Fabrizio Giovanardi has won the second of today’s three HiQ MSA British Touring car Championship races at Snetterton – adding to his victory in the first. Italian Giovanardi, the reigning Champion, led all the way from pole position in his Vauxhall Vectra.
Taking second place was series leader Colin Turkington in his Team RAC BMW. Northern Irishman Turkington will therefore go into this afternoon’s third race 14 points ahead of Giovanardi at the top of the Drivers’ standings.
Third and fourth – with the race’s two stand-out drives having started right at the back of the grid – were Jason Plato (Racing Silverline Chevrolet) and James Thompson (Team Dynamics Honda).
Plato said: “I’d had a long face after race one when I’d retired but this is a big help. I’m in this championship to win it, after all, so although Colin and Fabrizio have pulled slightly further away I’ve at least limited the damage as much as I could from a difficult position.”
From 19th, he was up to 13th by the end of lap one. On lap five he was ninth and set what would turn out to be the race’s fastest lap for a bonus point. On lap six he disposed of RML Chevrolet driver James Nash, on lap eight Robert Collard (Airwaves BMW) for seventh exiting Sear corner and on lap 11 both Harry Vaulkhard (bamboo Chevrolet) and Jonathan Adam (Airwaves BMW) exiting Sear and Coram corners respectively.
The exit of Sear was where he also then moved past fellow former Champion Thompson for fourth on lap 13 and Paul O’Neill (sunshine.co.uk Honda Integra) for third on lap 15 to secure third at the flag.
That same lap, Thompson was also able to find a way past O’Neill, although the latter – having finished an emotional third in race one – at least managed to hold on for fifth. Adam, Collard, Nash – scoring his first BTCC points – and Vaulkhard were next up followed by Gordon Shedden, an encouraging tenth in what was only his second race in the Cartridge World team’s SEAT Leon.
Meanwhile, Shedden’s team-mate Adam Jones, VXR’s Andrew Jordan and RAC’s Stephen Jelley – all delayed by incidents on the opening lap – took 11th, 12th and 13th positions. All three had been delayed on the opening lap, Jones and Jelley clashing – the latter spinning – at the Esses after Jordan had suffered a quick spin at the very first corner.
The race was even more of a disaster for Vauxhall’s Matt Neal. Having lost his second place in the overall standings in race one to Giovanardi, this time he finished outside of the points after being given a drive-through pit lane penalty for jumping the start and is now just one point ahead of Plato in third.
Martin Johnson (Boulevard Vauxhall Astra) and John George (JAG/TH Honda Integra) completed the runners. Retirements included Mat Jackson who had run in second early on before his Silverline Chevrolet hit gearbox problems, Tom Chilton whose team Aon Ford Focus stopped with failing spark plugs and David Pinkney (Dynamics Honda) who stopped in the final lap.
