BTCC Oulton Park: Jason Plato leads first MG one-two
Jason Plato won the first British Touring Car race at Oulton Park to lead an MG one-two
Poleman Plato led from the start and was never headed as he recorded his third win of the season and the 77th of his career.
His works MG team-mate Sam Tordoff initially lost out to a fast-starting Gordon Shedden (works Honda Civic), but held on around the outside of Old Hall. That gave him the inside for Cascades and the MG held second thereafter.
As the top three edged away, Dave Newsham's Speedworks Toyota struggled for pace.
He soon came under pressure from Andrew Jordan's Eurotech Civic, which slipped by on lap seven of 15 and was quickly followed by Colin Turkington's WSR BMW.
The BMW had good race pace but - despite the Eurotech machine smoking for much of the race - the 2009 champion could not quite catch Jordan.
Matt Neal, having a quiet race with 45kg of success ballast, made it by Newsham at Hislop's on lap 10 to complete the top six.
Mat Jackson's Motorbase Ford Focus also passed Newsham's Toyota and kept the pressure on Neal to the flag, while Newsham eventually finished eighth.
The battle behind was hard-fought. Tom Onslow-Cole (team Hard VW Passat) was defending from Rob Collard's BMW when he ran wide at Druids. That allowed Collard by, but Adam Morgan's Ciceley Racing Toyota overtook both.
Morgan then held off Collard by 0.033s on the line.
Having led the S2000 class throughout the race, Lea Wood's Vauxhall Vectra lost out to the Motorbase Ford Focus of Liam Griffin on the final lap.
Results - 15 laps: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Jason Plato MG 22m04.464s 2. Sam Tordoff MG + 1.107s 3. Gordon Shedden Honda + 3.167s 4. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Honda + 4.104s 5. Colin Turkington WSR BMW + 4.563s 6. Matt Neal Honda + 10.946s 7. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford + 11.551s 8. Dave Newsham Speedworks Toyota + 15.381s 9. Adam Morgan Ciceley Toyota + 23.909s 10. Rob Collard WSR BMW + 23.942s 11. Jeff Smith Eurotech Honda + 24.308s 12. Nick Foster WSR BMW + 29.815s 13. Rob Austin Austin Audi + 31.869s 14. Daniel Welch Welch Proton + 32.030s 15. Tom Onslow-Cole Hard VW + 33.044s 16. Jack Goff Hard Vauxhall + 36.220s 17. Will Bratt Austin Audi + 36.608s 18. James Cole Hard Vauxhall + 37.550s 19. Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford* + 44.170s 20. Lea Wood Wood Vauxhall* + 44.297s 21. Aaron Mason AmD VW* + 51.291s 22. David Nye Welch Ford* + 54.394s 23. Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota + 1 lap 24. Ollie Jackson Speedworks Toyota + 2 laps Retirements: Aron Smith Motorbase Ford 10 laps Warren Scott BMR SEAT* 13 laps * S2000
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