Giovanardi happy to hunt Plato

Fabrizio Giovanardi has re-iterated his comments that staying in touch and not necessarily moving ahead of title rival Jason Plato will be his chief concern at Croft this weekend.

The Italian, with four wins from the last six races in Vauxhall’s new Vectra, is just nine points behind series leader Plato whose SEAT Leon is expected to come to the fore at Croft – last year it won twice there.

Notably, though, it was at Croft last year that Giovanardi took a major leap forward in performance as he sought to learn the circuits used in the BTCC. He was on the pace all weekend and in race three memorably drove from the back of the grid even past team-mate Tom Chilton to finish fifth.

The 40-year-old Giovanardi, preparing to fly in from his home near Modena, said: “Croft should be another good result for VX Racing. I had solid points finishes at Croft last year and it’s a fun but tricky circuit.

“I don’t really care if I will be leading the Drivers’ championship after Croft as long as I’m in the lead at the end of the season.”

Meanwhile, 22-year-old Briton Chilton needs to continue his recent run of strong points-scoring finishes to consolidate his third place in the championship. Having watched Giovanardi take four wins, he is eager to achieve his first victory with Vauxhall – such a result would be timely in helping him to keep in touch with his team-mate and Plato at the top of the table.

Chilton added: “Croft could almost be a purpose-built track for touring cars and it’s very fast. I was second in qualifying last year and it is very important to get a good set-up in qualifying as this will do most of the work for race day on Sunday. You need to find a balance to be good in both sectors of the lap.

“I am very confident in the car and I am sure Croft will be another circuit where we can pull off a good result. Hopefully we keep going as well as we are at the moment and keep scoring points.”