Frank Wrathall scored his first-ever British Touring Car Championship win in soaking wet conditions in the final race at Brands Hatch, leading home Matt Neal and new champion Gordon Shedden.
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Wrathall had started from the front row of the grid after the top seven were reversed from the race two result, but it was polesitter Mat Jackson who got off to the strongest start to lead into the first corner. However the season would end on a negative note for Jackson, with the Redstone Racing driver crawling to a stop only four laps into the race with technical troubles.
With Wrathall promoted to the lead, he was able to open up a comfortable gap over the battling cars behind. Jason Plato, who had started in third, initially threatened Wrathall at the first corner but thereafter the former double champion went backwards, with Neal passing him on lap three and Shedden and Jordan on the following lap.
The Honda’s would remain in the formation of Neal, Shedden and Jordan for the remainder of the race in second, third and fourth respectively, allowing Wrathall to open up a 6.893 second lead for his first win.
Straight after his first-ever win in the series Árón Smith followed it up with another strong race to fifth, ahead of Dave Newsham in sixth. Newsham had started from 20th and was clearly enjoying the dark and wet conditions.
Rob Austin finished in seventh, having passed Plato on the fifth lap. Despite his troubles, MG’s Plato held on to finish in eighth, despite the best efforts of Lea Wood who was forced to settle for ninth, despite passing Plato at several points late in the race.
Tom Onslow-Cole completed the top ten, taking the fastest lap on his way. However the eBay Motors driver had earlier collided with team-mate Rob Collard, denying the team the chance to lift the Independents Teams Trophy as Collard could only finish 19th and a lap down.
Neither Aaron Williamson or Adam Morgan were able to make the start of the final race due to the damage sustained in their second-race shunts.
The final championship positions see Shedden take the title on 408 points ahead of team-mate Neal on 387 and Plato on 376. Wrathall’s win elevates him into the top ten, displacing Nick Foster to 11th.