Photo: www.speedsnaps.co.uk

O’Neill and Collard happy with podium results

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The independent drivers settled for their podium results as the best possible, in the wake of a dominating run by Team Aon at Silverstone, which left the paddock reeling with discontent.

In race three, Paul O’Neill started from pole position, and did his level best to fight off the charge of the two Team Aon Focus ST’s, which had escaped the fracas behind between Matt Neal & Jason Plato.

After two laps, Onslow-Cole managed to pass the older BTC-spec Honda Integra, but O’Neill managed to ward off the second Focus of Chilton long enough for his tyres to degrade, and Chilton fell back into the clutches of Mat Jackson’s Airwaves BMW.

“We knew the Fords were going to be quick but I just went out there and raced my own race. I got my best start of the year and was able to defend well and second place is almost as good as a win. The fact I was able to pull away from Chilton is testament to Tech-Speed for the job they have done in giving me a great car,” said O’Neill.

West Surrey Racing’s Rob Collard was also happy with his second place in round 20.

“Race two felt like a win to me, we weren’t the most powerful car out there and we had a really good battle, I’m just really please we got on the podium,” said Collard.

“The BMW 320si did really well and looked after its tyres and allowed me to get the job done”.

The performance of the Team Aon Focus at Silverstone has generated a lot of ill feeling in the paddock, despite the team’s drivers claims that it is chassis improvements that are providing them with their enhanced performance, even more so after they were ordered to adjust their boost pressure and restrictor settings after qualifying.

This, coupled with some curiously implemented team orders appeared to cast a shadow over the race weekend.

Team Aon’s results on the track have moved them ahead of Airwaves BMW in the HiQ Teams Championship and into second place overall, behind the Honda Racing Team; but more importantly for them, into the lead of both the independents’ drivers and teams championships, as well as the constructors trophy – now leading both of the two manufacturer teams of Honda & Chevrolet/RML.

Paul O’Neill is now tied in fourth place with Tom Chilton in the independents’ drivers trophy, and got ahead of Rob Collard for eighth in the overall category after Rob’s no score in race three.