Chilton gifted race two victory at Silverstone

Tom Chilton took his second win of the day, after being let through by team mate Tom Onslow-Cole for the second race in succession, but Rob Collard deprived the team of another 1-2 result.

At the start, Tom Onslow-Cole made a great start to get ahead of his team mate Chilton, whilst the Chevrolets by comparison had a dreadful start, with Plato and MacDowall falling back behind Andrew Jordan and West Surrey Racing’s Rob Collard.

The first retirement of the race was the other West Surrey Racing car of Andy Neate, who after passing James Nash on the start line, braked too late for Copse and ran into the side of the BMW of Mat Jackson.

Jackson lost ground, but Neate’s damage was terminal.

Many drivers were warned for taking an alternative line at the circuit to gain advantage, running wide onto the run off area, which had been used extensively by the two Chevrolets in race one in their effort to catch the Fords.

Drivers warned included both the Special Tuning UK drivers Tom Boardman & Phil Glew, Triple Eight’s James Nash & championship leader Jason Plato.

On lap 12, the Pirtek Racing Vauxhall of Andrew Jordan pitted from third with a front left puncture, promoting the West Surrey Racing BMW 320si of Rob Collard to third, and the BMW set upon the task of chasing down the two LPG Fords.

On lap 16, after making use of the alternative line, Matt Neal got past Tech-Speed’s Paul O’Neill, and found himself right behind his championship rival Plato, who was struggling for pace.

On lap 17, in a repeat of race one, Onslow-Cole slowed down mysteriously and Chilton went through to take the lead and on to win.

The manoeuvre or mistake cost Onslow-Cole time again as in race one, where he fell prey to Plato, but was able to stay ahead. This time, the 23-year old was passed by Rob Collard, but managed to get back ahead of the BMW on the following lap, but Collard managed to stay in touch.

On a frenetic final lap, O’Neill battled hard against Matt Neal to try and retake fifth, but eventually had to settle for sixth as they both passed the finish line side-by-side. The battling duo will get to continue their tussle in race two, as the top six will be reversed putting O’Neill on pole ahead of Matt.

Also on the final lap, Rob Collard again managed to get back ahead of Tom Onslow-Cole to deprive him of second place.

Tom Onslow-Cole’s third place sees him move into joint second place in the championship with Matt Neal, 29 points behind Jason Plato, whilst Chilton has now moved ahead of both the Airwaves BMWs into fifth.