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Julie B
2nd May 2010, 10:40
QUALIFYINGTom Chilton has taken a clear pole position in today’s Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship qualifying session at Brands Hatch.

Team Aon’s Chilton lapped the world famous Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit in a record time of 1m31.604s to achieve his second pole in a row at the wheel of his LPG-turbo Ford Focus.

Chilton, aged 25 from Poole, said: “That was like a lap from the gods! The car out the back on the GP loop was right on the limit but so fast. I’m also confident that we can run the same set-up for the races but we’ll take a call in the morning – it could be wet and, out of all the days of testing we did pre-season, none were wet.”

Honda Racing Team driver Gordon Shedden was second, some 0.471s adrift but a similar distance ahead of third-fastest James Nash in his Triple Eight-run Vauxhall Vectra.

Scottish ace Shedden and rising star Nash, from Buckinghamshire, both believe Chilton is beatable tomorrow. Shedden said: “My best hope is he fluffs his start or screws his tyres in the opening laps.” Nash added: “I think my car will be kinder on its tyres compared to the Fords and Hondas so if I can hang on to them I’ll be hoping to charge back after them in the closing stages.”

Shedden’s team-mate Matt Neal was fourth, three places ahead of Silverline Chevrolet’s Jason Plato, the man he is chasing at the top of the points table. Both their cars are starting the weekend laden with success ballast. Meanwhile, completing the top six were leading BMW driver, WSR’s Robert Collard and Plato’s team-mate, youngster Alex MacDowall.

After seventh-placed Plato and rounding out the top ten came Andrew Jordan, eighth despite 'beaching' his Pirtek Vauxhall Vectra in the gravel trap at Clark Curve, Chilton's team-mate Tom Onslow-Cole and Paul O'Neill in Sunshine.co.uk with Tech-Speed Honda Integra. Notably, Onslow-Cole was left with just five minutes to make his mark after all his earlier times were expunged when his car failed a ride hight test.

Of the locals, Wrotham-based team Airwaves BMW’s two drivers Mat Jackson and Steven Kane qualified 13th and 14th, while Orpington’s Shaun Hollamby, in his VW Golf entered by West Thurrock outfit AmD Milltek Racing.com, was 19th.

One driver many were praising after qualifying was youngster Matt Hamilton, a fighting 15th and just 2.5s off pole in his older BTC-spec TH Motorsport Honda Civic Type R.

There were encouraging performances from newcomers Lea Wood and Martin Depper. Wood was a highly respectable 17th, within 2.7s of pole, in his Central Racing Group team's Honda Integra, while Depper just - by 0.120s - got the better of Forster Motorsport team-mate Arthur Forster to be 20th.

Pos Driver Car Time Gap
1. Tom Chilton Ford 1m31.604s
2. Gordon Shedden Honda 1m32.075s + 0.471s
3. James Nash Vauxhall 1m32.415s + 0.811s
4. Matt Neal Honda 1m32.424s + 0.820s
5. Rob Collard BMW 1m32.463s + 0.859s
6. Alex MacDowall Chevrolet 1m32.473s + 0.869s
7. Jason Plato Chevrolet 1m32.619s + 1.015s
8. Andrew Jordan Vauxhall 1m32.703s + 1.099s
9. Tom Onslow-Cole Ford 1m32.720s + 1.116s
10. Paul O'Neill Honda 1m32.844s + 1.240s
11. Tom Boardman SEAT 1m32.907s + 1.303s
12. David Pinkney Vauxhall 1m32.921s + 1.317s
13. Mat Jackson BMW 1m32.983s + 1.379s
14. Steven Kane BMW 1m32.997s + 1.393s
15. Matt Hamilton Honda 1m34.158s + 2.554s
16. Andy Neate BMW 1m34.164s + 2.560s
17. Lea Wood Honda 1m34.291s + 2.687s
18. John George Honda 1m34.319s + 2.715s
19. Shaun Hollamby Volkswagen 1m35.376s + 3.772s
20. Martin Depper BMW 1m36.031s + 4.427s
21. Arthur Forster BMW 1m36.151s + 4.547s
22. Martin Johnson Vauxhall 1m36.224s + 4.620s

Rob
2nd May 2010, 19:30
Chilton wins again
Tom Chilton has also won today’s second Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship races at Brands Hatch – adding to his victory in race one.

In similar wet conditions, Chilton led home team-mate Tom Onslow Cole for a Team Aon 1-2 finish. As in race one he also set the fastest lap in his LPG turbo Ford Focus, despite it carrying maximum success ballast. Third was the Honda Racing Team’s Gordon Shedden. He had led the opening stages but slipped off the track and down the order at the restart during a safety car period.

Championship leaders going into the race, Jason Plato and Matt Neal, both retired from the race with mechanical problems on the cars. Plato’s Chevrolet stopped with an electrical glitch and Neal’s Honda Civic with a clutch failure. Their retirements meant a fifth place result for Paul O’Neill has moved him between them, up into second in the standings. Should he win race three – O’Neill will start from third on a top-seven reversed grid – he could mathematically come away from Brands leading the championship.

The astonishing Chilton, meanwhile, has risen from 14th to sixth with today’s third race still to go.

Shedden took the lead at the start and led the opening laps from Chilton. But at the restart following a safety car period – to recover Lea Wood’s Honda Integra and Arthur Forster’s BMW which had both slithered off the track – he overcooked it and half span exiting the final bend, Clark, and although he controlled his car and continued he fell to seventh as the race resumed.

Chilton was thus promoted into the lead but almost immediately there was a second safety car period as Andy Neate’s WSR BMW was recovered from the Stirlings gravel trap. Chilton, though, again judged the restart to perfection to draw clear for his second win of the day in what was to be a topsy-turvy race.

Indeed, his task was made easier as those behind tripped over one another as they fought for second position. Onslow-Cole eventually took the spot by just nine thousandths of a second from Shedden as their cars crossed the line virtually neck and neck. Sunshine.co.uk/Tech-Speed driver O’Neill had also been right in the fight for second but found himself muscled down to fifth by Alex MacDowall, a career best fourth in his Silverline Chevrolet Cruze.

An excellent sixth having started 16th was Andrew Jordan in his Pirtek Vauxhall Vectra. Fellow Vectra driver David Pinkney who started 19th was also in the points in ninth. And there was a first-ever BTCC point in tenth for Matt Hamilton in his TH Motorsport Honda Civic Type R.

Notably, Airwaves BMW’s Mat Jackson took 12th after a spin in the closing stages – shortly after relinquishing second to Onslow-Cole. Fellow BMW driver Robert Collard was 13th having been forced off track into a spin himself on the opening lap as he got caught up in a tangle with O’Neill and Neal, which initially dropped the latter right down the order.

Elsewhere, other retirements included Martin Johnson’s Boulevard Vauxhall Astra with a holed radiator, Martin Depper’s Forster Motorsport BMW which spun into the gravel at Paddock Hill Bend and Shaun Hollamby’s AmD Milltek Racing.com VW Golf with a mysterious brake problem which caused him to go off track.

Rob
2nd May 2010, 19:33
Chilton loses race 2 win
Tom Chilton has been stripped of victory in today's second Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship race at Brands Hatch for a technical infringement on his car.

Chilton crossed the line in first position for what appeared to be his second win of the day.

However, his Team Aon Ford Focus then failed a mandatory technical check and he has subsequently been disqualified from the results.

A revised result sees his team-mate Tom Onslow-Cole inherit victory with Gordon Shedden and Alex MacDowall moving up to second and third respectively and so forth.

Technically, it also means the closest-winning margin in BTCC history, Onslow-Cole having beaten Shedden across the line by just 0.009s (beating the 0.015s between Jason Plato and Chilton here last year).

The revised result also affects the reversed grid draw and Steven Kane will start race three from pole position, much to the delight of his team Airwaves BMW for whom Brands marks a home event. Chilton will have to start the race from the back of the


bugger, that bad luck. Plus that hurt my fantasy points.

Rob
2nd May 2010, 19:34
Jackson wins race 3 www.btcc.net

Mat Jackson has won today’s third Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship race at Brands Hatch.

On a damp but drying track, Jackson took the gamble to fit wet weather tyres all round on his Airwaves BMW. He quickly took the lead and went on to win on his team’s home circuit but he was fortunate as in the closing laps one of his tyres developed a slow puncture.

And he only just held on for the win ahead of Honda Racing Team driver Matt Neal whose slick tyres enabled him to close to within half a second at the end. Neal had come through from 13th on the grid.

Third, forced to give up second to the flying Neal on the final lap, was Jackson’s team mate Steven Kane.

As a result, Neal has moved into the joint championship lead with Jason Plato who failed to finish the race after his Silverline Chevrolet Cruze broke down on the first lap. Kane is up to third with just 17 points covering the top six.
It was Tom Boardman who initially led the race – the first time he’d done so in his BTCC career. However, his Special Tuning UK SEAT Leon quickly came under attack from the Airwaves cars of Kane and Jackson and it was the latter, with moves at the Hawthorns and following Westfield corners, who took over the lead on lap three. Kane took second from Boardman a lap later at Paddock Hill Bend but then a safety car period followed after Arthur Forster had spun his Forster BMW at Surtees Bend.

Soon after the restart James Nash (Triple Eight Vauxhall Vectra) and Robert Collard (WSR BMW) also passed Boardman at the Westfield and Sheene corners respectively while behind Neal, his slick tyres now really starting to kick in, was now up to eighth, past Andrew Jordan’s Pirtek Vectra at Paddock.

Alex MacDowall then joined team-mate Plato in retirement. Having run as high as fifth, he slipped wide at Clark Curve and was instantly under attack from a group of cars. At Paddock, his Chevrolet and Tom Chilton’s Aon Ford Focus made contact and MacDowall slid off the track with broken suspension on his Cruze. At the very next corner, Druids, David Pinkney, also fighting inside the top six, slid straight on and out of the race in his Pinkney Motorsport Vectra.

This meant a second safety car period and at the restart Neal was quick to reel off Boardman and Nash, Jordan also following him past both drivers. With two laps to go, Neal then moved into third past Collard and rapidly started closing in on the two leading Airwaves cars – their wet weather tyres now starting to suffer as the track dried. With a brave move he took Kane into Sheene but Jackson was just out of reach so it finished Jackson, Neal, Kane.

Collard held on for fourth ahead of Jordan and Chilton, sixth from the back of the grid after his disqualification from race two’s results. Lea Wood had looked set for a ninth place finish in his first BTCC meeting but found his Central Group Racing Honda muscled down to 11th in the closing laps. It was nevertheless a fine effort from the Hereford driver.

Elsewhere, the race was a disaster for the Sunshine.co.uk with Tech-Speed team as both its Honda Integras, driven by Paul O’Neill and John George, failed to take the start after mechanical problems. O’Neill had gone into the race with a chance of taking over the championship lead having risen to second in the standings after the day’s earlier second race but, as a result of his non-score, has dropped to fourth behind Kane.