Plato wins for Silverline Chevrolet at Snetterton

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Sun 8th August 2010 Silverline Chevrolet's Jason Plato won round 16 of the 2010 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Snetterton this afternoon, making the most of a broken gear lever for his pole-sitting teammate, Alex MacDowall.

MacDowall had qualified his Chevrolet Cruze on pole position for the Snetterton opener, but his lead was shortlived as he slipped down the order heading into the Richers right-hander for the first time. MacDowall’s misfortune was Plato's delight and the 2001 champion soon led the race from Airwaves BMW’s Mat Jackson.

The LPG-powered Ford Focus of Tom Chilton was third, but he lost out to both Honda Racing Civics at the bombhole, dropping to fifth. There was also an early spin for WSR’s Andy Neate, as well as retirement for Martin Johnson and David Pinkney.

At the front, Plato was forced to defend against significant pressure from Jackson, whose BMW appeared to be extremely fast. However, as the laps went on, Plato defended resolutely and there was no way past for Jackson. Eventually, the Airwaves BMW driver was forced to settle for second place.

Behind the battle for the lead, Chilton made up the two places he lost to Shedden and Neal to climb back to third. Meanwhile, in the second Team Aon Ford, Tom Onslow-Cole worked his way through the pack after starting from the back of the grid. He quickly made his way into the top ten and began to battle with points-leader Matt Neal.

Onslow-Cole took the place and if Matt Neal thought that was bad, there was worse to come. His Honda Civic picked up a puncture on the penultimate lap and he was eventually classified down in 18th.

At the front, Plato took the chequered flag with a two-second lead over Mat Jackson. Chilton finished third, Shedden fourth and Jame Nash fifth. Onslow-Cole ended the race in sixth, ahead of Steven Kane, Tom Boardman, Andrew Jordan and Rob Collard.

Race winner Jason Plato said, "It was a real shame for Alex. He performed fantastically yesterday. He’s very young has raw pace. It's a good result for me though and even better with Matt [Neal] getting a puncture."