Plato wins after Hondas collide

Date published : 05 Jun 2011 - 14:26:51

Jason Plato has taken a remarkable British Touring Car victory in the second race at Oulton Park this afternoon after the two leading Hondas hit each other at the last corner.Rain before the start again made tyre choice difficult. Most runners started with slicks on the front and wets on the back, though the frontrunning WSR BMWs started on wets all-round.Poleman Gordon Shedden led from the start, despite carrying 45kg of success ballast, while his Honda team-mate Matt Neal (with no ballast) worked his way through the field.Neal powered past the battling Plato and James Nash (Triple 8 Vauxhall Vectra) for second at half-distance, then ran off at the hairpin and dropped back to fourth.He soon got back to second, but was 10 seconds behind his team-mate. That was until John George went off at Lodge, bringing out the safety car.There was time for three flying laps after the restart and Neal tracked Shedden as they pulled clear of Plato. He inadvertently nudged Shedden at the hairpin on the penultimate lap, but then seemed to back off to allow his team-mate to continue leading.The Civics were set for a one-two as they approached Lodge for the final time, only for Neal to try and dive down the inside. The cars touched and both went off, leaving Neal in the gravel and dropping Shedden to sixth.That allowed Plato through to take his fourth victory of the season.Nash would have been second, but was passed on the run to the line by the wet-shod Rob Collard. The BMW driver had fallen as low as seventh in the drier part of the race, but was revived by extra rain late on.Eurotech Racing's Andrew Jordan held off the Chevrolet Cruze of Alex MacDowall for fourth, while Paul O'Neill's Tech-Speed Chevy and Collard's team-mate Nick Foster followed the unfortunate Shedden across the line.Results - 18 laps:Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Jason Plato Chevrolet 31m12.569s 2. Rob Collard WSR BMW + 2.317s 3. James Nash Triple 8 Vauxhall + 2.408s 4. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Vauxhall + 6.576s 5. Alex MacDowall Chevrolet + 6.864s 6. Gordon Shedden Honda + 7.647s 7. Paul O'Neill Tech-Speed Chevrolet + 7.653s 8. Nick Foster WSR BMW + 8.042s 9. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford + 9.481s10. Tom Chilton Arena Ford + 9.859s11. Lea Wood Central Honda + 11.051s12. Rob Austin Austin Audi + 18.737s13. Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota + 19.290s14. Tony Hughes Speedworks Toyota + 21.490s15. Andy Neate Arena Ford + 25.756s16. Tom Onslow-Cole AmD Volkswagen + 32.071s17. Dave Newsham Special Tuning SEAT + 1 lap18. Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford + 1 lapRetirements: Matt Neal Honda 17 laps Chris James ES Chevrolet 15 laps Tom Boardman Special Tuning SEAT 15 laps John George Tech-Speed Chevrolet 11 laps Tony Gilham Triple 8 Vauxhall 4 laps Jeff Smith Eurotech Vauxhall 0 laps