Italian Fabrizio Giovanardi has won the second of today’s three HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship races at the Knockhill circuit in Scotland.
Vauxhall driver Giovanardi, the reigning champion, passed both Mat Jackson (Racing Silverline Chevrolet) and then Gordon Shedden (Cartridge World SEAT) before drawing clear for his fifth win of the season. He also set the race’s fastest lap.
The result means Giovanardi closes to within 13 points of series leader Colin Turkington (Team RAC BMW) who finished the race in third behind Jackson in second. Shedden, struggling with fading brakes, would drop to an eventual ninth.
Shedden had at least been able to lead the opening stages in front of his home crowd, having been left a clear run to the first corner when first race-winner Jason Plato, (Racing Silverline Chevrolet), failed to line up on the grid thanks to car problems on the formation lap. Plato would rejoin later, but his car lasted only half a lap before conking out for good round the back of the track.
“This is a great result, considering we struggled for pace with the car in qualifying yesterday,” said Giovanardi. “My car felt fantastic straight away and when I saw Gordon and Mat fighting I knew I had a big chance. It was just up to me to make the most of it.” BTCC
But at the final corner, Neal slowed, hugging the inside line and allowing Giovanardi to sweep round the outside and up to third before slamming the door on Turkington.
It was perfect team tactics, demonstrating that Vauxhall are now throwing all their weight behind lead driver Giovanardi in their efforts to deny Turkington his first BTCC title.
Meanwhile, Wayne Boyd started both rounds of the British Formula Three championship at Silverstone from seventh place on the grid — and finished seventh in both races.
It was a fairly uneventful weekend for the young Templepatrick driver, emphasising his point that overtaking in F3 is extremely difficult in dry conditions.
In race one, championship leader Daniel Ricciardo sped away from pole position to win unopposed from Walter Grubmuller and Renger van der Zande and take another step towards the British title.
The Australian was third in race two as van der Zande won from Japanese driver Daisuke Nakajima who had started from pole. Belfast Telegraph
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