Tom Onslow-Cole has thrown himself firmly in the mix in the race for the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship title after securing two wins in the fourth round of the campaign at
Thruxton.
The VX Racing driver, who took his first Vauxhall pole at
Donington Park, repeated the feat at the high-speed Hampshire circuit despite only completing one flying lap during the qualifying session and then ran second behind Gordon Shedden when the opening race kicked off.
When Shedden suffered a tyre failure, Onslow-Cole moved into the lead and maintained a healthy gap the chasing pack to secure his first win of the campaign.
Having made a poor start in race two, the second-year driver climbed back through the pack to second place despite maximum ballast on the Vectra and closed in onto the rear of team-mate Fabrizio Giovanardi in the closing laps before taking the lead a matter of corners from home when the Italian picked up a puncture.
Drawing nine for the grid for race three, he was left with work to do if he was to equal the record of Dan Eaves in taking three wins in a weekend and while he couldn't manage that, he did come home in a solid seventh place to jump up to third in the standings – just two points behind
Jason Plato.
"It's been a fantastic weekend, absolutely brilliant," Onslow-Cole – who turned 21 on Friday – told
Crash.net. "I came here quietly confident because we were carrying no weight and showed form in qualifying but to carry it through to take two wins was great for me and I'm over the moon.
"We had a great set-up all weekend and even with the weight, you don't get hurt as much at a circuit like this and can still get the results as we showed. I really didn't do well in the draw for race three and if I was going to pick a high number, I should have done ten to get Fabrizio on pole! Six would have been best for me personally and I really shot myself in the foot by pulling nine.
