Gareth Howell brilliantly won two of Sunday’s final three Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship rounds of 2006 at the Silverstone circuit in Northamptonshire, but it was his team-mate Matt Neal who came away with the coveted Drivers title, the most prestigious prize in UK motor sport. There were also title celebrations for SEAT and Team Halfords who respectively wrapped up the Manufacturers’ and Teams’ championship in front of an enormous 33,000 crowd – confirmed by Silverstone as its largest race day attendance this year for a car event after the British Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Neal, from Droitwich, becomes the first driver since Chris Hodgetts in 1987 to win back-to-back BTCC titles. He was able to spray the winner’s champagne as well after finishing first in the day’s second race – a result that guaranteed Team Halfords of a clean sweep of victories. Neal and Team Halfords had already successfully guaranteed themselves of second consecutive Independents Trophy Drivers’ and Teams’ titles.
The 39-year-old said: “I wish we could do this every weekend, even though it’s been a very tough season. The competition has been stronger than ever – SEAT, Team RAC and Vauxhall and other teams all put together very good efforts so to beat the lot of them for the second year running makes it especially satisfying. It’s been pretty fraught on occasion, but also a good fight to the end and to be able to hold up the Champion’s Trophy thanks to the tremendous work that everyone in the team has contributed is a very special feeling. Winning the Teams’ title on top is the least that they deserve.”
Finishing second and third in the championship, separated by just a point in the end, are SEAT’s Jason Plato and Colin Turkington, driving Team RAC’s bio-ethanol powered MG ZS. Both drivers had arrived at Silverstone with a mathematical chance of beating Neal, but the title was put beyond their reach in the opening race.
Plato, from Oxford, was pleased to have at least led SEAT to the Manufacturers’ trophy – an achievement that ends five years of Vauxhall domination. The 2001 title-winner said: “It’s a fantastic victory, bearing in mind how much cruel luck we’ve had this season. Vauxhall has had a stranglehold on that trophy since 2001 and it looked like it would never change hands. But since entering the BTCC in 2004, we’ve built in strength and depth, taken on Vauxhall’s might and years of experience of racing in the BTCC and done it. Everyone at SEAT should taste this success.”
Turkington, from Portadown, was content with his season’s results. The 24-year-old, attempting to become the BTCC’s youngest ever champion, was Neal’s closest challenger up until Brands Hatch’s penultimate rounds three weeks ago and today underlined his promise with a pair of second place finishes behind double winner Howell.
The Northern Irishman added: “Losing out to Jason for second by a point isn’t too disappointing – to me, it’s either first or nothing anyway. Both Jason and Matt are world class drivers so I take away a lot of satisfaction to have been able to push them so hard during the season with a team I really enjoy driving for and in the RAC colours. It’s been great season for us.”
Round 28, 22 laps (36.058 miles)Weather/Track: Overcast/Dry
Howell wins, Neal takes titleHowell led all the way from pole position to win for the second time in his BTCC career, while behind fourth place for Neal was enough for him to put the title beyond either Plato’s or Turkington’s reach.
Plato, having qualified a lowly 13th, could finish only eighth. Second position for Turkington was not enough to keep him in the title hunt, but the result moved him to within five points of Plato for the championship runner-up spot with the final two rounds still to go.
Completing the top six behind fourth-placed Neal were SEAT’s James Thompson and Team Halfords’ Gordon Shedden. However, SEAT’s Darren Turner might well have finished among this group had he not spun out of the race in a collision with Vauxhall’s Fabrizio Giovanardi.
Meanwhile, Howell’s and Thompson’s results were notable for they secured the coveted Teams’ and Manufacturers’ titles for Team Halfords and SEAT respectively.
Result:1. Gareth Howell (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Integra, 22m40.400s2. Colin Turkington (GBR), Team RAC/MG ZS, +2.100s3. Tom Chilton (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch, +3.098sFastest Lap: Howell (GBR), 1m00.866s
Round 29, 14 laps (22.946 miles)Weather/Track: Overcast/Dry
Champion Neal wins shortened raceIn a restarted race, the newly-crowned Neal achieved his eighth victory of the season, heading home team-mate Gordon Shedden in a Team Halfords 1-2. Vauxhall’s Fabrizio Giovanardi pressured them both, but was unable to find a way through and finished third.
The race had needed to be stopped after an accident involving the SEATs of Plato and Thompson and Mike Jordan’s Team Eurotech Racing with John Guest Honda Integra. Jordan was subsequently airlifted to Coventry Hospital’s Neurological Department with a head injury, but was later reported to be making good progress.
Vauxhall’s Gavin Smith, competing with two broken ribs, finished the race a brave fourth ahead of Team RAC’s Robert Collard and race one winner Howell. A fine seventh on his BTCC return was Tom Ferrier, driving the Motorbase Performance team’s new SEAT Cupra Toledo.
Ninth-placed Jason Hughes was then drawn to start from pole position on race three’s reversed grid in his Kartworld MG. It meant for the first time in history that a bio-ethanol powered car would start a BTCC race from pole with, alongside it on the front row, the similarly-fuelled Vauxhall Astra Coupe of Thurlby Motors with Tech-Speed’s Paul O’Neill, who had finished race two in eighth.
Result:1. Matt Neal (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Integra, 14m27.047s2. Gordon Shedden (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Integra, +0.452s3. Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA), VX Racing/Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch, +0.700sFastest lap: Shedden, 1m00.859s (NEW LAP RECORD)
Round 30, 25 laps (40.975 miles)Weather/Track: Overcast/Dry
Howell doubles upFrom fourth on the grid, Howell quickly asserted himself in the lead and, aided by the race’s fastest lap, stayed there to win for the second time in a day. Following in a close second after an astonishing drive from 18th on the grid – following problems in race two – was Turkington.
Vauxhall’s Tom Chilton took third by holding off all three SEAT drivers Plato, Thompson and Turner who completed the top six. Collard, Ferrier, O’Neill and Smith rounded out the top ten as Hughes fell away to an eventual 11th.
The result meant that Plato held onto second place in the final championship standings by just one point from Turkington. Despite falling off the track into retirement, Shedden remained fourth in the championship. And although he finished a lap down after making a pit stop to change a punctured tyre, Giovanardi’s third place in race two had still proved enough to give him fifth overall by a point from Thompson.
Result:1. Gareth Howell (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Integra, 28m09.575s2. Colin Turkington (GBR), Team RAC/MG ZS, +0.966s3. Tom Chilton (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch, +5.129sFastest lap: Howell, 1m01.070s
Final BTCC points after Silverstone (provisional):
Drivers:1. Matt NEAL 289pts2. Jason PLATO 241pts3. Colin TURKINGTON 240pts4. Gordon SHEDDEN 204pts5. Fabrizio GIOVANARDI 163pts6. James THOMPSON 162pts7. Tom CHILTON 139pts8. Gavin SMITH 123pts9. Robert COLLARD 97pts10. Mike JORDAN 91pts
Manufacturers:1. SEAT 572pts2. Vauxhall 528pts
Teams: 1. Team Halfords 512pts2. SEAT Sport UK 418pts 3. VX Racing 386pts4. Team RAC 332pts5. Eurotech/John Guest 93pts6. Motorbase Performance 74pts
