Brands Hatch set for season finale
Brands Hatch in Kent hosts the final meeting of the 2009 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship this weekend. The BTCC cars will use the Grand Prix circuit layout for the first time since 2005, adding further spice to an already mouthwatering weekend of racing.
Mathematically three drivers can still claim the 2009 driver’s championship title.
The leader heading into the final round of the season is Colin Turkington, who has 249-points. Turkington is thirteen points ahead of second placed Fabrizio Giovanardi who, in-turn, is fifteen points ahead of Jason Plato.
Turkington, although the less experienced in terms of championship wins, sits in the best position, knowing that a strong qualifying performance followed up by an incident free race one will pay dividends as he seeks to be the first Northern Irishman to take the BTCC crown.
Double series champion Giovanardi is the best placed to end Turkington’s championship dreams, and claim his third successive BTCC title. The feat would posses extra sentiment as it would mark the end of Vauxhall’s involvement in the series as a manufacturer, for the foreseeable future.
Of the three potential champions the 2001 title winner Jason Plato will head to Kent with the longest odds. He is currently 28-points adrift of Turkington, with a maximum haul of 52-points available from the weekend, he will be hoping for his rivals to encounter problems in the races.
In addition to the overall Driver’s title, Turkington and Plato are also competing for the Independent Driver’s Trophy. Turkington currently leads on 283-points, with Plato second on 238-points.
The season finale sees the return of the Grand Prix circuit configuration at Brands Hatch. The GP layout has not been utilised by the BTCC since 2005, and this fact adds further excitement to the season finale.
Some drivers will be heading to the Kent track with no knowledge of the Grand Prix circuit at all, some will have knowledge but in different racing series, and some in older BTCC cars.
Perhaps the best prepared of the leading drivers will be Turkington, who in 2007, competed in his Team RAC BMW 320si around the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit, when entered in the World Touring Car Championship meeting at the circuit.
During that meeting he claimed the third fastest time in qualifying, a mere 0.064-seconds off pole sitter Alain Menu. In the first race he took a fine third place, and after the reverse grid meant he started from seventh for the second race, he duly showed his pace by crossing the line in fourth.
So far in 2009, Turkington has enjoyed a rich run of form which has seen only one retirement, and of all the race finishes, the third race at Oulton Park was the only one he didn’t finish in the top ten.
Giovanardi’s previous experience of the Grand Prix circuit is limited, but he is hoping to acclimatise fast when the meeting gets underway this weekend. “The practice sessions will be very important as I’ve only driven the GP circuit about 20 years ago”, said the Italian.
Having sealed the 2008 championship title with a brilliant run of race finishes, Giovanardi began 2009 with second place in the first race, but a puncture forced him down the order in race two, and in the third he got tangled up in an accident between Stephen Jelley and Rob Collard, which forced his retirement. From that point on his season got back on track with a run of results which saw him finish no lower than eighth. That was until the third race at Rockingham last time out. After an eventful race, racing contact with Johnny Herbert resulted in damage to Giovanardi’s Vectra, and he fell to 11th on the last corner.
The last time the BTCC used the Grand Prix circuit, it was also for the season finale. The three races were won by Dan Eaves, Jason Plato and Rob Collard. The latter pair will again feature in this year’s races, and both will be aiming for race wins again.
Plato had been left without a drive for the 2009 season when SEAT pulled out of the series at the end of 2008. Rumours started shortly before the opening round that he would compete in the season-opener in an RML prepared Chevrolet Lacetti. The rumours turned out to be true, as he was thrown in at the deep end to learn a new car from scratch with no pre-season testing.
Despite the disadvantage, he secured strong performances in the first two races, with sixth and tenth. The third race witnessed a brilliant driver from Plato who, after the stewards penalised Jonathan Adam, claimed his first race win of the season.
From thereon sponsorship came to the team, and Plato competed under the Racing Silverline banner and a strong run of performances through the season have meant that he is still in with a chance of this year’s title.
The team have worked well with the Lacetti, improving performance throughout the season. They had the benefit of having gained massive experience with the car in recent years on the World stage.
Collard began the season in perfect style, as he drove the Motorbase Performance prepared Airwaves BMW to victory in the second race at Brands Hatch in April. Since then he has endured a missed season, with a strong first half of the season has been riddled with six retirements in the latter part. He will be looking to end the season on a high, at a circuit he enjoys.
One of the key aspects of any multi-car racing team is teamwork. The team drivers who have no chance of securing the title are naturally expected to aid the best placed team-driver at this time in the season. Teamwork is likely to feature prominently in the final race weekend.
Turkington has Stephen Jelley and Anthony Reid to back his challenge. Jelley enjoyed a double race winning weekend at Rockingham two weekends ago, and will be looking to feature high up the order again, but at the same time playing the dutiful team role to support Turkington.
Former full-time BTCC driver Reid was drafted in for the Silverstone round to bolster Turkington’s title bid, but has so far not managed to feature any higher than Giovanardi or Plato in the six races he has competed in.
Vauxhall again began the season with three drivers, as they teamed double champion Matt Neal and rising star Andrew Jordan with Fabrizio Giovanardi. Neal began the season well, and was leading the championship race until his season took a turn for the worse. Since then he was endured a miserable run, with only the occasional positive result featuring. He will be hoping for a strong final weekend, and will play the team game to aid Giovanardi.
Jordan moved from his family run team to the third seat at Vauxhall at the start of this season, but hasn’t enjoyed the success he would have hoped for in his first season at the top. With no confirmed drive for 2010, he will be hoping to put a stellar performance in, to not only place himself in the minds of team owners for next year, but to also to help Giovanardi and Vauxhall finish victorious.
Johnny Herbert has had an impressive beginning to his touring car career, despite two retirements in the six races, he has shown great pace with three top-ten finishes. In the final race at Rockingham he enjoyed a fantastic battle with Fabrizio Giovanardi, and proved he could mix it with the touring car regulars. He will be looking to end his short season on a high.
The Team Aon pairing of Tom Chilton and Tom Onslow-Cole have benefited from a performance increase at recent meetings. The power plants of their Ford Focus STs have been tuned by Mountune Racing, and after Chilton led the final race at Rockingham for a large period of the race, they have clearly shown the team is beginning to get the best out of the car. The final meeting will be a chance to showcase their improvements through 2009, and a chance to further develop for 2010.
Martin Johnson claimed his second point of the 2009 season at Rockingham with a last corner pass on the ailing Giovanardi. The Boulevard Team Racing driver always tries his best on the BTCC grid, and will be hoping for another successful weekend at Brands.
John George is yet to claim a point in 2009. He claimed a solitary point in 2008, which was a fall from the seven he achieved in 2007. In the opening round of the season, he endured a difficult weekend. Two retirements were followed by a 14th place. The positive aspect of George’s season, is that the retirements are relatively few and far between, with a solid run of race finishes. George suffered two non-starts at the Oulton Park round due to engine failure on the formation lap of race one.
The ever popular Paul O’Neill missed the Brands Hatch round at the start of the season, but since rejoining the championship had delighted fans with his approach to the racing and his personality. Despite five retirements, he has enjoyed a number of solid top ten performances, including a third place at Snetterton in the first race. O’Neill will be looking to put together a run of strong performances at Brands Hatch.
Grid position for the first corner for this weekend’s first race will be critical in the championship race. Matt Neal claimed the qualifying pole position on the Indy circuit in April, but Jason Plato has secured the most pole positions, with four to his name in 2009. Giovanardi and Turkington both have one apiece.
In terms of overall pole positions, including those from first race victories and the reverse grid system for race three, Plato leads the way with six. Turkington, Giovanardi and James Thompson all feature next in the order with three each.
Turkington has been the best driver in terms of converting pole positions to race victories, having managed the feat on three occasions this season. Giovanardi is again close behind, managing this two times.
Points are also allocated for fastest laps in the races, and when this is examined, Plato again leads the way with no fewer than seven fastest laps. Giovanardi has five, Mat Jackson four and Turkington has three.
Regardless of any statistics, this weekend’s BTCC finale will provide some top class racing action, especially when the unpredictable nature of the British weather in October could throw another variable into the mix for the weekend.
