Neal, Thompson & Chilton Win At Silverstone
Matt Neal, James Thompson and Tom Chilton were the winners
of today’s (Sunday) action-packed and sometimes controversial
three Green Flag MSA British Touring Car Championship rounds
at Silverstone. Leaving the Northamptonshire circuit, Vauxhall
driver Thompson leads the championship while 19-year-old Chilton
celebrates becoming the BTCC’s youngest ever race winner.
The day’s first race fell the way of Neal’s Computeach
Racing with Halfords Honda Civic. It was Neal’s second
win of the season and came after he had forced his way past
SEAT Sport UK driver Jason Plato, who started from pole position,
to take the lead. His win also guaranteed him victory in the
HarrierZeuros Independents Trophy for privateer competitors.
Second was Vauxhall’s reigning champion Yvan Muller
who also fought past Plato and set the race’s fastest
lap. Thompson finished fourth after losing places when he
was delayed trying to pass Plato for the lead in the early
stages. Neal’s team-mate Dan Eaves and Anthony Reid,
in the WSR team’s MG ZS, completed the top six.
Arguably the most entertaining battle on track was for tenth
position. WSR’s Colin Turkington held the place for
much of the race with Synchro Motorsport’s James Kaye
– in his 200th BTCC race – desperately trying
to get past, knowing the position would guarantee him pole
position for the day’s second race, thanks to the top
ten reversed grid rule.
Turkington and Kaye tangled, however, promoting Kelvin Burt
– making his return to the BTCC in Team Sureterm’s
Vauxhall Astra – into the much sought after position.
Until, that is, SEAT’s Robert Huff, driving tactically,
slowed and allowed Burt past just before the line.
Huff, therefore, started the second race from the front of
the grid with Burt alongside him in second, but it was Thompson
and Muller who produced the star drives, moving through from
seventh and ninth on the grid to lead Vauxhall to a 1-2 result.
This was despite the fact that their Astras were each weighed
down with substantial ballast following their second and fourth
place finishes in the opening race.
Reid, who ran half a lap rubbing doors with Muller during
the race, was forced to settle for third and Independents
Trophy honours, ahead of Burt who not only led the opening
laps but also gave Sureterm its best BTCC result to date in
fourth. Huff had also been in the thick of the action, the
exciting BTCC rookie daring to re-pass Muller earlier in the
race for second until running off the track and tumbling to
seventh. Ahead of him, in fifth and sixth respectively, were
Turkington, who set the race’s fastest lap, and Eaves.
Unfortunate not to be in this group was Carl Breeze, in Sureterm’s
Alfa Romeo. He had finished a fine seventh in the opening
race so lined up fourth on the starting grid, but his hopes
were dashed when he spun off the track on the opening lap
in a clash with Vauxhall’s Luke Hines. Breeze would
bounce back magnificently in the day’s third race to
finish fifth after starting a lowly 16th.
The celebrations in the third race, though, belonged to one
driver: Chilton. The teenager started tenth on the grid but
with five laps to go he had risen to third and was hunting
down squabbling leaders Reid and Neal. When they dramatically
collided and slid off the track together, Chilton was perfectly
placed to drive past and take the lead. Despite pressure from
the recovering Reid over the last two laps, Chilton kept his
cool to record his first BTCC race victory and be hailed as
the championship’s youngest ever winner. Chilton also
becomes the BTCC’s sixth different winner from this
season’s opening nine rounds.
Reid crossed the line second but was later handed a ten-seconds
penalty by officials for his part in an incident with Thompson
that put the Vauxhall driver into a lurid half spin and caused
him to lose an early race lead. Thompson finished seventh,
while Reid’s penalty meant he fell to fourth in the
provisional results. Officials have also to look into the
incident between Reid and Neal when their cars ran off the
road together as they disputed the race lead.
Neal’s car suffered front-end damage in the incident.
He rejoined the track in third but fell to eighth. This meant
SEAT team-mates Plato and Huff crossed the line in third and
fourth positions ahead of the recovering Breeze, who nicked
fifth from Eaves through the final few bends of the race.
Plato and Huff were later promoted to second and third due
to Reid’s time penalty.
Muller, meanwhile, never started the race. He went into it
leading Thompson by one point in the title race, but as the
Frenchman drove to his starting position of second his Astra
suffered engine problems and had to be pushed off the grid.
Thompson’s seventh position means he now holds a four-point
lead over Muller as the championship heads to Oulton Park,
Cheshire, for rounds ten, 11 and 12 on 22/23 May.
Reid leads the HarrierZeuros Independents Trophy ahead of
Eaves, Neal, Turkington and Kaye. Vauxhall and its competition
brand VX Racing head the BTCC’s Manufacturers and Teams
championships respectively.
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