I don’t think there was a better race in 2009 than the title-deciding final round of the British Touring Car Championship, on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit. So I thought I’d watch it again, and try to keep up with all the action. It wasn’t easy. An A4 pad was involved.

The grid was the easy part: Matt Neal, Paul O’Neill, Tom Chilton, Jonathan Adam, Rob Collard, Colin Turkington, Fabrizio Giovanardi, Jason Plato. The important facts were that the three title contenders started 6th, 7th and 8th, in their championship order, with Giovanardi’s team-mate Neal on pole position.

Lap 1 was a bit crazy: everyone overtook everyone (sort of), and Collard’s early off eventually brought out the safety car. At that point the top six was Neal, Turkington, Giovanardi, Chilton, Tom Onslow-Cole and Plato.

Neal – everyone’s favourite cartoon villain – was not keen to make a quick getaway at the restart on lap 4, instead driving slowly and defensively to force Turkington back into the clutches of Giovanardi. Giovanardi had a bit of a look, but that just gave Chilton a look at Giovanardi, while Turkington scampered away.

Lap 5 saw something of a repeat: Giovanardi had another go at Turkington, but this time it was distracting enough for Chilton to pass Giovanardi. By way of response, Giovanardi flashed his lights at Chilton. It was an ineffective comeback.

By lap 8, Plato had made his way up to 5th, behind Neal, Turkington, Chilton and Giovanardi. Giovanardi managed to get his revenge and pass Chilton; Plato followed Giovanardi through. Plato maintained momentum and got alongside Giovanardi, but it wasn’t enough to make the pass stick. Chilton’s backwards momentum continued, Gordon Shedden making a successful move on him too. Top six: Neal, Turkington, Giovanardi, Plato, Shedden, Chilton.

Lap 9 was key. Turkington made a move on Neal at Druids, and – six of one, half a dozen of the other – Neal ended up well onto the grass, with Turkington taking a quick excursion too. Turkington recovered to take the lead, while Neal rejoined in 3rd behind Giovanardi. Giovanardi immediately started stalking Turkington, and Chilton took his place back off Shedden. Plato overtook Neal, who ended up on the grass again. With Giovanardi continuing to stalk Turkington, Plato took Giovanardi over the line at the end of the lap.

Plato kept up the speed into lap 10, and took the lead from Turkington at the first corner. After all that, the top six was Plato, Turkington, Giovanardi, Chilton, Shedden and Jackson. Giovanardi lost out following an overtaking attempt yet again at the end of the lap: he had a go at Turkington, but lost out to Chilton. Chilton got alongside Turkington, but it wasn’t enough. So the top four was Plato, Turkington, Chilton and Giovanardi.

After that it calmed down a lot, the top four spacing out a bit, and Neal making his was back up to 5th. At the start of the final lap, Plato had a comfortable lead, with Turkington in 2nd closely followed by Chilton, then a gap back to Giovanardi, followed by his team-mate Neal. Chilton was threatening, and to keep the drama up Turkington’s exhaust was spitting flames, but it stayed like that over the finish line.

Reading that back, it’s amazing how many recoveries there were: Chilton was up and down the order like nobody’s business, Neal dropped back and recovered, and it’s almost unbelievable that Plato got up there to take the win. The other striking feature was the risk and reward of overtaking: there were many times that a driver dropped back having been disadvantaged by making an unsuccessful overtaking manoeuvre. With the title hanging in the balance on top of all that, it was a quite extraordinary race.

So there it is. 2009 was pretty bloody good, and hopefully 2010 will be too. Happy New Year.