Tom Chilton won the first race for an LPG powered car in race one at Brands Hatch, taking the chequered flag first in a lights-to-flag victory for Team Aon. Conditions were soaking wet, meaning that there was to be no repeat of the tyre choice problems that happened last week at Rockingham. Coming home in second was Team Honda’s Gordon Shedden, whilst Chilton’s team-mate Tom Onslow-Cole completed the podium.
Click here for the full race results from Round 7.
It was a dominant first win of the season for Chilton, who took victory by almost 6 seconds. It marks the first win since the end of 2008 for Chilton, who last won in the final race of the ’08 season on the Brands Hatch Indy circuit. It is also the first win for a Ford in the championship since the 2000 season, the final of the Super Touring era.
“I felt I was doing quite well in my swimming trunks and goggles out there,” Chilton told btcc.net. “Normally my specs steam up when it’s wet but not today. The Focus is the best car I’ve ever driven in the wet. It did everything I asked. We have got it set up perfectly.
“A first win for LPG, the first for Ford since 2000, two Toms on the podium – just a great result for all the people in our team. We even had one chap do a 43hr shift without sleep back at the workshop. Just great.”
At the start of the race Rob Collard had got off to a great start in his BMW, but he soon lost out to Shedden who proved to be the best of the rest in the wet conditions. Despite setting the second fastest race lap, Shedden’s best was still over half a second shy of Chilton’s best proving just how crushing the Focus’ performance was.
Onslow-Cole made up for his unlucky qualifying session, in which he had most of his best time annulled, by getting a superb start and finishing the race in third to join Chilton on the podium.
Matt Neal finished in fifth position to edge closer to Plato in the points standings, with Paul O’Neill finishing in sixth after a late-race charge.
The two works Chevrolet’s of Alex MacDowall and Jason Plato failed to show the promising testing form from earlier in the year around the Brands Hatch Indy circuit, with the drivers finishing in 7th and 8th places respectively.
Tom Boardman finished in 9th, whilst the two Airwaves BMW’s of Mat Jackson and Steven Kane failed to improve much on their qualifying performances and finished in 10th and 11th places respectively.