Aron Smith took his maiden victory in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship but his win was overshadowed somewhat by
Gordon Shedden becoming 2012 champion.
Smith took the lead from
Tom Onslow-Cole after an early safety car period and went on to lead the remainder of the race – despite a second safety car period closing up the pack behind.
Behind Smith, Shedden crossed the line second to wrap up the championship title having been allowed through by team-mate
Matt Neal – with Shedden also setting the fastest lap to ensure he was out of reach of the defending champion. Shedden did have one brief scare on lap one when he was pushed from behind and hit the BMW of Rob Collard, putting Collard into a spin that saw him collected by Will Bratt's Audi.
Collard's retirement handed the Independents' title to Andrew Jordan.
Neal took third as his championship was conceded, with Jordan fourth and
Jason Plato fifth. Plato had gone into the race second in the standings but couldn't keep pace with the leaders and was unable to take the title fight into the final round, while Frank Wrathall rounded out the top six.
The race was marred by a number of incidents however, with Dan Welch becoming stranded in the gravel at Paddock after a clash with Nick Foster and Andy Nearte, while Neate then caused a multi-car shunt when he rejoined after running wide at Graham Hill Bend and hit the Toyota of Adam Morgan – putting the Speedworks man into the barrier at speed. Aaron Williamson and Onslow-Cole then went off avoiding Morgan's damaged car as it came back across the circuit.