WINS FOR SHEDDEN, TURKINGTON & JACKSON -

GIOVANARDI & PLATO TIED FOR CHAMPIONSHIP LEADTeam Halfords’ Gordon Shedden, Team RAC’s Colin Turkington and Jacksons MSport’s Mat Jackson today shared the victories in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship’s three rounds at the Oulton Park circuit in Cheshire. Shedden’s and first-time winner Jackson’s successes mean that seven different drivers have so far achieved victories this season, but the main talking point centres on the title race – leaving Oulton, Vauxhall’s Fabrizio Giovanardi and SEAT’s Jason Plato are now tied for the championship lead.

Plato had arrived at Oulton having led the series since the opening round at Brands Hatch in early April. But in today’s first race, Giovanardi finished ahead of him to take over at the top and in race two extended that lead. But the Italian retired in an accident in race three, allowing Plato an opportunity to close back in – an opportunity the Briton duly took. Their battle will resume at Donington Park in Leicestershire on Sunday 15 July when coverage of the BTCC also returns to a regular live Sunday afternoon slot on terrestrial television channel ITV1.

Giovanardi, who has five wins to Plato’s four, said: “It’s been a day of very high and low emotions. We have gradually caught Plato and today, for the first time, we got in front of him. After race two it looked like we would leave Oulton in the lead. What happened in race three is a great shame. I am annoyed because those 12 points gave me some breathing space, but I’m not that worried – our car is fast everywhere and this was meant to be one of SEAT’s best circuits. It looks good for the rest of the season.”

Plato added: “We can still win this championship, but it is going to take a lot of hard work. SEAT’s Leon has a great chassis and is superb on the brakes, but down the straights we are losing too much time to take advantage of that. Today’s been frustrating for those reasons, but at least things came back our way in race three. Donington Park could be more of a Vauxhall circuit and we’ll need to take as many points as possible there to stay in touch at the top. It’s going to be a very tough second half of the season.”

Meanwhile, Vauxhall has maintained its lead in the Manufacturers’ table and its VX Racing squad remains on top of the Teams’ championship as well. Mike Jordan and Team RAC remain leaders of the Independents Drivers’ and Teams’ championships respectively.

BTCC points after Oulton Park, rds13, 14 & 15 (provisional):

Drivers:1. Fabrizio GIOVANARDI & Jason PLATO,  149 points3. Matt NEAL, 974. Colin TURKINGTON, 935. Tom CHILTON, 876. Darren TURNER, 857. Mat JACKSON, 828. Gordon SHEDDEN, 799. Mike JORDAN, 7110. Tom ONSLOW-COLE, 57

Manufacturers:1. Vauxhall, 324 points2. SEAT, 295

Teams:1. VX Racing, 226 points2. SEAT Sport UK, 2233. Team Halfords, 1704. Team RAC, 1405. Jacksons MSport, 806. Eurotech/John Guest-Speedfit, 70

Race reports…

Round 13, 15 laps (33.390 miles)Weather/Track: Overcast/Dry

SHEDDEN REPEATS ’06 VICTORY

At the same circuit where he broke his BTCC victory duck in 2006, Shedden chose Oulton to also take his first win of 2007. Turkington, starting from pole position in his BMW 320si, led initially but Shedden gained the lead in a forceful move starting lap two. This lost Turkington momentum and he fell to third behind the opportunistic Giovanardi, up from sixth on the grid.

This is how they would ultimately finish, followed by Shedden’s team-mate Matt Neal, Jackson in his family-run BMW 320si which had come through from ninth, and Vauxhall’s Tom Chilton. Seventh, having been boxed out at the start from fifth on the grid, was Plato. The result meant that Plato had now lost the championship lead he had held since Brands Hatch’s opening round in early April to Giovanardi.

Elsewhere, RAC’s Tom Onslow-Cole finished ninth after starting 18th following a qualifying crash. Gareth Howell’s point for tenth place was also hard-earned – he started last from the pit lane after his Motorbase team mechanics had rushed to replace a driveshaft on his SEAT Toledo that had broken on the way to the grid.

Accidents accounted for several front-runners, notably Darren Turner whose SEAT Leon clashed with Luton Town football club chairman Dave Pinkney’s A-Tech Alfa Romeo 156, and also the SEAT Toledos of Team Air Cool’s Adam Jones and Motorbase’s Matt Allison when each had been on course for a points finish.

Result:1. Gordon Shedden (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Civic, 22m32.533s2. Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra, +1.070s3. Colin Turkington (GBR), Team RAC/BMW 320si E90, +1.306sFASTEST LAP: Turkington, 1m28.831s (90.21mph)

Round 14, 15 laps (33.390 miles)Weather/Track: Overcast/Wet

TURKINGTON HOLDS OFF GIOVANARDI

Turkington took his second win of the season, but by just 0.046s from Giovanardi as the Italian drew alongside and attempted to out-accelerate him to the line exiting the final corner. The race for victory ultimately came down to a five-lap sprint after two safety car periods following a number of incidents, including a four-car pile-up at the first bend.

But on a wet track, Turkington held on for his second victory of 2007. Giovanardi’s second position now moved him12 points clear of Plato who could finish the race only fifth. Third, sharing the race’s fastest lap with Giovanardi was the Eurotech/John Guest-Speedfit Honda Integra of Jordan after he’d battled his way past Neal.

The top eight finishers would be reversed to form the front of race’s three starting grid, this handing pole position to Jones.

Result:1. Colin Turkington (GBR), Team RAC/BMW 320si E90, 32m24.747s2. Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra, +0.046s3. Mike Jordan (GBR), Eurotech-John Guest-Speedfit/Honda Integra, +0.988sFASTEST LAP: Giovanardi & Jordan, 1m39.263s (80.73mph)

Round 15, 17 laps (37.842 miles)Weather/Track: Overcast/Dry

JACKSON ACHIEVES FIRST BTCC RACE WIN

Jackson achieved his first BTCC race win in the day’s third race, but virtually throughout was under intense pressure from former champion Plato. From third on the grid, Jackson used his BMW’s superior rear-wheel-drive traction to pass Jones and fellow front-row starter Turner into the first bend and stayed ahead to become the seventh different winner so far this season.

Plato’s second place was enough to tie him on points for the championship lead with Giovanardi who dramatically failed to finish the race. The Italian tangled with Jordan exiting the first bend as they tried to avoid a collision between Neal and Turkington who also retired their cars with accident damage. Jordan would recover to finish ninth.

Turner was third, followed by race one winner Shedden who, having started back in 18th, had brilliantly threaded his way through to fourth and also set the race’s fastest lap. Jones was fifth with Chilton a recovering sixth after running off the track early on. Seventh, having battled for position with Chilton until spinning, was Onslow-Cole.

Meanwhile, after a dreadful run of luck recently, Martyn Bell at last celebrated a points finish, crossing the line in tenth in his Allaboutproperty.com team’s BMW.

Result:1. Mat Jackson (GBR), Jacksons MSport/BMW 320si E90, 26m56.440s2. Jason Plato (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon, +0.533s3. Darren Turner (GBR), SEAT Sport UK/SEAT Leon, +3.932sFASTEST LAP: Shedden, 1m29.085s (89.95mph)