Jason Plato took the spoils in round 18 of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at
Donington Park to extend his lead still further, with main title rival Fabrizio Giovanardi failing to score.
Plato took the spoils ahead of
Matt Neal and Mike Jordan to extend his lead over Giovanardi to 25 points, despite being forced to start the final race from ninth place thanks to the reverse grid rules.
With small 'rivers' running down the Craner Curves and across the circuit through Schwantz Curve, conditions going into the race were far from ideal - so much so that yellow flags would be out for the entire race at the Old Hairpin due to a small flood ont he inside of the corner.
When the race kicked off,
Colin Turkington made the best start to lead the field into Redgate having secured pole position when the 'Wheel of Fortune' did its job after the second race. Behind the Team RAC man, Mike Jordan slotted into second ahead of Darren Turner, with Matt Allison slipping down to fourth having started on the front row. Plato, from ninth on the grid was seventh at the end of lap one, while title rival Fabrizio Giovanardi was two places further back.
Turkington wouldn't stay out front for long as the Northern Irishman, struggling to get heat into the front tyres of the
BMW, lost position to Jordan at Hollywood, with Turner also moving past the bright orange car before the end of the lap. Behind them, Allison was in the wars when he ran wide at the Old Hairpin on lap three, dropping out of the top ten and putting Matt Neal into fourth and Plato into fifth.
That led to one of the most dramatic moves of the weekend on lap four, as Turkington, Neal and Plato diced for position coming along the Dunlop Straight. Turkington went to the inside coming under the Dunlop Bridge while Neal was on the right - with Plato deciding to put his Leon right down the middle.
