit lane for the start of the race but later rejoined the track. Team Aon’s misfortunes continued too, as Andy Neate was not on the grid for the start of the race.
     A bad start for Smith saw him fall back out on track, whereas Rob Austin was flying and soon took the lead from Collard in the early stages. Paul O’Neill ran wide at the Deene hairpin and consequently lost track position despite getting back on to the circuit.
     Meanwhile, both Honda Racing drivers Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden were jostling for position, whilst Nick Foster made a move on stick on Jason Plato to move him up the grid. James Nash took second place from Rob Collard, getting a better exit out of the chicane, proving that the rear-wheeled drive BMW hadn’t got it’s tyres up to temperature in the opening laps.
    An incident free beginning of the race saw O’Neill jump to fourth ahead of Jeff Smith, whilst Plato was splitting the Hondas of Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal. Rob Austin proved to be the quickest man out on track, taking the fastest lap of the race so far on lap three. However, Triple 8’s Nash was catching the Audi, and soon took the lead from Austin at the chicane.
     In the middle of the pack, contact with Nick Foster resulted in Shedden going wide and losing track position, whilst Matt Neal took a place from Plato for much needed championship points. Amidst all of this, Wrathall took tenth place from Gordon Shedden in a feisty move in his NGTC Toyota Avensis – soon taking a place from Nick Foster for ninth.
      A miserable weekend for Team Aon saw Tom Onslow-Cole pit mid-way through the race, while his team-mate Chilton was battling in 17^th – the only Aon Ford out on track for the remaining laps of race tree.
     Jason Plato set the fastest lap time on lap five of the race, and was now making a move stick on Jeff Smith for fifth place. Up front, James Nash was still leading from Rob Austin, whilst at the tail end of the top ten Shedden and Foster were battling for position whilst Neal took 7^th from Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan.
    A further fight for Shedden saw MacDowall take 12^th place from the Scot, who was now struggling with the success ballast and added weight in his Honda Civic – who later in the lap lost another place to Airwaves Racing’s Mat Jackson.
    With O’Neill fighting Collard for third place in the latter stages of the race, the Audi of Rob Austin was also closing in on the Vauxhall of James Nash, the Pershore driver pushing hard for a first win for the NGTC engine. With Nash struggling on tyres, both Collard and O’Neill were also closing in on the leaders. Having lost the place momentarily, Collard took third back from Paul O’Neill, and looked at taking second from Rob Austin in the last lap.
     Nothing could stop the youngster, and James Nash went on to take his first long awaited win in the British Touring Car Championship, closely followed by Rob Austin –who took his first podium and Rob Collard in third. O’Neill finished in 4^th place in front of Silverline Chevrolet’s Jason Plato. Matt Neal went on to finish in 6^th, leaving team-mate Shedden all the way back in 21^st – having struggled in the latter stages with both tyres and ballast.
     Both Honda drivers Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden are both tied on points with 204 in the Championship hunt, with Jason Plato still in third with 180 – meaning the Silverline Chevrolet’s still not out of the running. A second horrid weekend for Mat Jackson sees him lying fourth in the championship with 159 points.
     The next event is in two weeks time at the Brands Hatch GP circuit in Kent. The fight for the title is definitely not over yet.

Shedden holds off Wrathall to take victory in Race Two...

After an incident packed start to the day, eyes were on Jason Plato, who now had success ballast on his Chevrolet, to see if he could hold off the now lighter Hondas of Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal.
     Another disappointment for Special Tuning’s Dave Newsham saw him fail to even make it to the grid. A problem on the out lap saw him abandon his SEAT on the side of the track. Rob Austin, who’d done a great job to battle back to seventh in the first race of day, missed the pit lane exit time and would be starting from the back of pack, where Andrew Jordan and Mat Jackson also lay after their race one calamities.
    A great start for Paul O’Neil saw him fighting with Jason Plato going into the Deene Hairpin, whereas third place man Frank Wrathall saw him lose a couple of the places on the opening lap. A spin for John George in the GoMobileUK Chevrolet also saw him lose places.
     Shedden, who had no extra success ballast, was starting to fight his way through the field, having started from sixth on the grid. With O’Neill defending his second place from Shedden, the Honda soon passed the Chevrolet into the second place and was now hounding down Jason Plato for the top spot.
    A disappointing first race for Team Aon saw Andy Neate now in ninth place, with team-mate Chilton battling down in eleventh. After his first race incidents, Tom Onslow-Cole was at the back of the field, but was starting to come through after his tyres had got up to temperature. Also at the back, Mat Jackson was struggling to overcome his woes for a second weekend in a row, and was now in 17^th.
     Meanwhile up front, Shedden had caught up with defending champion Jason Plato – and was looking to make a move for the lead. Having set a fastest lap, the Honda Racing driver took the lead from Plato, who was soon coming under pressure from Frank Wrathall in the orange and black Avensis. The young driver soon took second place from RML’s Plato and was closing to Honda Racing’s Shedden.
    Meanwhile in the middle of the pack, a fight was brewing between Andrew Jordan, Alex MacDowall, Tom Onslow-Cole and Mat Jackson for 11^th place, with Rob Austin joining in the mix too. Soon enough, Austin took 11^th place in his Audi from both Jackson and Jordan. Austin was soon to be battling with Silverline Chevrolet’s Alex MacDowall for track position too. A latter incident between to two saw MacDowall spinning on the circuit due to contact with Austin. Mat Jackson also suffered as a result – as the back door of his Ford Focus was now open.
     Airwaves driver Michael Caine was forced to pit mid way through the race due to power steering problems that he had talked about with ITV4’s Simon Hill on the grid before the start.
     Frank Wrathall was now starting to come up close and personal with Gordon Shedden, whilst Plato and Neal – who had a falling out in Saturday’s qualifying session – were now battling for third.
     Earlier contact for Tom Onslow-Cole saw his Global Focus with dragging back bumper, and was soon showed a black and orange flag by the pit wall. One lap later and Mat Jackson was too shown a black and orange flag for his back door.
     A dramatic incident from Andy Neate saw him spin across the field on the banking, but managed to save it before causing any incidents.
     The gap between leader Shedden and second place man Wrathall was now down to three tenths of a second, while Neal made a move on Jason Plato – who remained calm in his Chevrolet cock-pit to remain in fourth.
    WSR was having a good weekend, with Nick Foster who was fighting with James Nash for sixth place in the closing stages of the race, and went on to take fifth from GoMobileUK’s Paul O’Neill.
     A dramatic final lap for Shedden saw him coming under pressure from Wrathall, and went wide at Gracelands, managing to hold off the Avensis to take the chequered flag along with a fastest lap. The best result for an NGTC car saw Wrathall finish second in front of Honda Racing’s Matt Neal and Silverline Chevrolet’s Jason Plato. Mat Jackson finished the race in 20^th - a fifth race in succession out of points, putting pressure on his championship standings.
     Shedden now re-took the lead from team-mate Matt Neal by five points in the championship hunt, with Jason Plato now third and Mat Jackson trailing behind in fourth. Who would be leading come the end of the day?

Plato wins from pole in an incident packed Race One..

With a bumper line up of 26 drivers on the starting grid for the first race of the day at Rockingham Motor Speedway, the scene was set for an action packed weekend of racing.
     An engine failure for Lea Wood in Saturday qualifying resulted in the Central Group Racing Honda Integra wouldn’t be racing until Brands Hatch in two weeks time.
     A great start to the race for pole sitter Jason Plato saw him pull out an early lead from the squabbles that were occurring behind him. Rob Austin in the Audi was up to second in the opening lap in front of GoMobileUK driver Paul O’Neill, who was now battling with Matt Neal for third place.
     The first incident of the race saw Triple 8 driver James Nash pushed wide onto the grass, leading to some concertina braking between drivers, leaving several drivers to tap the back of each other on the opening laps. The main casualty of this incident was Mat Jackson, who had contact with Matt Neal and was left facing the wrong way round on the track. Another disappointing race in succession for the Henley in Arden driver saw him retire from the race due to front end damage.
      Slight contact between the leaders saw Rob Austin spin off the track, but luckily managed get back on track with no significant damage, although the Pershore racer was now trailing near the back of the field.
     Meanwhile, Martin Byford’s bonnet had lifted up, making it impossible for the AmD Miltek driver to see anything ahead of him, and was eventually passed by Jackson who was heading for the pits. Byford followed the Airwaves Ford into the pits and rejoined the race after mechanics and resolved the issue.
     Jeff Smith had landed the front wheels of his Vauxhall in the gravel – but manages to get himself back out and on track without help from the marshals.
     Andy Neate had got himself into an incident during the race, which led to the front end of his Global Ford Focus very misshaped. Meanwhile, team-mate Tom Chilton was fighting hard in the middle of the pack. A dramatic manoeuvre saw him miss his braking point at the Deene Hairpin and lose several places. Chilton said later in the day that his power steering had failed mid-way through the race, so the Ford would momentarily not steer at high speeds.
     Meanwhile, out in front, Plato was now leading by 1.8 seconds to Paul O’Neill, who had got his second place back from the Audi of Rob Austin. An incident for Pirtek racing’s Andrew Jordan saw him dive for the pits – damage to the steering rack led to him retiring from the race.
     Silverline Chevrolet’s Alex MacDowall was dicing with Team Aon driver Andy Neate for 10^th position on track. Heading onto the banking, it was clear that the Turbo charged Fords, despite carrying extra weight, still had an advantage over the naturally aspirated engine of the Chevrolet on long straights. Although before too long, both were involved in a huge spin that could have been a serious incident with the concrete wall if both had have made further contact with each other.
     The start of a disappointing weekend for Dave Newsham in the Special Tuning SEAT saw him in the gravel and out of the first race of the day. Meanwhile out in front, Plato had now extended his lead from O’Neill to 2.1 seconds. Championship leader Shedden was now lying in third and Frank Wrathall in the NGTC Toyota Avensis was now up to fourth.
     Contact with Team Aon’s Tom Onslow-Cole saw Rob Collard spin out into the gravel, resulting in the WSR driver to retire from the race. The safety car was brought out so that the BMW could be recovered safely by marshals. Damage to Onslow-Cole’s Ford saw him pit, however rejoined back onto the circuit under the safety car.
     Two laps later, the safety car was in and Race One at Rockingham was back under way, with a battle between James Nash and Wrathall for fourth place. Rob Collard’s team-mate Nick Foster was running well in seventh place, and nearly made a move on James Nash, after the Triple 8 race was passed by Honda Racing’s Matt Neal, who was in a desperate bid for championship points. Team-mate Gordon Shedden was now starting to struggle with the amount of ballast that was on his Honda Civic, whilst Jason Plato was still leading the race to Paul O’Neill by 2.3 seconds.
     Dynojet star Frank Wrathall was starting to come under pressure from Neal, who eventually took 4^th place on lap 16 of the race, meaning both Honda drivers were now lying third and fourth out on track. Before too long, Wrathall had taken the place back from Neal to split the Hondas, while Nick Foster came up to battle with Neal for fourth. Shedden however, lost both place to team-mate Neal and WSR’s Foster, as he was struggling with understeer and old tyres.
    A terrific move for Rob Austin in the latter stages saw him take seventh place from Tom Boardman – who had been given a six-place grid penalty as well as a fine and points on his licence following his race three incident with Plato at Knockhill. The Audi of Rob Austin had done well to recover from his earlier incident.
     Plato took the win from pole, closely followed by Paul O’Neill and Frank Wrathall who came home third ahead of Honda Racing’s Matt Neal. Championship leader Shedden limped home in sixth in front of Rob Austin in seventh.
     Michael Caine, who made his move this weekend to the BTCC from the Porsche Carrera Cup with Airwaves Racing, did well to take points in his first race, rounding out the top ten.
     In terms of the championship, Matt Neal overtakes Shedden for the top spot – the two drivers now separated in the title hunt by two points. Jason Plato had recovered after his disappointing weekend at Knockhill into third place. As the season starts to draw to a close - the championship title hunt is definitely not over yet.

Pole for Plato in another controversial BTCC Qualifying session..

Qualifying at the East Midlands Rockingham circuit got underway today with sunshine filled skies and a moderately dry track, despite the rain showers that had been coming and going throughout the morning.
     Despite the change in regulation over the two week break, the two NGTC drivers Frank Wrathall and Rob Austin were looking to continue with their free practise session success – in their fight for pole position.
     New regulations this weekend also sees the Turbo cars with a 20 kilo ballast added to their cars. For championship leader Gordon Shedden, qualifying with 45 kilos of ballast was going to be a challenge.
     A mixture of tyre choices at the start of the session saw many drivers go out on track to see how the tyres fared before setting any competitive lap times. WSR driver Rob Collard was first to set the pace with a 1 minute 33 second lap, before being taken off the top spot by Honda Racing’s Matt Neal, who crossed the line with a 1 minute 25 – with a slide along the way to prove that he was pushing his Honda to the edge.
     Team Aon racer Tom Onslow-Cole was the fastest man on track, putting in a 1 minute 24 second lap with twenty minutes of the session left to go. Meanwhile, Rob Austin and Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan improved to second and third respectively, pushing Neal down the order.
     With under twenty minutes of the session to go, no competitive lap time had yet been set by reigning champion Jason Plato, whilst Dynojet’s Frank Wrathall was flying as he came onto the time sheets second - five tenths quicker than Jordan. Rob Austin just piped Wrathall to second place, before both NGTC cars were separated by Triple 8 driver James Nash who’d set a time of 1 minute 24 seconds.
     Although being pushed down the order from second, Jason Plato put in a flying lap to be provisional pole whilst rival Neal was lying second.
     Tom Onslow-Cole improved his time to go 7^th on the grid – being the highest placed Team Aon driver so far in the session – before Martin Byford in the AmD Miltek Golf went ahead into 6^th with a 1 minute 24.5.
     An unbelievable lap from GoMobileUK’s Paul O’Neill, saw him be the first man to break into the 1 minute 23 second laps – taking provisional pole from Plato, before going wide on the infield to kick up some dust for his fellow competitors.
     Both Austin and Neal improved their lap times in the closing stages of qualifying, to be second and third respectively, whilst Plato was now down in fifth position – but on a flying lap in his Chevrolet Cruze.
     With Plato now in provisional pole for the second time in the session, O’Neill was still up in second place – and drama was about to take off at Rockingham. A move from Airwaves driver Liam Griffin saw him come into contact with the gravel, leaving bodywork and suspension damage to the front of his car. The session was red flagged with 3:32 minutes of the session remaining.
     It was going to be a fight to the finish in the remaining few minutes of Rockingham’s qualifying session. Airwaves Racing’s newest recruit out of the Porsche Carrera Cup, Michael Caine, was lying in 17^th place, whilst team mate Mat Jackson was in 9^th – putting behind his woes from the Knockhill.
     The session was re-started at 15:35, and there was a mad rush on track to get some decent lap times in before the chequered flag fell.
     Slight contact between Plato and Neal on the out lap, didn’t seem to effect performance as Plato looked to on another good lap to improve on previous best. But a lock up of brakes and a what seemed to be a lack of power put down on the straight, saw nearest rival Matt Neal hit the back of his Chevrolet, affecting his lap. Despite no noticeable damage, with fifteen seconds of the session remaining, Neal pitted whilst Jason went out for one last minute lap. No first sector improvements for Plato led to him aborting the lap to come into the pits.
     Elsewhere on track, no considerable improvements were being made – apart from WSR’s Nick Foster, who moved up to 11^th on the grid behind the Golf of Martin Byford.
     Plato remained pole in controversial style. A heated discussion between himself and Matt Neal after the session has  led to both incidents on and off track to be reported to the stewards for investigation.
     Joining the front row is GoMobileUK driver Paul O’Neill, who put in a superb lap time to finish second, ahead of NGTC driver Rob Austin in third.
      Championship leader will be starting from sixth on the grid in front of Frank Wrathall who finished the day in 7^th ahead of Andrew Jordan. A brilliant qualifying from the AmD Miltek team, sees the VW Golf start from 10^th on the grid in the hands of Byford.
     A disappointing day from Team Aon see’s Andy Neate starting 12th, Tom Onslow-Cole starting 13^th and Tom Chilton starting 14^th for tomorrow’s opening race.
    On his BTCC debut, Michael Caine in the Airwaves Ford will be starting from 19^th on the grid ahead of Dave Newsham in the SEAT.
     The action starts tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. on ITV4 and ITV4 HD. It looks set to be a very interesting day.

Qualifying;

1.      Jason Plato

2.      Paul O’Neill

3.      Rob Austin

4.      Matt Neal

5.      James Nash

6.      Gordon Shedden

7.      Frank Wrathall

8.      Andrew Jordan

9.      Mat Jackson

Martin Byford

Vettel storms to victory at the Italian Grand Prix

It was in 2008 when Sebastian Vettel came to everyone’s attention by winning his first ever Grand Prix for Toro Rosso. Three years to the day, and the young German has achieved his second Monza victory – giving Red Bull their first ever Italian Grand Prix win.
     Despite losing the lead in the opening stages of the race to Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who made a flying start from fourth on the grid, Vettel comfortably brought his Red Bull home ahead of McLaren driver Jenson Button and Spaniard Alonso.
     A chaotic start to the race saw HRT driver Tonio Luizzi slide sideways from the start-finish straight, heading directly for the first chicane and straight into the path of several drivers. The incident meant the safety car was brought out whilst marshals cleared the track of debris from the victims of the crash. These included Renault’s Vitaly Petrov, Jerome D’Ambrosio and Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg – who looked set to do well in the race with this choice of tyre strategy.
     A messy restart for Hamilton saw seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher take third from the McLaren driver – a battle that was set to continue for countless laps to come.
     Meanwhile, out in front, Vettel retook the lead from Fernando Alonso in a spectacular passing move through Lesmos.
     Red Bull’s luck however, wasn’t helping Mark Webber’s weekend. A move on Felipe Massa into the first corner saw the Ferrari driver in a spin and the front wing jammed underneath. Despite attempts to return to the pits, Webber lost steering and was headed for the barriers and eventual retirement from the race.
     The fight between Hamilton and Schumacher for third was heating up, and despite numerous attempts to pass the German, Lewis could not make the move stick on the much more experienced driver. The battle, however, was not over yet as McLaren team mate Jenson Button was about to join in the action. With Hamilton getting ever frustrated in his trademark yellow helmet, but not making any daring moves, Schumacher continued to defend his track position – despite messages from team principle Ross Brawn reminding him to give room on the circuit. The young Brit, however, was pushed wide whilst making a move, allowing team mate Button to take fourth place.
     Becoming re-known for his simply brilliant and sometimes breathtaking manoeuvres, Button then overtook the seven time champion in dramatic style, giving him third place in the race.
     One of the main disappointments during the race was that the Sauber team, whose drivers were running well in terms of grid position and strategy, had to retire both Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi due to transmission failure.
     Toro Rosso driver Jaime Algeursuari, who was disappointed at being knocked out in the early stages of qualifying on Saturday, was running extremely well and battling in the race for point scoring positions. Whilst Force India’s Paul Di Resta made his scheduled stop and initially rejoined ahead of Alguersuari, the Spanish driver made a brilliant overtaking manoeuvre under the power of his DRS into the first chicane.
      With Vettel still in the lead, it was the fight between for second between Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso that was starting to become exciting. With the Ferrari driver struggling for grip on his somewhat wearying tyres, it was Button who swept past Alonso to take second place.
     Another driver that was making good progress was Renault’s newest recruit Bruno Senna. In his second race with the Renault team after replacing Nick Heidfeld for the rest of the season, the Brazilian was battling for position that would give him his first championship points. A dramatic move on Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Buemi in the closing stages allowed him to reach the top ten drivers.
      But there was nothing that was going to stop the young German, taking his 8^th win of the season; Sebastian Vettel won the Italian Grand Prix, followed by McLaren’s Jenson Button and 3^rd place man Fernando Alonso. 4^th place went to Lewis Hamilton, who had recovered well after his duel with Schumacher – who gave Mercedes a strong points finish in fifth. Both the Toro Rosso’s had a good race, with both of their drivers in the top ten – a fine effort to overcome their qualifying woes.
     Bruno Senna came home in ninth, scoring his first points for the Renault team, behind Scotsman Paul Di Resta in tenth.
     Next time out – Singapore. The question to ask is – can Sebastian Vettel win his second world championship in as many years in the six races before the season finale in Brazil?

BTCC Knockhill: Race Three - Disaster for Plato as Tom Boardman takes his first BTCC win...

It wasn’t only the temperature that was heating up during the course of Knockhill race day, the action on track was about to take a dramatic turn...
     The reverse grid saw Chevrolet driver and reigning champion Jason Plato on pole position for Race Three, the question was – would he be able to hold off the competitors behind to make a decent lead in order to take the win?
     A slow start from Plato could have seen him come under pressure from Tom Boardman heading into the first corner, but too much wheelspin off the line from the Seat driver saw Plato keep the position.
    Further back, Paul O’Neill had to pit his Chevrolet with a mechanical failure, ending a bad weekend for the Go Mobile with sunshine.co.uk outlet. Team Aon driver Andy Neate was given a drive through penalty from the stewards for not correctly being in his grid box on the grid at the start of the race.
     Out in front, a storm was brewing between Tom Boardman and Jason Plato, as both were fighting for first position. Contact between the two drivers, left Jason Plato furious and his race in tatters as he ploughed into the tyre wall. For the third time in as many races, the safety car was forced to come out for two laps to clear the debris.
     The re-start after the safety car led to Tom Boardman slowing the field right down by the hairpin leading to the start/finish straight, leaving debuting driver Aron Smith with nowhere to go but into the back of his own teammate James Nash which led to heavy damage to Smith’s Vauxhall Vectra – bringing the safety car out for the second time.
     A famous race three move from Mat Jackson saw him pass the battling Tom Onslow-Cole and Andrew Jordan for seventh place in what looked to be a much more positive race for the Motorbase Airwaves team. But the luck was not to last, as Jackson hit the back of Tom Chilton’s Ford Focus, leading him to retire for the third time.
     Boardman went on to take his first win of his BTCC career with Rob Collard finishing close behind in a strong second for the WSR team. Frank Wrathall drove another good race to give him his second podium position of the weekend.

BTCC Knockhill: Race Two - Shedden takes a home win with a Honda 1-2

It was Scotland’s own Gordon Shedden who came home to take the win during Race Two at Knockhill circuit, winning just ahead of team mate Matt Neal in second.
    A quiet start to the race saw everyone get off the line fairly cleanly, and also saw Alex MacDowall run off the circuit in his Chevrolet but managed to hold it together and rejoin the circuit, despite losing grid position.
     Mat Jackson’s luck looked to be improving after a disappointing first race, as he set the fastest lap early on in the race, only to be fraught with a broken splitter and significant damage to the front of the race, forcing the Airwaves driver to retire once again, losing more valuable championship points in the process.
     It was also another disappointing race for the AmD Miltek crew, when Martin Byford went off on the circuit backwards into barriers leading to the safety car being brought out for the second race in succession.
     After the re-start, Tom Chilton was coming under pressure from Honda Racing’s Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden who were lying in second and third. The Team Aon driver was clearly struggling with the 45 kilos of ballast on his Global Ford Focus, and eventually lost the lead and further places to Neal, Shedden and now third place man Frank Wrathall in the Dynojet Toyota Avensis.
     Scotland’s Shedden took the lead from team mate Matt Neal during the closing stages of the race, and went on to win the second race of the day in a 1-2 result for Honda, building up their lead in the championship.
     Frank Wrathall scored himself and his NGTC spec Toyota a first ever podium in third position, giving the team some positive points, behind Tom Chilton, Rob Collard, Tom Boardman and Jason Plato.
     Tom Onslow-Cole finished in 11^th place having started from the back following his heavy impact with the tyre wall in race one. After race two Shedden was now leading the championship standings with 176 points.

BTCC Knockhill: Race One - Chilton takes Team Aon's first win of the season.

Amidst the sunshine of the Knockhill circuit in Scotland, it was all eyes on pole sitter Tom Chilton, to see if the Global Ford Focus had what it took to give Team Aon their first win of the season.
     With Matt Neal sitting in second, although suffering from a broken metatarsal in his hand, and Dynojet driver Frank Wrathall in third, Chilton was under pressure to make sure he made the perfect start off the line.
     A somewhat clean start from the whole field saw fourth place man Rob Austin gain a place from Wrathall who went wide on the first lap, cutting back across the pack just ahead of Jason Plato lying in sixth.
    Honda Racing and Scotland’s own Gordon Shedden was flying around his home circuit and by lap two was in third place behind team mate Matt Neal, who’s broken hand didn’t seem to be hindering his performance behind the wheel.
     Whilst Team Aon’s Chilton was making steady progress in the lead, it was his team mate Tom Onslow-Cole that was causing a stir. A tangle with the Audi of Rob Austin, saw both drivers out of the race – both sustaining heavy damage in the process. This incident brought out the safety car which remained out for 6 laps.
   Mat Jackson, championship leader entering this weekend – had a huge lock-up during the closing laps caused by a possible puncture, which saw him go straight off the circuit. Although reversing back on to the grid, the Airwaves driver lost valuable points and ended up retiring from the race. Other non-finishers of the race were Dan Welch in the Proton and Martin Byford in the AmD Miltek Golf.
     Chilton went on to comfortably win the race 6.3 seconds ahead of the two Honda Racing drivers who came home second and third. Aron Smith, who was making his debut in the British Touring Car Championship from the Renault Clio’s with Triple 8 Vauxhall Vectra, finished in a point scoring tenth place in his opening race.
     The results of this race now meant that team mates Neal and Shedden were now tied on points in the championship meaning that everything was all still to play for.

First ever post!

Hello citizens of the Internet!
Welcome to my Blog! I hope you enjoy my reports and general motor sport stories and news.

I wanted somewhere where I could place my reports - and this seems like the perfect place!
I hope you enjoy them :)

I'll start off with some posts from Round 7 of the BTCC that took place last weekend at Knockhill in Scotland.