Italian Fabrizio Giovanardi has won the second of Sunday’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.
So it was left to team-mate Jackson to try wresting the lead from Shedden, but in doing so he was slowed up by the Scot through Clarke Curve, this allowing the lurking Giovanardi to swoop by him into second. Giovanardi then spent no time in passing Shedden for the lead as they exited the hairpin, and Jackson, still very much in touch, was also able to nip into second past Shedden who’d been slow exiting the corner.
A safety car period followed to allow marshals to replace an errant tyre stack that had been dragged onto the track. Soon after the re-start, Turkington was also past Shedden, again at the hairpin. The Northern Irishman closed on Jackson in the late stages but had to settle for third, limiting the amount of points lost to Giovanardi in their battle for the championship lead.
“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.”
Fourth, thanks to a sensational drive from 17th on the grid following a crash in race one, was Vauxhall’s Matt Neal. Paul O’Neill, again showing strong form similar to that displayed at Snetterton two weeks ago, was fifth having been up as high as third at one stage.
Former double champion James Thompson was sixth from 14th and will start race three from pole, the top grid positions having been drawn by ex-F1 star Johnny Herbert who will replace him in the BTCC’s final three rounds, starting at Silverstone on 30 August.
The BMWs of Airwaves’ Jonathan Adam and RAC’s Stephen Jelley followed in seventh with the ailing Shedden and Vauxhall’s Andrew Jordan completing the top ten. Jordan had actually tried to pull the same move on Jelley for eighth as he’d done in race one - going around the outside at Duffus - but this time was nerfed wide at Scotsman and had to spend the final few laps fighting his way back past Tom Chilton’s Team Aon Ford Focus.
After his race one shunt with Matt Neal, Robert Collard (Airwaves BMW) had also been hoping to come through from the rear of the grid but instead was 12th and out of the points after several wild moments. Martin Johnson (Boulevard Vauxhall Astra) and the lapped John George (JAG/TH Motorsport Honda Integra) completed the runners.
Plato aside, David Pinkney (Dynamics Honda) and Harry Vaulkhard (bamboo Chevrolet) were the race’s two other retirements.
