Jason Plato moves into top three with race one victory

Chevroler driver Jason Plato took a lights to flag victory at Rockingham to move into third place in the championship, with Paul O’Neill finishing second and Frank Wrathall scoring another podium for Dynojet Racing.

Plato held on to the lead at the start, whilst Rob Austin’s Audi A4 had moved up to second behind Plato, with the pace of the NGTC-specification Audi looking to be a serious threat to the 2010 champion. However, just after Pif Paf on the opening lap, Paul O’Neill, now down to third in his Tech-Speed Chevrolet, made a move up the inside of the Audi, with the two making contact and the Audi spinning out and down the order.

There were other dramas behind on the opening lap, as Mat Jackson was caught up in an incident between the two Hondas, with Jackson’s car taking terminal damage and Matt Neal losing ground, whilst Andrew Jordan and Gordon Shedden found themselves third and fourth at the end of the lap.

Andrew Jordan’s third place quickly faded away as the car faltered on lap three, forcing Jordan to pit, promoting Shedden into the final podium spot.

On lap six, Chevrolet’s Alex MacDowall and Andy Neate made contact on the oval as MacDowall attempted to pass Neate on the inside.

Two laps later, the safety car was deployed to recover Dave Newsham’s STR SEAT as well as Rob Collard’s West Surrey Racing BMW, which was involved in contact with Arena Ford driver Tom Onslow-Cole at Pif Paf, leaving the BMW in the gravel and sending Onslow-Cole into the pits for repairs.

After the restart, Plato drove away from O’Neill again, whilst the biggest battle was on for third, with Honda’s Gordon Shedden caught by Dynojet Racing driver Frank Wrathall and a recovering Neal. Neal dispatched Wrathall briefly before Wrathall fought back, passing both the Hondas and taking third place. Neal then made his move on Honda team-mate Shedden to take fourth, with Nick Foster in the sole remaining WSR BMW 320si also passing Shedden to take fifth.

Rob Austin moved up the order after his earlier spin to take seventh after falling as far back as 22nd, with Tom Boardman also battling back after his grid penalty and 23rd place starting spot to take eighth.

James Nash’s ninth place helps move the Triple Eight driver to a joint-lead in the independents’ standings with Mat Jackson after Jackson’s retirement, whilst Michael Caine picks up points on his first race in the championship with tenth.

With the win, point for pole and the only driver to lead laps in Round 22, Jason Plato moves ahead of Mat Jackson in the championship points on 164, with Matt Neal retaking the championship lead from team-mate Gordon Shedden on 189 and 187 respectively.

The next race of the day takes place at 14:00 BST.