Chilton romps clear for reverse grid victory

Motorbase Performance's Tom Chilton has taken his first British Touring Car Championship race victory of the season after winning the reverse grid finale at Brands Hatch.

The Ford Focus RS driver won the final race of the opening weekend after starting from third and moves into second position in the early points standings as a result.

Having from the second row, Chilton slotted in behind the Honda of Matt Neal and the fast starting BMW of Stephen Jelley during the early stages of the race, but managed to navigate his way into the lead after passing Jelley and Neal near the halfway point of the race.

From the moment the Motorbase driver passed Neal on the 14th lap of the race, Chilton was able to enjoy the luxury of controlling his pace at the head of the field, while the battle for the remaining podium places intensified.

As a result of running the softer option tyre, Neal's began pace to deteriorate and subsequently began to fall back into the clutches of Jelley’s Team Parker Racing 1 Series.

The pair ultimately touched on the 16th lap of the race, which sent Neal into a half-spin and temporarily handed Jelley track position in second.

However, whilst Jelley handed the position back to Neal, AmD's Rory Butcher took full advantage of the situation duly romped past the pair into second position. It was a position the Honda Civic Type R driver would hold to secure a first ever BTCC podium finish.

Jelley capped off a magnificent weekend to emerge with his first podium since winning back in Rockingham 2009 with a third place finish ahead of early championship leader Josh Cook in fourth.

Defending champion Colin Turkington salvaged valuable points with a fifth place finish on what has proved to be a trying weekend for the Team BMW driver, while Tom Oliphant followed behind in sixth.

Chris Smiley added to BTC Racing's impressive opening weekend points haul in seventh, while Neal eventually limped across the line in eighth after suffering damage on the final lap of the race.