WINS FOR PLATO, NEAL & CHILTON AT OULTON PARK
SEAT Sport UK’s Jason Plato, Team Halfords’ Matt
Neal and Arena Motorsports’ Tom Chilton were the winners
of today’s three Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship
races at Oulton Park, Cheshire – an event that once
again received live terrestrial television coverage on ITV.
As a result, Neal has extended his championship lead over
team-mate Dan Eaves as the BTCC now heads to Croft, North
Yorkshire on 17 July.
Plato’s Toledo Cupra, fastest in Saturday qualifying,
led all the way in race one, but in the closing stages came
under increasing pressure from Neal’s Honda Integra.
Neal also set the race’s fastest lap, but Plato’s
victory, his first of 2005, was a clear sign that SEAT remains
a major threat in this year’s title race. Eaves finished
third, just ahead of Yvan Muller’s Vauxhall Astra Sport
Hatch.
Plato then led the opening laps of race two until Neal sensationally
drove around the outside of him through the fast Old Hall
corner to take the race lead. Their battle allowed Muller
to close in and, sensing an opportunity, the French driver
also tried to pass his great rival Plato. But their cars collided
and Plato span off the track while Muller continued in second.
Neal, with the race’s fastest lap, went on to take
his fifth win of the season with Muller close behind in second.
Eaves was again third but chased hard by Rob Collard who took
a strong fourth in reigning Independent Trophy champion team
WSR’s MG. Much of the crowd’s attention, though,
was on the all-important battle for tenth position between
Plato and Vauxhall’s Gavin Smith, the latter recovering
from a spin after a collision with team-mate Colin Turkington.
Smith initially held the spot, but 2001 champion Plato eventually
got past – a crucial result for it gave him pole position
for race three thanks to the top ten reversed grid rule.
But Plato’s chances of adding his second win of the
day in race three – held on a soaking wet track –
ended on the opening lap when he slid straight on at the hairpin
and fell to last position. The opening lap was also a disaster
for Vauxhall – Turkington span out in another collision
with team-mate Smith and Muller retired in the pit lane after
damaging his Astra in a clash with Richard Williams’
spinning HPI Racing with Friends Reunited Lexus.
Following a safety car period to enable marshals to clear
Turkington’s stranded car, Collard led in the spray
from Chilton, Neal and Eaves. But Collard, on course for his
first BTCC race win, slid wide in the tricky conditions and
allowed Chilton to sneak past into the lead. From there, 20-year-old
Chilton was never challenged as he calmly drove on to the
third BTCC race win of his career at the wheel of the Arena
team’s Honda Civic. By the end of the race, Collard
had further slipped to fourth behind Neal and the fast-recovering
Plato who set the race’s fastest lap. SEAT’s Luke
Hines was fifth with Eaves back in sixth after he too had
briefly slithered off the track.
As a result of today’s three races, Neal has more than
trebled his championship lead over Neal to 24 points. Muller
stays third in the standings, nine points behind Eaves and
15 in front of fourth-placed Plato. In the Manufacturers’
Championship, Vauxhall leads SEAT by just six points. Team
Halfords has extended its lead in both the Teams’ and
Independents Teams Trophy as have Neal and Eaves in the Independents
Trophy for drivers.
Despite his sizeable lead at the top, Neal believes the title
race remains wide open. Neal, chasing the champion’s
crown for the first time in almost 15 years of racing in the
BTCC, said: “Today has been really good to me –
three podium finishes with a lot of success ballast in my
car are fantastic results, but I’m not naive enough
to think the rest can’t catch me. One non-finish, like
Yvan in race three, and it will be back to square one. SEAT
is going to be very strong from now on and Vauxhall is not
far away with a car that it is still developing.”
Indeed, 2003 champion Muller believes he and reigning champion
manufacturer Vauxhall remain strong title challengers: Muller
said: “It’s not over yet and we are still learning
more about the Astra with every race meeting. If we find just
one tenth of a second per lap, it will make all the difference
– we will be right on the pace of the Halfords cars
and then we can try to pressure them into a few mistakes.”
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