Fabrizio Giovanardi made it two wins out of two with victory in the second round of this year’s Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Thruxton. The Uniq Racing with Triple Eight driver lead from start to finish in his independently-run Vauxhall Vectra.

While the Italian made his escape, his pursuers were involved in several tight battles behind. Jason Plato made the most of his front row starting position to hold second place for most of the 16-lap race but the Silverline Chevrolet Cruze driver was under pressure throughout. Paul O’Neill (Sunshine.co.uk) chased hard in the early laps but was caught and passed by Matt Neal’s Honda Civic in the closing laps. Neal then mounted a challenge on Plato. On the penultimate lap the dueling duo clashed on the approach to the Club Chicane. Plato spun back to fourth behind a delighted O’Neill, while Neal grabbed second spot – a great fight back from the Honda Racing Team driver who started 12th after issues in the opening race.

“It was easy because of the fight behind me,” admitted Giovanardi. “The car was brilliant. It would be good to make it three in the final race but the Honda is really fast.” Fabrizio’s dreams of a hat-trick will be even tougher as he will be starting ninth on the reverse grid for race three.

Neal was understandably pleased to finish second after his problems earlier on. “The car was fantastic from start to finish and I just got stronger and stronger as other faded. I got a good run on Jason and just managed to squeeze around the outside. I’m over the moon for the team as they worked so hard after the opening race,”

While disappointed not to finish on the podium, Plato had no complaints. “Matt was faster than me. I tried to hold him off by forcing him to go around the outside but that didn’t work. I lost the rear of the car and we were so close some contact was inevitable,” reported last year’s runner-up.

Plato’s late spin handed third place to a delighted O’Neill in his Honda Integra run on a relative shoe-string by Sunshine.co.uk with Tech-Speed Motorsport. “What can I say – it’s unbelievable,” said O’Neill. “We know the Integra is fast around here and expected good things… but not this good!”

Rob Collard finished ninth and will start on the front row of the final race alongside his WSR BMW team-mate Steven Kane.