Round 10 - Feature Race

Yvan Muller made it two out of two here at Mondello Park, taking victory in the feature race ahead of Plato, Thompson and Bennett. In the Production class, James Kaye came in first ahead of Paul O'Neill, moving up another step on the podium, and Mat Jackson.

The race started as per normal for feature races this year, with a rolling grid. As the cars came along the straight, all made it through the first corner, with Yvan Muller converting pole position in to the race lead, and Jason Plato in second. At the following corner, Kurt Luby hit the back of Phil Bennett's Astra, and ran off the track, collecting a cone in the process, and forcing him to retire from the race on the following lap.

The lead in the Production class fell to Simon Graves, with Pyper, Harrison, Howell and Kaye all in pursuit. Mat Jackson was in second position, but following his second collision of the day with Simon Graves, fell behind the leading group.

Lap five saw the beginning of a battle between Harrison, Howell and Kaye, with Roger Moen joining in with the antics shortly after. Kaye and Howell both managed to pass Harrison, coming on to the start-finish-straight, before Moen passed Howell for third position.

At the end of lap nine, Steve Soper was the first driver to make his pit stop, and did so without complications. He did however return to the pits on the following lap, this time to retire from the race. Dan Eaves had been circulating with considerable damage to his rear bumper, following early contact with Phil Bennett, and the panel was removed when he came in for his routine stop. On exiting, he stalled the engine in his Peugeot Coupe, causing more delays.

By the middle of the race, Paul O'Neill had closed up on Simon Harrison, before passing both Harrison and Howell, to move up to fourth position. Tom Boardman came in to the pit on lap 17, and did not re-emerge on the track. Simon Graves was another casualty, retiring from second position. Gareth Howell managed to pass Simon Harrison, before drifting wide at Turn 4, and coming to rest against the advertising hoardings in the gravel trap.

There was little more action in the closing stages of the race, other than Paul O'Neill passing James Kaye to move up to second position, where he remained until the end of the race. Following his first podium finish last time out at Silverstone, O'Neill is showing that despite his relative inexperience, he can mix it with the front runners in the Production class.

Driver Quotes:

Yvan Muller: "At the start of the race, I pushed very hard, but in the last 10 laps I slowed down because I had a 10 second lead - I tried not to touch any kerbs, so Jason caught."

Jason Plato: "I'm annoyed this weekend because I feel I've under-performed. The team worked very hard. I didn't perform as well as I should have done in qualifying. There's a long way to go though - Roll on the next one!"

Paul O'Neill: "I'm overjoyed! It's starting to sink in now, that I can drive with these boys. To pull away from Harrison who's in the same car, and Howell who I respect a lot, and is in a very good car, is a joke! When I saw P2 come on the board, I thought, 'I can't believe it!'. I just kept on going, and the car worked better and better, though it had a fuel surge, but even with that it was pulling! I've got blisters, and I feel like Jason Plato!!"

Mat Jackson: