A battle lower down the order had George and Hughes dicing for ninth place, but back at the front, Onslow-Cole had decided that third wasn’t where he wanted to finish for his first BTCC podium and was ready to go for second. On lap 17, he took the place going into the Esses, but on the run through turn one, Chilton dived back inside to get the line into Deene and retake the place, despite Onslow-Coles best efforts to fend off the challenge and keep the Vectra behind. However, the rookie wasn’t to be beaten, and on the penultimate lap he was through again coming through turn one and this time wasn’t to be defeated – securing second behind double winner Giovanardi.
Chilton had to settle for third ahead of
Mat Jackson, with Plato and Turner rounding out the top six. Matt Allison took seventh ahead of Dave Pinkney – securing the first points for A-Tech – while Hughes and George rounded out the top ten. George will now start the final race of the weekend from the front of the grid. Rick Kerry took eleventh in his diesel powered
BMW 1 Series, while Bell rounded out the twelve finishers – coming agonisingly close to making up the lap difference to Kerry that had been there when he exited the pits after his earlier puncture.
