Vauxhall and Onslow-Cole would have the run of the weekend
Race 1
Tom Onslow-Cole has won the first of today’s three HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship rounds at the Thruxton circuit in Hampshire.
Vauxhall driver Onslow-Cole, this weekend celebrating his 21st birthday, lost his pole position advantage at the start to the Team Halfords Honda of Gordon Shedden.
But Shedden was later forced to make a pit stop to have a punctured tyre changed, this gifting Onslow-Cole an easy win in his Vectra VXR. He also set the race’s fastest lap for a maximum score.
Second, having come through from eighth on the grid, was the Team RAC BMW 320si of Colin Turkington. Third was Jason Plato’s SEAT Leon TDI and, right behind in fourth after making light contact with him on several occasions, the driver he is trying to chase down in the championship, current series leader and reigning champion Fabrizio Giovanardi (Vauxhall).
But this later became third for Giovanardi as Plato was disqualified when his car failed a post-race ride-height check.
Thus, crossing the line in fifth but classified fourth - and in the middle of a long queue of cars that spent the race fighting for position - was the Vectra of Matt Neal. Fifth, like Turkington have made up numerous positions - this time from 12th on the grid, was the BMW 320si of BMW Dealer Team UK's Mat Jackson.
Sixth and seventh, each having falling victim to Jackson in the closing laps, were SEAT's Darren Turner and Team Halfords' Tom Chilton. Adam Jones (Air Cool SEAT Leon) fought his way to eighth and ninth - dramatically edging his son and team-mate Andrew into tenth by a mere 8/1000ths of a second - was Mike Jordan in his John Guest Racing Honda Integra.
As a result, Onslow-Cole has suddenly leapt to third in the championship standings behind Giovanardi and Plato ahead of the second of today’s races that is scheduled to start at 2.10pm.
Result, Thruxton BTCC race 1 (provisional):
1. Tom Onslow-Cole (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, 18 laps in 21m34.274s
2. Colin Turkington (GBR), Team RAC/BMW 320si, +2.937s
3. Fabrizio Giovanardi (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra, +4.262s
Fastest lap: Onslow-Cole, 1m18.883s (107.52mph)
Race 2 would see its fair share of drama
Race 2
Tom Onslow-Cole’s 21st birthday weekend just gets better – he has just won the second of today’s HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship rounds, adding to his victory in the day’s opening race… but in the most dramatic of circumstances.
Vauxhall team-mate Fabrizio Giovanardi, having wrestled away the lead from Team RAC’s Colin Turkington, looked certain to win entering the final lap.
But there was to a be a cruel ending for the Italian – with a corner to go, his Vectra VXR suffered a punctured tyre and the car speared off the track at high speed.
Onslow-Cole was therefore able to sweep by to make it two wins from two races – a result that has now moved him up to second in the BTCC Drivers’ standings behind Giovanardi. The gutted Italian (pictured above), who’d set the race’s fastest lap, was at least able to crawl across the line in tenth for a point.
Behind, Turkington rebuffed all manner of attempts to pass him – chiefly those of Vauxhall’s Matt Neal – to cling on to his second runners-up spot of the day. Neal took third with Darren Turner’s SEAT Leon TDI – with which he’d run off track with briefly in a tangle – and Mat Jackson’s BMW Dealer Team UK BMW 320si following closely behind in fourth and fifth.
Sixth and picking up just enough points to stay ahead of Jackson in the lead of the Independent Drivers’ table was Adam Jones in his Team Air Cool SEAT Leon. Within a second of him at the end in seventh – having fought through from last on the grid – was the recovering Plato. Gordon Shedden’s team Halfords Honda Civic was eighth.
Ninth, with another great comeback drive, was Andrew Jordan in his John Guest Racing Honda Integra. The 18-year-old had been nudged into a spin on the opening lap but, able to close back up to the pack during a safety car period, he then set about charging back through the order to great effect.
His reward was pole position in the draw for race three’s starting grid which will see the top nine positions swapped around.
Meanwhile, the safety car period had been required to recover the Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch of Arkas/Sunshine.co.uk’s Martyn Bell and SEAT Toledo of BTC Racing’s Chris Stockton which had both become stranded after opening lap skirmishes. Fancied runner Tom Chilton was also badly delayed on lap one with a spin and then a pit stop for fresh tyres and he finished back in 12th spot in his Halfords Honda.
Result, Thruxton BTCC race 2 (provisional):
1. Tom Onslow-Cole (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, 19 laps in 27m58.042s
2. Colin Turkington (GBR), Team RAC/BMW 320si, +0.518s
3. Matt Neal (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, +0.854s
Fastest lap: Giovanardi, 1m19.007s (107.35mph)
Jason Plato took the win in race 3
Race 3
Jason Plato has won the third of today’s three HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship rounds at the Thruxton circuit in Hampshire.
Plato, who’d had a problematic opening two races, got his title bid back on track with what in the end was an unchallenged victory in his diesel-powered SEAT Leon TDI.
However, the early stages had been led by Gordon Shedden’s Team Halfords Honda until – just as in race one – his car suffered a punctured tyre.
Finishing second, after avoiding several skirmishes around him, was the BMW 320si of BMW Dealer Team UK driver Mat Jackson and third the Vauxhall Vectra VXR of championship leader Fabrizio Giovanardi.
Second for much of the race, though, and putting Plato under pressure had been impressive 18-year-old Andrew Jordan until his John Guest Racing Honda Integra cruelly retired with an engine problem.
The result means that Italian Giovanardi, the reigning champion, continues to lead the standings ahead of Plato but up to third is Vauxhall’s 21-year-old signing Tom Onslow-Cole who finished this race in seventh following two wins earlier in the day.
With eight different race winners from the season’s opening 12 races, the BTCC next heads to the Croft circuit in North Yorkshire for its next three rounds on Sunday 1 June.
Points leader Giovanardi said: “It has been a very unpredictable three races today – in race two I was leading until I had a puncture and race three I saw Jason moving away in the lead so knew I had to get the best result I could. I think Croft will be stronger for the SEAT but we have improved our car a lot. All I know is that it will be another very big fight.”
Meanwhile, race three's top six was completed by Vauxhall's Matt Neal, Team Air Cool driver Adam Jones - whose SEAT Leon had, at one stage, made it three abreast with Jordan and Jackson through the daunting Noble corner - and Colin Turkington, his team RAC BMW 320si getting the better of Onslow-Cole in the closing stages. SEAT''s Darren Turner would surely have been among this group had he not needed a pit stop to replace a punctured tyre and slumped to 16th.
Eighth, giving the John Guest crew at least something to cheer, was Mike Jordan, while Steven Kane's Motorbase BMW 320si and Harry Vaulkhard's Robertshaw Chevrolet Lacetti - depsite contact with one another at the final corner - rounded out the top ten. Vaulkhard's tenth place is his first points finish in the BTCC.
There was six retirements during the race. BTCC returnee Gareth Howell was the first to vanish with suspected suspension damage to his BTC Racing SEAT Toledo. Team-mate Chris Stockton's car then crashed out at the Club chicane in a collision with Stephen Jelley's Team RAC BMW 320si, the latter also stopping two laps later with accident damage to his car.
Like Shedden, who at least recovered to finish a distant 17th following a pit stop, team-mate Tom Chilton also suffered a punctured tyre but was forced out. And with two laps to go, Alan Taylor's Robertshaw Honda Integra slithered straight on into the barrier at the chicane. But at least he'd started the race - unable to make the grid had been Michael Doyle's In-Tune Honda Civic which had suffered engine troubles earlier in the day.
Result, Thruxton BTCC race 3 (provisional):
1. Jason Plato (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon TDI, 16 laps in 21m37.731s
2. Mat Jackson (GBR), BMW Dealer Team UK/BMW 320si, +1.546s
3. Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, +2.300s
Fastest lap: Plato, 1m18.945s (107.42mph)