Onslow-Cole gets win in race three

Date published : 22 Aug 2010 - 17:10:13

Tom Onslow-Cole won the final British Touring Car Championship race of the day at Silverstone to move himself into title contention.After an early safety car period Onslow-Cole spent two laps behind the Tech-Speed Honda of Paul O'Neill, which had started from pole on the reversed grid.But once he was able to utilise the straightline speed advantage of his LPG-engined Focus, Onslow-Cole pulled alongside his rival on the start/finish straight and completed the move at Copse.While he pulled away to a 2.5-second victory, his team-mate Tom Chilton, who had been gifted wins in the first two races, could not pass O'Neill, who equalled Tech-Speed's best BTCC finish with second. Chilton was then passed for third by Mat Jackson with four laps to go, the Motorbase BMW driver hitting the rear of Chilton's car at Brooklands and costing it three spots.Jackson completed the podium ahead of the Hondas of Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden, and Chilton.Steven Kane (Motorbase) and James Nash (Triple 8 Vauxhall) were next up, the pair being promoted when the former banged doors with Andrew Jordan, causing the Eurotech Vauxhall to spin into Rob Collard's WSR BMW at Becketts.Ninth was a recovering Jason Plato, who was hit by his old rival Neal at Copse on the opening lap and fell to the back of the field. He is now only 14 points ahead of Onslow-Cole in the championshipPlato's Chevrolet team-mate Alex MacDowall also had a nasty start to the race, stalling on the line and being rammed from behind by Martin Depper's Forster BMW.MacDowall managed to get his car going, despite extensive rear damage, and finished 10th, but only after Phil Glew (Special Tuning UK SEAT) and Andy Neate (WSR BMW) were given drive-through penalties.Pos Driver Car Time/Gap 1. Tom Onslow-Cole Ford 28m42.835s 2. Paul O'Neill Honda + 2.628s 3. Mat Jackson BMW + 6.597s 4. Matt Neal Honda + 6.825s 5. Gordon Shedden Honda + 7.209s 6. Tom Chilton Ford + 7.707s 7. Steven Kane BMW + 9.287s 8. James Nash Vauxhall + 16.887s 9. Jason Plato Chevrolet + 17.133s10. Alex MacDowall Chevrolet + 19.435s11. David Pinkney Vauxhall + 26.491s12. Rob Collard BMW + 33.949s13. Philip Glew SEAT + 37.921s14. Andy Neate BMW + 42.919s15. Martin Johnson Vauxhall + 48.474s16. Arthur Forster BMW + 1 lapRetirements: John George Honda 18 laps Andrew Jordan Vauxhall 11 laps Tom Boardman SEAT 11 laps Lea Wood Honda 0 laps Martin Depper BMW 0 laps