Plato closes on title with comfortable win

Jason Plato added victory in race one to his clean sweep of Saturday’s timed sessions as the Chevrolet driver moved to within inches of the title. Behind Plato championship rivals Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal followed him, while Tom Onslow-Cole’s slim hopes were erased as he retired midway through proceedings.

Plato made the perfect getaway from the grid, escaping cleanly as teammate Alex McDowell and Mat Jackson ensured that the attentions of the two Honda drivers were focussed rearwards, rather than on Plato in front.

The championship lead swiftly pulled away as Jackson split the two Civics, with Shedden getting ahead of Neal who dropped to fourth.

Behind the latter of the Hondas came James Nash, who slipped ahead of McDowell on the opening lap, preventing the second Chevrolet driver from playing a part in the title battle at the front.

Neal was up onto a podium spot come lap eight, as Jackson exited stage left with a high-speed spin after touching a kerb at Surtees. From there on the Hondas could make no further progress as Plato lapped with impressive speed in the clear air at the front of the field.

A lap after Jackson’s spin, Onslow-Cole coasted to a halt as a descended through Graham Hill Bend, his Focus losing drive and pulling into the rear entrance to the paddock, his title hopes extinguished, although in reality his tenth placed qualifying had done that a day previously.

In the main pack the action was between McDowell, Nash, Rob Collard, Paul O’Neill and Tom Chilton, as the Vectra dropped back provoking several entertaining moves.

There was no change at the front however, with Plato comfortably taking the win ahead of his two title rivals, with teammate McDowell coming home fourth, closely followed by Rob Collard.

Thanks to the points for fastest lap and leading Plato’s advantage at the top of the standings now stands at 25 with a maximum of 32 available from Sunday’s remaining two races. Neal lies second on 217 points, with Shedden just two points further in arrears going into Race Two of the day, when Plato could wrap-up the title, at 14:05 GMT.