Giovanardi closes championship gap with win

Fabrizio Giovanardi clinched victory in the opening race at Snetterton, to close the gap on championship leader Colin Turkington. Aided by a first lap clash between Jason Plato and Turkington, the reigning BTCC champion drove to a comfortable victory at the Norfolk circuit.

Behind Giovanardi came Mat Jackson and an emotional Paul O’Neill in his Honda Integra, with Turkington recovering to finish fifth, while the championship challenges of Plato, James Thompson and Robert Collard were all damaged by their failures to finish race one.

An incident packed first lap saw Turkington out drag poleman Plato on the run down to the first corner, but the Racing Silverline driver tried to reclaim the lead further round the lap at the Esses, although to no avail.

Contact knocked the Team RAC BMW into a spin, while Plato’s Lacetti was slowed before contact with Andrew Jordan forced the Chevrolet onto the infield and into retirement.

The incident forced Thompson down into fourth, as the Vauxhall’s of Jordan and Giovanardi ran one-two, with the youngster heading his more experienced teammate initially.

Once past though Giovanardi soon opened up a lead of four seconds, until an extremely brief safety car period, seemingly for the slowing Thompson, slashed the Italian’s lead.

The double BTCC champion streaked ahead from the re-start, with Jordan having to defend heavily from Jackson in third, weaving from side-to-side, bunching up the field behind.

Entering the Esses on lap 12 though, the Vectra got sideways, spinning across the infield in a cloud of soil, allowing Jackson up into second spot, and Jonathan Adam into third. The Airwaves BMW’s podium spot was short lived however as O’Neill dived past to secure his first podium finish of the season.

Adam held onto fourth, despite the best efforts of championship leader Turkington, who was shadowed home by teammate Stephen Jelley.

Adam Jones picked up seventh – fairing better than new teammate Gordon Shedden who was forced out with gear selection problems – while the sole remaining Dynamics’ Honda of Dave Pinkney came home eighth, with Matt Neal coming ninth, after a pair of off track excursions and Harry Vaulkhard giving Bamboo Engineering a points scoring debut.

Just outside the top ten was John George, who celebrated his 100th BTCC race by bringing his Integra home in 13th position.

Speaking after the race, Fabrizio Giovanardi praised the efforts of his VX Racing team, saying; “We worked a lot from practice. The car was absolutely amazing; the team has done a great job.

I’ve seen the accident between Jason (Plato) and Colin (Turkington), and it’s given me a big help in the championship.”

Second placed Mat Jackson was also pleased, saying; “It was an exciting opening race, with a lot of incidents out there, and some oil down at the Esses, so there were a few tricky moments!

It’s the first race, so you’ve got to try and stay out of trouble, but at the same time pick up the results, so it’s a fantastic result for everyone in the team.”

A visibly delighted Paul O’Neill, who spent much of the slowing down lap punching the air and soaking up the applause of the Snetterton crowd, was clearly emotional on the podium, battling back the tears to say; “A lot of people here have put their effort in to me, so it’s just trying to repay them. I can’t believe the reception I’ve got here, it’s unbelievable.”

Turkington now leads the championship by 18 points from Giovanardi, while after disappoint races, both Plato and Neal will be looking to get their title-tilt back on track in race two at Snetterton. Stay tuned for full coverage of the second and third races of the day.