VX Racing’s Fabrizio Giovanardi almost halved the point’s gap to Jason Plato in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Drivers Championship at Snetterton yesterday afternoon, taking his sixth win of the season in the process.

The highlight of the day was the long-awaited on-track battle between the two title protagonists, Giovanardi and Plato, which resulted in a titanic battle during the last race of the day.

The action began unfolding as the pair ran in third and fourth place behind Mat Jackson. Plato pulled alongside the BMW for third at The Esses and Giovanardi saw his chance up the inside.

Fans were on their feet as the pair clashed door handles for the first time this season, spilling onto the grass and letting defending champion, Matt Neal, slip past into second.

Giovanardi came out of the breath-taking tussle in front of principle title rival Plato to take another bite out of the SEAT driver's points advantage with nine races left to go.

The battle was a great end to a day that saw the Italian take his sixth victory of 2007 in race two and his team-mate, Tom Chilton, take his fifth podium of the year in the day’s first race.

The 22-year-old Vauxhall works driver featured at the heart of the race lead action from lap one, taking part in a four-way battle over the first half of the 18-lap race.

Team RAC's Colin Turkington came out best with his team-mate, Tom Onslow-Cole, narrowly keeping Chilton off the podium. Chilton, who registered the race’s fastest lap, was promoted to third after the chequered flag, however, when Turkington was disqualified for failing a weigh-in.

The team is now preparing for the BTCC’s next rounds at Brands Hatch in three weeks time, where VX Racing scored two podium places in the opening rounds of the championship in April.

Fabrizio Giovanardi #5“Now I have shown Jason who is boss! People were amazed that I kept the car on track with all the fighting, but it’s quite easy really. You have just to have open vision of the situation. You have to expect the hit from the other driver.

“Historically Brands Hatch is good for SEAT but we will see what happens. I’m really happy now because I’m much closer to Plato.”

Tom Chilton #7“I got spun by Jason Plato at 130mph in race two and things just didn’t get better after that. I can’t believe the bad luck I’m having.

“From now on, my goal is for Vauxhall to beat SEAT in the Manufacturers Championship. It’s getting really tough now for everyone. This is a really hard championship.”

BTCC Drivers Championship 20071. Jason Plato (209)2. Fabrizio Giovanardi (195)

3. Matt Neal (154)

7. Tom Chilton (108)

BTCC Manufacturers Championship1. Vauxhall (459)

2. SEAT (430)

BTCC Teams Championship1. SEAT Sport UK (302)

2. VX Racing (290)

3. Team Halfords (278)

BTCC Round 19 Race Result1. Gordon Shedden (Honda Civic)2. Tom Onslow-Cole (BMW 320si)3. Tom Chilton (Vauxhall Vectra)4. Mat Jackson (BMW 320si)5. Fabrizio Giovanardi (Vauxhall Vectra)6. Darren Turner (SEAT Leon)7. Mike Jordan (Honda Integra)

8. Jason Plato (SEAT Leon)

BTCC Round 20 Race Result1. Fabrizio Giovanardi (Vauxhall Vectra)2. Matt Neal (Honda Civic)3. Jason Plato (SEAT Leon)4. Darren Turner (SEAT Leon)5. Mat Jackson (BMW 320si)6. Tom Onslow-Cole (BMW 320si)7. Eoin Murray (Alfa Romeo 156)8. Tom Chilton (Vauxhall Vectra)

BTCC Provisional Round 21 Race Result1. Tom Onslow-Cole (BMW 320si)2. Matt Neal (Honda Civic)3. Fabrizio Giovanardi (Vauxhall Vectra)4. Jason Plato (SEAT Leon)5. Gordon Shedden (Honda Civic)6. Colin Turkington (BMW 320si)7. Mat Jackson (BMW 320si)8. Tom Chilton (Vauxhall Vectra)