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Monday, 25 September 2006 |
Vauxhall’s Fabrizio Giovanardi worked magic at Brands Hatch this afternoon, turning an unpromising qualifying into the Luton-marque’s 101st British Touring Car Championship victory.
The Italian’s success was at the expense of team-mate, Tom Chilton, who led the race until two laps from the end. The 21-year-old had been struggling with gear shift problems for several minutes and eventually was unable to sustain his blistering pace – which had previously earned him fastest lap of the race.
In the end Chilton, from Reigate, finished eighth after reigning
champion, Matt Neal, tried an optimistic move on the VX Racing driver,
which saw his Team Halfords car launched into the air and out of the
race.
Today’s victory was all the more sweet after VX Racing qualified
eighth, ninth and 12th on Saturday, with Chilton leading Giovanardi and
Gavin Smith in the times. Steady progress today saw the team improve
its results with every race, ultimately claiming the top prize.
Smith suffered abysmal luck. After being pushed into the pit-lane wall
off the start in today’s first race, the team was unable to repair the
car in time for the second. From the back of the grid the Irishman
managed to fight his way up to 10th in the final race of the day but
says this will be a weekend to forget.
Fabrizio Giovanardi: “When I need to fight to win I feel great. I prefer to win the race like this than when I lead by miles.
“The car was good. I watched my team-mate in front and he was really
fast. I thought, if he’s fast I can be faster, but I decided to
concentrate on not making any mistakes rather than pushing Tom. It
turned out to be a good choice.”
Tom Chilton: “It’s frustrating but that’s motor-racing –
nothing’s a dead-cert. I was doing consistent laps, wasn’t making any
mistakes and then the gear box decided to give up.
“The positives from this weekend? All three starts were the best, I’m
good out of the box and I’m consistent. It’s just that in motor-racing
anything could go wrong, but now I’m more motivated than ever to get my
first win for VX Racing.”
Ian Harrison, VX Racing Team Principal: “We are taking advantage of every opportunity that’s put in front of us.
“You’d have to say that Tom Chilton had that in the bag until he
started to get gear shift problems. If it wasn’t for that he would have
won the race.”
DUNLOP MSA BRITISH TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP Round 25, provisional result
| Driver |
Car |
| Jason Plato |
SEAT Léon |
| Matt Neal |
Honda Integra |
| Colin Turkington |
MG ZS |
| Tom Chilton |
Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch |
| Rob Collard |
MG ZS |
| Fabrizio Giovanardi |
Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch |
DUNLOP MSA BRITISH TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP Round 26, provisional result
| Driver |
Car |
| Jason Plato |
SEAT Léon |
| Matt Neal |
Honda Integra |
| Colin Turkington |
MG ZS |
| Gordon Shedden |
Honda Integra |
| Fabrizio Giovanardi |
Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch |
| Tom Chilton |
Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch |
DUNLOP MSA BRITISH TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIPRound 27, provisional result
| Driver |
Car |
| Fabrizio Giovanardi |
Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch |
| Gordon Shedden |
Honda Integra |
| Jason Plato |
SEAT Léon |
| Colin Turkington |
MG ZS |
| Gareth Howell |
Honda Integra |
| Robert Collard |
MG ZS |
| Mike Jordan |
Honda Integra |
| Tom Chilton |
Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch |
| Jason Hughes |
MG ZS |
| Gavin Smith |
Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch |
BTCC Drivers Championship 2006
| Driver |
Points |
| Matt Neal |
265 |
| Jason Plato |
230 |
| Colin Turkington |
216 |
| Gordon Shedden |
186 |
| James Thompson |
150 |
| Fabrizio Giovanardi |
149 |
| Tom Chilton |
119 |
| Gavin Smith |
114 |
BTCC Teams/Manufacturers Championship
| Teams |
Points |
| Manufacturers |
| SEAT |
530 |
| Vauxhall |
465 |
| Teams |
| Team Halfords |
447 |
| SEAT Sport UK |
392 |
| VX Racing |
341 |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 13 December 2006 )
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