Mixed fortunes for Vauxhall at Brands

The VX Racing drivers had different successes yesterday during the BTCC season opener at Brands Hatch. While Matt Neal started from pole, won the first race and finished third in the third race, Giovanardi and Jordan weren’t so fortunate. Both Giovanardi and Jordan only scored points in one race. Giovanardi was second in the first race, Jordan finished in fifth in the second race.

The weekend already started good for Neal as he was second fastest in both free practice sessions. During qualifying things got even better for him, as he took pole position for the first race on sunday.

Although he lost the lead in the first race at the start, he managed to take it back during the race, going on to score the first win of 2009. “It was a dream start to my season, but I had to fight for it”, Neal said.

“I was relieved when Andrew was behind me, but when he had a problem Turkington was back behind me and then Fabrizio got stuck in the mix which was good. He started coming on strong at the end which was a bit worrying.”

Neal went on to say: “My car was excellent, although like others, it was sliding around a fair bit. Great start to the weekend for us.”

Andrew Jordan had a good start of the first race, but mechanical failure forced him to retire. In the second race Jordan worked his way up from 16th on the grid to fifth at the finish line. Despite his starting position at the back of the grid, Jordan was confident he could score a good result. “I thought we could get into the top eight even though we were starting in 16th, but to get fifth was even better.”

“There were a few ‘Matt Neal’ moves and a little bit of contact in Clearways, but there weren’t any big lunges and we brought the car back in one piece so it was good.” The third race was another disappointment for Jordan though, as he had to retire with a transmission problem.

After his second place in race one, Giovanardi was keen on getting a good result in race two as well. However, as he was in fourth position, he picked up a puncture and had to pit. He dropped back to 16th, a position he could not improve on before the finish.

Race three was an other blow for last year’s champion as he retired from accident damage. “I was involved in an accident that wasn’t my fault at all; I tried to continue but the car wasn’t right”, Giovanardi said after the races”

Despite the dissapointment Giovanardi was still upbeat about his chances this year. “We have a few points, it’s only the first weekend and there’s a long way to go, so I’m not worried.”