Giovanardi going for third BTCC title

Italian driver Fabrizio Giovanardi wants to win his third BTCC championship title in 2009. If he would achieve this, he would be the first ever to win three BTCC titles in a row since the beginning of the two-litre era nearly 20 years ago. In the entire BTCC history only three drivers managed to take three consecutive titles. Bill McGovern was champion in 1970, 1971 and 1972, Win Percy took three titles in 1980, 1981 and 1982. The last man to win three consecutive titles was Andy Rouse, champion in 1983 to 1985.

Since the start of the two-litre era in 1991, only Fabrizio Giovanardi and his team mate Matt Neal managed to take two consecutive titles.

At the Autosport International Show at the NEC in Birmingham, Fabrizio Giovanardi spoke to his fans. “When the new season starts I don’t want to think about one driver or another driver – I have respect for everyone.”

“I have the motivation to win a third title consecutively because nobody has done that in the past so it’s a challenge for me. Obviously the other drivers can try to stop me, which will be hard work!”

In 2008 Giovanardi only won 5 races, only half of the races he won in 2007, when he took ten wins. His main competitor Jason Plato won eight races in 2008. “Last year we won in the end I think because we understood the strategy in advance,” Giovanardi said.

“We met a really strong driver and car in Jason and SEAT and it was a completely different approach to 2007. We knew we could not maybe compete for wins every race but we can beat them if we think about points, which is what we did.”