It’s been a long time coming but James Nash took his maiden victory in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship after a battle with the Audi A4 of Rob Austin which lasted the whole entirety of the race and with it the Independent Drivers Championship lead heading into the final two rounds of the season.

“We had the pace early on and I knew he [Rob Austin] would come good at the end so I just had to fight to pull away as much as I could,” said Nash. “Rob didn’t make any silly lunges and I was able to hold on for the win.”

The two rear-wheel drive cars of Rob Collard and Rob Austin started the race from pole and both got a good start but it didn’t take long until the Newton Pagnell racer passed the two of them to take the lead in which he didn’t look back.

Nash was pushed all the way to the end by Rob Austin but the NGTC Audi couldn’t get past as he had to settle for 2nd and his best ever race finish in the championship equalling the best result of an NGTC car in the BTCC set by Wrathall earlier in the day.

“I just needed another lap. Nash’s tyres were falling away but I just couldn’t get past,” said Austin following his first podium finish of the season. “The car is brilliant. We’ve come such a long way since the start of the season.”

Rob Collard left it late but heading into the final corner he had a chance at taking the win but like Austin he had to settle for a podium finish with third.

The Widnes-based race, Paul O’Neill, looked set to take his third podium of the weekend but the pace looked to tail off in the GoMobile.co.uk Chevrolet Cruze during the latter stages but O’Neill will take much encouragement from a productive weekend.

Two-time and defending champion, Jason Plato, closed the gap to the leaders in the championship after he finished 5th and more importantly ahead of Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden who finished 6th and 21st respectively. Shedden’s no score in the final race leaves the championship wide open with the two Honda drivers tied at the top of the championship.

Jeff Smith and Andy Jordan came home in 7th and 8th ahead of Frank Wrathall who ended the weekend with three points scoring races ahead of the SEAT Leon of Tom Boardman who came from 23rd on the grid to finish just inside the points in 10th.

Elsewhere Mat Jackson ended a terrible weekend in 13th which marked the second non-points scoring weekend which dropped him to second in the Independents Drivers Championship.

For full race classification click here.

For full championship standings click here.

Photo Credit: Jon Hobley

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.