Knockhill Race One: Collard wins eBay Motors 1-2 in chaotic Knockhill opener

Rob Collard has won the first Dunlop MSA British Touring Car race of the day, in an eBay Motors 1-2 with Tom Onslow-Cole. The championship’s annual visit to the Knockhill Circuit in Scotland, didn’t disappoint in providing some action-packed racing…

     After a long hold of the lights, Rob Collard had a good start from second on the grid and was soon leading ahead of pole sitter Jason Plato. Aron Smith had also had a good start, and was holding on to his third place position. The Irishman would soon be putting Plato under pressure for second place.
     No one could stop Rob Collard, who was now 1.5 seconds into the lead after just one lap. Frank Wrathall, who achieved two third place finishes at the Scottish circuit in 2011, suddenly came to a crawl on track after an engine failure, resulting in the drivers surrounding him scrambling to find a way around. Andy Neate and Lea Wood collided in the incident, which resulted in Andy retiring from the race after steam poured from the bonnet of his MG6. Wood went on to retire on lap seventeen of the race with suspension damage. Slight contact between Chris James and Jeff Smith left the ES Racer in a spin, and Smith’s Pirtek Honda visiting the infield. However, both went on to complete the race.

Championship blow? Despite putting his KX Momentum MG on pole position
Jason Plato had a disastrous first race at Knockhill.

Neate’s team mate Jason Plato also lost out dramatically on the second lap, making it a race to forget for the KX Momentum Racing squad. After some slight contact between Plato and Aron Smith’s Redstone Racing Ford Focus entering Clark’s corner, Plato’s MG careered into the barriers resulting too in his retirement from the race. What would this incident do to his championship fight come the end of the day? Naturally, there was a lengthy safety car period required to clear the track of the stricken vehicles littering the circuit.
     The re-start saw Rob Collard leading to Tom Onslow-Cole, who’d managed to sneak through to second after the incident between Smith and Plato. Coincidently, Aron was still holding on to his third position, with Paul O’Neill running ahead of Scotsman Gordon Shedden in fourth.
     With the two BMW’s pulling away from the rest of the field, the focus was now on the building fight for third place. O’Neill was running well in fourth place for Speedworks Motorsport, and was building the pressure for Smith in third. Gordon Shedden, after having a disappointing qualifying, was also joining in the battle.
     A tap from O’Neill at the hairpin saw Smith put under huge pressure, not only from the Speedworks Toyota, but also a charging Gordon Shedden. Aron Smith held onto his third place, but O’Neill lost out to Shedden who took away fourth, with Mat Jackson in the NGTC Ford close behind in sixth.

Albeit getting into a couple of incidents on track, Redstone Racing's
Aron Smith had his most successful BTCC finish of fourth.
Picture Credit: Marc Waller.

BTCC newbie Robb Holland was running in fourteenth place in the Team HARD Honda Civic, with Snetterton race two winner Andrew Jordan dicing for position with eBay driver Nick Foster. Foster’s team mates Rob Collard and Tom Onslow-Cole were still out in front, with Tom Onslow-Cole closing in on Collard. With Onslow-Cole not having had a win in the championship for two years, a mistake from Collard would see him jump at the chance of taking the lead.
     Despite the difference in speed on the straights, Gordon Shedden was closing up to the Ford of Aron Smith through the Knockhill corners, but couldn’t quite get past for the last podium position. With the number of laps dwindling, would the opportunity to make a move come along before the end of the race?
     Tom Onslow-Cole was handed the lead on lap twenty three of the race in order to gain an extra point for leading the race, with Collard re-taking his much deserved lead after a handful of corners.

Stepping up to the mark: Paul O'Neill achieved Speedworks Motorsport best
ever finish of sixth.
Picture Credit: Marc Waller.

There were scuffles for position until the end of the race, with Mat Jackson peeping up the inside of Paul O’Neill for fifth place, but had to settle for sixth. Andrew Jordan lost his eighth place position to Nick Foster who made a move on the Pirtek Racing Honda Civic with a handful of laps left to race. The leading pair of Collard and Onslow-Cole were now had a huge lead of eleven seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Jackson squeezed through to take fifth place away from Paul O’Neill in the Toyota, with the battle for third place really beginning to heat up going into the final few turns.
     Rob Collard flew across the line to take the chequered flag in his first win since the season opener at Brands Hatch in April, closely followed by team mate Tom Onslow-Cole. A drag race across the line saw third place go to Gordon Shedden by one hundredths of a second, with Smith achieving his best ever BTCC finish of fourth. Paul O’Neill clung on to sixth place, giving Speedworks Motorsport their career-best finish in the Toyota Avensis.

Rob Collard celebrates his second victory of 2012 with
Tom Onslow-Cole making it an eBay Motors 1-2.
Picture Credit: Marc Waller.

After having to start from the back of the field after leaving the pit lane late, Dan Welch drove well in his Proton to finish in twelfth. After earlier track incidents, Chris James recovered to finish in thirteenth, with Jeff Smith three laps down in fourteenth after a pit stop. Robb Holland, although classified as finishing in a point scoring fifteenth place, had to retire his HARD Honda with a brake failure.

Final Results:

1. Rob Collard
2. Tom Onslow-Cole
3. Gordon Shedden
4. Aron Smith
5. Mat Jackson
6. Paul O'Neill
7. Matt Neal
8. Nick Foster
9. Andrew Jordan
10. Adam Morgan
11. Dave Newsham
12. Dan Welch
13. Chris James
14. Jeff Smith
15. Robb Holland

Fastest lap: Tom Onslow-Cole - Lap 15 - 53.230