Paul O’Neill managed to take his Team Sunshine.co.uk with Tech-Speed Motorsport Honda Integra to a third podium finish of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship this weekend in what was a brilliant weekend for the team.

The Widnes based driver took a brilliant second place finish during the final race of the day keeping the likes of Jackson, Neal and Shedden behind him throughout the race.

A good solid seventh place finish in race one followed by a sixth place finish in race two meant that he would start the final race of the day from pole position following the top 6 positions being reversed.

Paul started well and started to make a gap between himself and the chasing pack but a collision on the grid with young MacDowall and Depper caused a lengthy safety car period.

Paul did well to keep Onslow-Cole in the LPG-powered Ford Focus behind in the first few laps after the restart but was helpless to prevent him to blast past on the straight. Despite the Ford’s pace, O’Neill was able to keep the sister Ford of Chilton at bay to hold on for a magnificent second place finish.

“Without the Safety Car, we had a chance to win that race but we lost the best of the tyres when it was deployed,” said Paul. “We knew the Fords were going to be quick but I just went out there and raced my own race. I got my best start of the year and was able to defend well and second place is almost as good as a win. The fact I was able to pull away from Chilton is testament to the Tech-Speed for the job they have done in giving me a great car.”

Meanwhile despite failing to score points, John George experienced one of his best weekends of racing and was unlucky not to break into the top 10.

“I knew all weekend that we had the pace in the car and it was great to be on it,” said the 49 year-old, “even if it’s disappointing not to be able to score a point. This has been my best weekend ever when it comes to my own performance at the wheel of the car as I was able to dice with the likes of Jackson and Plato on track.”

Photo Credit: SpeedSnaps.co.uk

James Mappin is the editor-in-chief covering the British Touring Car Championship. You can contact him at james@btcccrazy.co.uk, on twitter @BTCCCrazy or on his personal twitter account @jamesmappin.