Wrathall takes maiden win in finale

Frank Wrathall took his first British Touring Car victory in the reversed-grid race in the 2012 finale at Brands Hatch.

Wrathall inherited the lead when polesitter Mat Jackson suffered a throttle problem on his NGTC Motorbase Ford Focus.

The Dynojet Toyota Avensis extended its lead over Matt Neal’s Honda Civic to take victory in appalling conditions by nearly seven seconds.

The wet again hindered Jason Plato, who came into the race two points behind Neal in the battle for second in the drivers’ table.

Plato’s MG started ahead of the Honda and ran third early on, but soon had Neal and team-mate Gordon Shedden right on his tail.

On lap three Plato had a moment at Graham Hill Bend and Neal went through, with Shedden soon following.

As Plato fell back through the field to an eventual eighth, Honda drivers Neal, Shedden and Andrew Jordan (Eurotech) lined up to finish in formation as the Japanese marque secured every BTCC title on offer in 2012.

Aron Smith completed a fine weekend by coming through to finish fifth from row four, while Dave Newsham starred on his way through from row 10 to sixth.

Rob Austin’s Audi finished right behind the ES Vectra, while Lea Wood took ninth after a close battle with Plato.

Despite a clash with WSR BMW team-mate Rob Collard, Tom Onslow-Cole recovered to complete the top 10, overcoming the impressive AmD Golf of Ollie Jackson.

Results – 15 laps:
 
Pos  Driver           Team/Car              Time/Gap
  1.  Frank Wrathall   Dynojet Toyota      26m41.205s
  2.  Matt Neal        Honda                 + 6.893s
  3.  Gordon Shedden   Honda                 + 6.980s
  4.  Andrew Jordan    Eurotech Honda        + 7.065s
  5.  Aron Smith       Motorbase Ford       + 10.454s
  6.  Dave Newsham     ES Vauxhall          + 13.776s
  7.  Rob Austin       Austin Audi          + 14.190s
  8.  Jason Plato      MG                   + 18.568s
  9.  Lea Wood         Wood Vauxhall        + 18.834s
 10.  Tom Onslow-Cole  WSR BMW              + 20.277s
 11.  Ollie Jackson    AmD Volkswagen       + 21.974s
 12.  Will Bratt       Austin Audi          + 44.770s
 13.  Nick Foster      WSR BMW            + 1m04.579s
 14.  Liam Griffin     Motorbase Ford     + 1m07.881s
 15.  Tony Hughes      Speedworks Toyota  + 1m10.700s
 16.  Tony Gilham      Gilham Vauxhall    + 1m16.373s
 17.  Jeff Smith       Eurotech Honda     + 1m23.428s
 18.  Chris James      ES Vauxhall        + 1m36.544s
 19.  Rob Collard      WSR BMW                + 1 lap
 
Retirements:
 
     Mat Jackson      Motorbase Ford          3 laps
      Andy Neate       MG                      2 laps
      Daniel Welch     Welch Proton             1 lap
 

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/other-news/touring-cars/btcc/wrathall-takes-maiden-win-in-finale

Leo Kinnunen Danny Kladis Hans Klenk Peter de Klerk Christian Klien