Jason Plato resisted Honda’s Gordon Shedden to win the second British Touring Car Championship race of the day at Oulton Park by 0.093s, with Andrew Jordan in third.
A second victory in as many races means that Plato became the first man to win in the championship with maximum ballast of 75 kilograms, as he just edged Shedden over the line.
Plato was able to hold his lead off the line as Shedden moved quickly to cover off Jordan in third, with Rob Collard making an excellent start to jump up to fourth.
Those four broke away from the chasing pack, but unlike the day’s opening race, Plato was unable to shake off the chasing Honda, with Shedden occasionally dropping back only to quickly reappear on the tail of the Volkswagen.
Shedden continued his pursuit of Plato as the pair edged away from Jordan and Collard, with the Honda man twice nudging Plato into the Island hairpin.
Plato seemed to have done enough for victory having gaped Shedden slightly in the closing laps, but on the final tour the Scotsman drew close to the double champion into Lodge corner, before drawing alongside in his Civic on the run to line.
Plato had just enough of advantage to keep first place, however, and in so doing claimed a 92nd win in the championship.
Jordan had another fruitful outing as he completed the podium in third – having earlier finished fourth in Race One – as he pulled enough of a gap to avoid some last-lap drama behind.
Collard had looked well placed to score fourth after his strong start, but team-mate Andy Priaulx had narrowed the gap to the former heading into the final lap. As the pair headed into the hairpin, the pair squeezed into one another and collided, with Collard pulling off immediately on the exit with left-rear suspension damage. Priaulx too was in trouble, as he struggled with his front-right tyre and dropped to 15th by the flag.
That promoted Matt Neal to fourth, while there was some good news for West Surrey Racing as Sam Tordoff brought his BMW home in fifth. That was just reward for the Yorkshireman after two fantastic passes on Adam Morgan and Aron Smith – the latter a well-judged late lunge into Lodge.
Morgan was able to follow Tordoff through in that pass to claim sixth, which will see him start race three from pole, while Smith finished just in front of team-mate Colin Turkington, who recovered well having started in 13th.
Jack Goff was a quiet ninth in the second MG ahead of Jeff Smith, who claimed a first top-ten finish of the season in his Eurotech Honda Civic.
Race Three gets underway at 17:42 BST.
Points scoring result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 99 | Jason PLATO |  |
Team BMR | Volkswagen CC | 15 | 21:55.812 | 1:27.031 | 1 | |
| 2 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | 0.093 | 1:26.939 | 2 |
| 3 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | |
MG 888 Racing | MG 6GT | 15 | 1.52 | 1:27.184 | 3 |
| 4 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Honda Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | 7.403 | 1:26.960 | 5 |
| 5 | 7 | C | Sam TORDOFF | |
Team JCT600 with GardX | BMW 125i M Sport | 15 | 8.369 | 1:26.768 | 9 |
| 6 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
WIX Racing | Mercedes Benz A-Class | 15 | 9.822 | 1:27.139 | 10 | |
| 7 | 40 | Árón SMITH |  |
Team BMR | Volkswagen CC | 15 | 11.536 | 1:27.000 | 7 | |
| 8 | 1 | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMR | Volkswagen CC | 15 | 11.787 | 1:27.141 | 13 | |
| 9 | 31 | M | Jack GOFF | |
MG 888 Racing | MG 6GT | 15 | 12.276 | 1:27.196 | 11 |
| 10 | 55 | Jeff SMITH | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic | 15 | 15.654 | 1:27.222 | 6 | |
| 11 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 15 | 16.116 | 1:27.550 | 15 | |
| 12 | 30 | Martin DEPPER | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic | 15 | 16.865 | 1:27.286 | 14 | |
| 13 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes Benz A-Class | 15 | 23.715 | 1:27.956 | 12 | |
| 14 | 101 | Rob AUSTIN | |
Exocet AlcoSense | Audi A4 | 15 | 23.809 | 1:27.546 | 19 | |
| 15 | 111 | C | Andy PRIAULX | |
Team IHG Rewards Club | BMW 125i M Sport | 15 | 26.437 | 1:27.009 | 4 |