Win number three for LPG

Tom Onslow-Cole took his second win of the season and the third for his LPG powered Team AON, in race one at Oulton Park. Onslow-Cole led the race from lights to flag, but behind second and third placed finishers Gordon Shedden and Rob Collard were still unhappy with what they say is a “clear advantage” that the Focus has over the rest of the BTCC pack.

“Tom’s driving well to be fair”, said Shedden on the ITV4 coverage, “But it’s like going back to the days of the SEAT diesel, the speed of it in a straight line is phenomenal. They’ve got a clear advantage.”

After an excellent drive, Collard agreed, saying, “The gas car has got so much acceleration, it’s just a shame some cars have got such an advantage.”

Heavy overnight rain had cleared, leaving the Cheshire circuit dry for the opening BTCC race of the weekend.

Shedden tried to go around the outside of pole sitter Onslow-Cole into Old Hall, but immediately had to drop back on the run along the Avenue to defend from Jason Plato in third.

Behind Collard leapt up the order from sixth on the grid, demoting Tom Chilton and Alex MacDowall in the first couple of corners, before charging past Plato at Lodge on the first tour.

Onslow-Cole pulled a large lead out on the opening lap, but began to fall back into the hands of the chasing Shedden and Collard, a process that was sped up when Matt Hamilton brought out the safety car, after contact with Shaun Hollamby spun the Honda Civic into the gravel on the outside of Knickerbrook.

At the re-start Onslow-Cole once again pulled clear of the Dynamics and WSR machines, while Mat Jackson took the opportunity to demote MacDowall at Lodge, with Chilton following the Airwaves car through as the Cruze was squeezed wide onto the grass at Dear Leap.

Shedden and Collard closed down the leading Focus, but despite the trio running nose to tail through the hairpin, Onslow-Cole was always able to defend in the corners before pulling clear on the straights, something that irked the two chasers after the finish.

A disappointing race for Chevrolet continued as first Steven Kane relegated Alex MacDowall at the hairpin, and then Jackson unceremoniously punted Plato onto the grass and down to tenth, with an untidy move at Cascades.

“It’s not really an overtaking point into there,” said Plato to ITV after the race. “I’m a bit surprised at Matt, we’re all trying to race and crack on, but even then I’m not a mug.

“Maybe he made a mistake, but it’s disappointing.”

While the win for Onslow-Cole was his second of the season, it was his first on the road, after his Brands Hatch win was inherited thanks to the post-race demise of teammate Chilton.

“It’s been a good weekend so far. That was definitely a hard race to win, but I’m so pleased to have won one of my own now.”

On the subject of his tyres performance, Onslow-Cole said.

“Not too bad. There’s definitely some drop off. Whether it’s going to be detrimental for us with the weight on I don’t know, we’ll have to wait until race two to find out.”

Further down the grid, Andrew Jordan crawled back to the pits after just four laps of racing, while Paul O’Neill didn’t even make the start. The Tech-Speed driver’s Integra had an overnight gearbox change, but Oulton Park’s noise restrictions meant the car couldn’t be fired up to test the work until midday, with the car subsequently jumping out of gear on the warm-up lap, forcing O’Neill back into the garage.

Thanks to a quite run to eighth and Plato’s off-track excursion, Matt Neal now takes over the championship lead ahead of races two and three of the weekend.