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.