Brands race 2: Giovanardi wins again

Fabrizio Giovanardi has won the second of today’s Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship rounds at the Brands Hatch circuit in Kent to add to his victory in the first race.

Vauxhall driver Giovanardi was left with an easy win after all his main rivals hit problems on the first lap. The result moves the Italian ever closer to championship leader Jason Plato with just six points now separating them heading into this afternoon’s third race of three.

Plato finished the race in second, but had to fight his way through the field after his SEAT and Tom Chilton’s Vauxhall collided and spun off the track on lap one.

Third was Team Halfords Honda driver Gordon Shedden.

Setting the race’s fastest lap was Colin Turkington, but he finished a lap down after pitting for repairs following a start line collision with his Team RAC team-mate Tom Onslow-Cole and SEAT’s Darren Turner which eliminated the latter two.

Meanwhile, the top six finishers will be reversed at the front of race three’s starting grid, putting Team Air Cool SEAT driver Adam Jones on pole position ahead of the Eurotech/John Guest-Speedfit Honda of Mike Jordan.

Mat Jackson would have started third thanks to his fourth-place finish, but instead has been relegated to ninth – a six-place grid penalty – for his part in race’s one 11-car pile-up.