After the excitement and action at Mondello Park, there was almost a sense of calm around Snetterton for rounds 19, 20 and 21 of the 2005 Dunlop MSA BTCC. It remains close in the fight for the title with Matt Neal just managing to extend his lead over Yvan Muller by three points. Tom Chilton took a brace of impressive wins in the first two races of the day, and Jason Plato ended the weekend on a high with victory in race three.

RACE ONE

Usually equipped with a lightning start, it was a surprise to see Rob Collard stutter away from the line. His hard-earned front row start was quickly negated when a clutch problem caused his MG ZS to move off slowly. Engulfed by the following pack, Collard managed to slot into sixth at the first corner.

Polesitting Tom Chilton shot into the lead, feeling so comfortable that he weaved a little to warm up the tyres on his Honda Civic. Dan Eaves put his Team Halfords Integra into second position, ahead of Yvan Muller, Colin Turkington and Matt Neal.

At the end of the first lap, Chilton already had a lead of 1.2 seconds and the young driver never really looked back on his way to a lights-to-flag victory. Behind him, Dan Eaves was a comfortable second and the championship battle was mirrored in the fight for third. For just over half the race it was Muller who had the upper hand, but the Frenchman was slow on the approach to Russell on lap ten which handed Neal the opportunity he had been waiting for to slip past. As he also recorded the fastest lap of the race, Neal extended his points lead over Muller by three points.

Behind the front four, Rob Collard ended the race in fifth position after an almost race-long battle with Colin Turkington. James Pickford finished sixth, with Turkington seventh after a trip off on to the grass. James Kaye, Gavin Smith and Luke Hines rounded out the top ten. SEAT Sport UK’s Jason Plato endured continued bad luck when his engine blew early on in the race.

RACE TWO

The second race of the day produced a replica result within the top five, with Tom Chilton taking his second win of the day and his third of the season. The Team Halfords pairing of Dan Eaves and Matt Neal finished second and third respectively, just ahead of VX Racing’s Yvan Muller and West Surrey Racing’s Rob Collard.

At the start of the race, it was Muller on the move, as the Frenchman got the jump on Matt Neal to claim fourth at the first corner. Later on the first lap, Muller climbed to second when he passed Neal’s teammate Dan Eaves at the Bombhole. It was a shortlived second position however, as Eaves pulled off an almost identical move on the following lap to claim the spot back, just after Muller had challenged Chilton for the lead.

Muller fought off the advances of fellow title protagonist Neal until the penultimate lap of the race when the multiple Independent champion managed to find a way past, with the help of a gentle nudge. Just as in the first race, Neal also set the fastest laptime to increase his championship lead by a further three points.

Outside of the top five, James Kaye finished sixth, ahead of Colin Turkington, Luke Hines, and James Pickford. Jason Plato once again proved his mastery of the reverse grid system by finishing tenth to secure pole position for round 21.

RACE THREE

Race three at Snetterton brought a turnaround in fortunes for the SEAT Sport UK team as Jason Plato scored his second win of the season. Reigning SEAT Cupra champion James Pickford defended valiantly from Yvan Muller to follow his teammate home in second position. Muller held off a charging Matt Neal, who started ninth, to make his podium first visit to the podium of the weekend.

Before the race even started, Rob Collard’s weekend went from bad to worse as he pitted on the green flag lap to fix a brake problem with his MG ZS.

The three SEAT Toledo Cupras started at the front of the grid and Plato and Pickford got away well, but Luke Hines was beaten to the first corner by Colin Turkington and overtaken later on the opening lap by Yvan Muller. Hines was then running in fifth position when he received a hefty knock from Dan Eaves that allowed both he and fellow Team Halfords driver Matt Neal to overtake the SEAT. Although of little consolation to Hines, Eaves later received an official reprimand for the move.

Lap four saw a change within the Vauxhall camp as Muller passed Turkington to move up to third position. The 2003 champion then spent the remainder of the race glued to the tail of Pickford, who defended resolutely to secure his first podium finish in the BTCC. Muller damaged his front splitter in contact with Pickford and was himself forced to defend during the latter stages of the race after Neal passed Eaves to move up to fourth.

Despite a sideways moment that he caught impressively, Muller held off Neal through to the chequered flag. This time it was the Astra Sport Hatch driver that set the fastest lap of the race, which combined with his on-track advantage, saw him close up the gap again by three points.

Muller’s teammate. Colin Turkington, suffered a spectacular engine failure that laid a smoke screen around the track before he retired to the pits.

The order at the chequered flag was Plato from Pickford, Muller, Neal and Eaves. James Kaye finished sixth with double race-winner Tom Chilton in seventh. Gavin Smith and the two Lexus IS200s of Richard Williams and Ian Curley completed the top ten.

With nine races remaining, the provisional championship standings are as follows: Neal 234, Muller 218, Eaves 207, Plato 152, Turkington 136.