Jason Plato came through from fifth on the grid to take the win in the final race of the day at Knockhill. Tom Onslow-Cole led the first 22 laps of the race but at the start of the 23rd Plato made his move to take the win. Onslow-Cole held on to finish 2nd, whilst Matt Neal kept his championship chances alive with third.
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From the start, Onslow-Cole assumed the lead, beating fellow front-man Mat Jackson away from the line. However Jackson made contact with the Ford going into the chicane on the opening lap, which meant he ran wide into the gravel. This allowed Plato to slip into second following his own good start which was further helped by Steven Kane’s demise. The Airwaves BMW driver never took his 3rd place starting slot after he pulled into the pits after the warm-up lap with a suspected driveshaft failure.
The safety car was deployed for 5 laps just before the mid point in the race, once again for David Pinkney’s car. On lap 9 Pinkney was hit by newcomer Jeff Smith which pitched the BTCC veteran into the gravel where his car became beeched. The safety car period was prolonged bythe fact the recovery vehicle itself got beeched.
When the race eventually resumed Plato immediately began piling on the pressure to Onslow-Cole. Clearly faster through the corners, Plato was unable to pass for several laps as the Team Aon car continually pulled several car lengths in front along the straights. Eventually on the end of lap 22 Plato got a better exit from the hairpin and drew alongside Onslow-Cole. The pass was complete into Duffus Dip as Plato held his nerve and the inside line to take the lead and, ultimately, victory.
Neal put pressure on Onslow-Cole for the last few laps but was unable to find a way past. Paul O’Neill had a good race through the field to finish in fourth position, including making some strong moves on the exit of the hairpin onto the start straight.
Despite his earlier off, Mat Jackson didn’t lose too many positions and he finished in fifth position. Fellow BMW driver Rob Collard had a superb race and he finished in sixth position, despite having started from the last row of the grid. It was his first points finish at Knockhill since 2008.
Alex MacDowall was seventh after a tough race in which he was in the thick of the midfield action. Andrew Jordan finished in eighth although he was earlier running in third position and keeping up with the front runners until a couple of mistakes close together cost him positions. On lap 24 he ran twice on consecutive corners, losing three positions that lap and another two on the following lap.
Gordon Shedden finished in ninth with a fighting drive after he earlier spun out of third position on the second lap. The safety car meant that he was able to catch the tail of the pack and he spent most of the race working his way back up. Tom Chilton was another driver who suffered early in the race and he fought his way back through the pack to tenth, losing ninth to Shedden on the final lap.
James Nash got off to a strong start in the race but several mistakes cost him and he could only finish in 11th and out of the points. The same was also true of John George who had been as high as ninth – but he ran wide on lap 19 and dropped out of the points.