Matt Neal has taken victory in the third British Touring Car Championship race at Oulton Park, with Jason Plato finishing second in a race which saw two safety car periods.
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eBay Motors’ Tom Onslow-Cole had started the race from pole position and got off to a strong start, whilst immediately behind him his team-mate Nick Foster moved from fourth on the grid into second. Foster would only be able to hold onto the position for one more lap, as Honda’s Neal moved into second, with Plato following him through.
Onslow-Cole had worked hard early in the race to build up a lead of 1.820 seconds over Neal, which was immediately nullified when the safety car was called on lap three after Redstone Racing’s Liam Griffin lost control of his car at Druids and hit the barriers hard. A lengthy safety car period followed as the Marshall’s cleaned up the circuit.
When the race eventually resumed on lap ten Onslow-Cole got off to a good restart, opening up a slight gap over Neal. However the racing did not last long as the safety car was called out again two laps later due to Andrew Jordan hitting the tyres hard on the exit of Old Hall corner. Jordan had been defending a pass from Rob Collard and was running in seventh at the time, however the pair touched on the exit of the corner, pitching Jordan heavily into the barriers.
At the second restart Onslow-Cole was not able to pull away as easily and Neal made his move into the hairpin. Half a lap later Plato completed the pass to take second, and the positions remained that way until the end of the race.
Gordon Shedden ensured that he left Oulton Park with his championship lead intact by finishing in fourth, having circulated with the lead trio in the closing stages of the race.
Taking a career-best fifth was Lea Wood in his ageing Vauxhall Vectra. Collard finished in sixth, after passing team-mate Nick Foster on the penultimate lap of the race. Mat Jackson found his way past Foster in the closing stages to take seventh, although the 31 year-old had earlier spun off Dan Welch whilst battling for eighth. Foster finishing in eighth, having started the race from fourth.
Frank Wrathall and Tony Gilham completed the top ten in ninth and tenth respectively.
Additional retirments were Andy Neate and Adam Morgan, who both suffered spins on the opening lap of the race along with Will Bratt and Jeff Smith.
The result leaves Shedden as the championship leader on 173 points, with Neal just 5 points behind. Plato is third in the standings, 12 points behind Shedden.