Gordon Shedden has secured the victory in the second race of the day at Silverstone as Honda Racing assured them the Drivers Championship.
The math beforehand was simple – Jason Plato had to bring his normally aspirated Silverline Chevrolet up from twenty fifth on the grid and into the top six with Neal failing to score.
Click here for the full Round 29 Results.
Off the line, Shedden gained the advantage as Neal made a slower start and led from lights to flag to take the Championship battle into the final race of the season.
The slow starting Neal gave Onslow-Cole the chance to jump into second ahead of Neal. Back in the pack, Airwaves Racing’s Mat Jackson suffered yet another puncture and had to pit for a tyre change and Frank Wrathall had his front door opened in a collision when Andy Neate tagged team-mate Tom Chilton – the Dynojet racer later had to pit for repairs.
Neal was able to close the gap to Shedden when Onslow-Cole slid wide at Brooklands and Neal took advantage and within three laps, he had closed on his Scottish team-mate.
The outsider for the Championship, Plato, had worked his way up to tenth by the lap ten, and he was given a helping hand on lap fourteen with the introduction of the Safety Car due to the debris on track from the spin from WSR’s Nick Foster, who lost control on the exit of Woodcote and James Thompson innocently collected him.
Once the Safety Car was withdrawn on lap seventeen, the field was bunched up and Plato was sitting eighth, with the lapped car of Wrathall ahead of him.
Shedden made the best restart and opened up a gap over Neal, who had Onslow-Cole to defend from, while Plato was looking to work his way forward and keep himself in contention.
Eighth became seventh on lap 21 as the 2010 Champion got up the inside of Chilton and Luffield and the two of them ran side by side across the line, and Plato took the position on the inside.
Further back, Thompson slowed up after losing his Airwaves Racing Ford Focus ST at Brooklands and he showed off his rally skills to save the slide.
At the flag, Shedden secured the victory by just over half a second from Neal, while Onslow-Cole rounded out the podium position and took the Independent Victory.
Fourth was Dave Newsham for Special Tuning Racing, the Scottish driver securing his best result to date while Dan Welch secured his first points finish in the Proton Gen-2 as he finished tenth.
1995 Champion John Cleland made the draw for the final grid reversal of the season and he drew number nine, which will place Alex MacDowall on Pole Position with Plato directly behind him. Sharing the front row with MacDowall will be Chilton, while the title contenders line up eighth and ninth.
Neal leads Shedden by six points – 254 to 248, and will secure the title if he finishes ahead of Shedden or if he shadows home his Scottish team-mate, while Shedden will aim to outscore Neal to secure his first crown and the first Scottish Champion since Cleland in 1995.
The final race of the season will get underway at 17.15 BST.