Double Championship Glory in 2010 for LPG Powered Team Aon

13 Oct 2010

Tom Chilton stayed consistent all season tallying valuable points at every race.

She is nothing if not fickle this racing - dealing out grandeur and heartbreak with equal disregard - so often dismissing any association with proper order. Would it have made a remarkable story had Team Aon won the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship outright? Yes.

Team Aon the Littlehampton, England based squad celebrate their double championship glory.

Is it at all appropriate that Tom Onslow-Cole's car refused to cooperate in the last race of the season when he was on the scent in the title hunt? Absolutely not. Still, anytime a team exits a race season with double championships, it's tough to sulk for very long.

K&N supported, LPG powered Team Aon celebrated a extraordinary conclusion to the 2010 race season as the Arena Motorsport run Ford Focus squad won the Independents Team Trophy and Tom Chilton secured the Independents Trophy for drivers.

At the season ender contested in Brands Hatch in Kent, England, Tom Onslow-Cole made a strong start to race one as he bid to win the drivers title, but his challenge was over almost before it began,

Chilton consistency was rewarded with the Independent Driver Trophy.

as he suffered gearbox failure on lap nine, ending his championship challenge with Jason Plato. Tom Chilton on the other hand recovered strongly from a poor start to bring his Calor Gas powered Focus ST home in seventh position scoring valuable points in the process.

The second race of the day saw both Team Aon cars make great starts with Chilton moving forward from his seventh place start and Tom Onslow-Cole jumping 11 places from the back of the grid. However, it wasn't to be the New-Malden ace's day as he suffered a hydraulics failure ending his race on lap 11 this time. Chilton meanwhile made good progress and finished the race in fifth, once again adding to his championship tally, and securing enough points for Team Aon to be awarded the Independents Team Trophy.

That set the final race of the season up to be a hugely tense affair, as the Independents driver's title was within Chilton's grasp as he started from third on the traditional reverse grid. Chilton finished the final race of the season on the podium as champion, securing double independent trophy success for the Littlehampton based squad. Tom Onslow-Cole was once again desperately unlucky, as he again suffered with hydraulics failure on the warm-up lap.

"It was a hell of a fight to win the Independent Driver Trophy, and right now it feels like the best thing ever. We obviously would have loved to have won the series outright, but it is tough to compete with the manufacturer teams, so winning the independents is all we can really ask for; we'll have a good party tonight," remarked Chilton.

Having started his racing career at just 14 years old, it's no surprise that Chilton has re-written the history books, he was the youngest driver ever to stand on the BTCC podium at just 17 years old. Now at age 25, he has once again made history and added to his already impressive resume.

"It's been a frustrating day and a really bad way to end the season," commented Onslow-Cole after the race. "But we did come here in the title hunt and I've still finished fourth in the championship, which is a great achievement for only my third season in the BTCC and so I can go home happy, with the focus on coming back next year even stronger."

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