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.