Three-way title battle goes to the wire

Jason Plato took his second win of the day, closely followed home by rivals Fabrizio Giovanardi and Colin Turkington. The three championship contenders locked out the podium, in a race that as with the day’s opening affair, was led for much of the way by Tom Chilton, to go into the final round of the season separated by just eight points.

A thrilling second half to the penultimate round of the season saw Turkington battle through the field to finish on the third step of the podium behind his two title rivals. The Team RAC driver now holds a four-point lead over Giovanardi going into Round 30, with Plato a further four points behind the Italian.

Off the grid Chilton made an excellent start to go the long way around poleman Plato into Paddock Hill Bend, with Rob Collard pulling a similar manoeuvre to displace Matt Neal and Andrew Jordan, allowing him to slot into fourth.

Jonathan Adam tried to follow his teammate through past the Vauxhall duo, making contact at Surtees as the two Vectras bunched up with the BMWs of Adam and Turkington. An aggressive Turkington slid down the inside of Neal at Hawthorns as Adam and Jordan diced side-by-side round the Grand Prix loop, with Adam coming out on top as they re-emerged onto the Indy loop.

Proceedings were interrupted by a safety car after Martyn Bell was helped into the Westfield gravel by David Pinkney, while Matt Hamilton’s failure to complete a racing lap this weekend continued as he went off at Sheene Curve.

As in race one, Chilton led away smoothly at the re-start, with Plato, Giovanardi, Collard and Adam following line astern, while behind another train of cars built up behind Jordan, with championship leader Turkington trapped in the middle of the ‘second’ pack.

Ahead of the BMW was Jordan doing a blocking job for Giovanardi, while behind pressure was coming from Neal, who in turn was under pressure from Paul O’Neill. Coming back onto the pit straight Neal tried to go around the outside of Turkington, allowing the Techspeed Integra to get alongside for the length of the straight and through Paddock Hill Bend.

It couldn’t continue, and it didn’t, with O’Neill eventually shutting the door on the exit of Druids and ushering the Vauxhall onto the grass. With the pressure from behind eased, Turkington and O’Neill swiftly re-caught Jordan, only for the youngster to again hold up the progress of the RAC mean for several more laps.

On the twelfth tour, Jordan ran slightly wide exiting Paddock Hill Bend, opening the door for Turkington who wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth and was through into sixth and soon onto the tail of Adam.

A lap later and the next to buckle under the pressure from Turkington was the Airwaves BMW driver, who ran wide at Sheene Curve promoting the Ulsterman to fifth. Fairing less well was WSR teammate Anthony Reid, who had been in the thick of the battle with Neal and O’Neill earlier on, but was punted into the Surtees gravel by Mat Jackson.

At the front Plato and Giovanardi were putting renewed pressure on leader Chilton, who eventually was eased aside on lap 16, thanks to a nudge from the Lacetti, at Druids. Plato was through instantly, but Giovanardi, lights ablaze, couldn’t make it past, prompting a round the outside move at Surtees that very nearly ended the Italian’s challenge.

Running onto the grass bunched Giovanardi, Chilton, Collard and Turkington, with the two championship contenders somehow making their way through unscathed on the Grand Prix loop, while erstwhile leader Chilton was shuffled down to sixth.

Plato though had distanced his two rivals, allowing him a relatively simple run through to take the flag, while Giovanardi and Turkington circulated closely, with neither driving willing to risk a non-finish.

When asked afterwards if he can win the title, Plato said “I’ll have a go! We can only do what we can do. Once again my team gave me a fantastic car and we’re all motivated and fired up. We’re making it a fantastic finale for the championship.”

And that fantastic finale will see Neal on pole position, with O’Neill alongside him. Turkington is the highest placed of the title protagonists, starting sixth but with Giovanardi and Plato occupying seventh and eighth right behind him.