Vauxhall takes BTCC Manufacturers’ and Teams’ titles

Vauxhall celebrated taking the Manufacturers’/Constructors’ title and the Teams’ title in the 2009 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship. VX Racing, in the final outing for the manufacturer-backed BTCC team, fought to the wire at Brands Hatch circuit in Kent today, with Fabrizio Giovanardi, Matt Neal and Andrew Jordan pushing to the limits in each race. Giovanardi took two podiums and a fourth place to secure third in the BTCC Drivers’ Championship. Neal finished with two fifths and an eighth place, taking fourth place in the Drivers’ Championship, while Jordan was fourth in the first race, 16th in the second and retired with accident damage in the third race, finishing tenth in the Drivers’ Championship.

The opening lap of the first race set the scene for three of the most exciting races of the season. Giovanardi made a good start, maintaining position, and Jordan slipped past Neal for fourth. Neal brought up the rear of the VX Racing trio, having to defend hard from Rob Collard. A safety car at the end of the first lap kept everyone in position for two laps and on the field’s release to full racing speed, the three Vauxhall Vectras kept pace and stayed in their third, fourth, fifth formation. Giovanardi, carrying substantial ballast, was unable to challenge the lighter car of Jason Plato ahead, but was able to keep pace to cross the line third, ahead of Jordan and Neal.

The second race started with the predictable melee through Paddock Hill bend, with both Jordan and Neal losing out as the pack powered around the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit. Jordan dropped to sixth and Neal was pushed back down to eighth place, with a safety car out on track at the end of the first lap. Racing resumed and the battle was on for Jordan to keep Giovanardi’s title rival, Turkington, behind him. For lap after lap the young driver used all his skills to defend, but after 11 laps Turkington, with a quick BMW, finally barged past.

Neal had been pushed off track in his battle for position, dropping back to 12th place, and then making up ground to 8th by the finish. Jordan suffered a puncture, ending up in the gravel. He pitted for a new tyre before rejoining the track to finish 16th. Giovanardi held his third place start position until the closing laps when he was able to take advantage of Tom Chilton running wide, following Plato through into second place. With Turkington having made up ground to lie in third place, the three title protagonists were on the podium, with Giovanardi having shaved Turkington’s lead to four points as VX Racing headed to the final race.

Giovanardi gave himself the best possible start with a launch through the grid from eighth place into third, with Neal holding the lead courtesy of the BTCC reverse grid rule, but with Turkington lying in the middle of the two Vauxhalls. In one of the most frenetic races of the weekend, the front runners kept changing position, although with heavy ballast for Giovanardi, he was struggling to maintain the pace of fellow title contenders, Turkington and Plato.The Italian BTCC master pushed as hard as he could, but was not able to make enough inroads to overcome his rivals and could only finish fourth, with Turkington taking the chequered flag and wresting the BTCC Drivers’ title from one of the best BTCC drivers of all time. Neal ran upfront at the start of the race until being pushed wide off track, dropping him back to fifth place. Jordan was unfortunate to have a clash which ended his race before the end of the first lap.

Giovanardi said after the three races, “It’s been a great season, but today we just didn’t have enough to beat Colin. He deserved to win the Drivers’ Championship; he’s driven well and didn’t make any mistakes today. It was going to be difficult when he was ahead of me, as he was very careful and didn’t give us any opportunities. Of course I’m disappointed that I didn’t take the title, particularly as it was Vauxhall’s last Championship.”

Neal summed up his weekend saying, “I’m pleased that we have had a better weekend than the last couple of rounds, but today has been all about the team and taking titles. It’s great for Colin and sad for Fabrizio, but we certainly went down fighting. The car has been very good this weekend and it was nice to finish on a higher note.”

Jordan reflected on his weekend, adding, “I was really pleased with the first race, the car felt good and we could run easily with the top three. Then for the second race, we changed the camber on the wheels, which probably wasn’t the right way to go. Unfortunately I suffered a puncture which caused me to run off track and into the gravel. Starting from so far back in the last race was always going to be tough, I was pushing to get through the field on the opening lap and unfortunately I had a coming together with Herbert, which broke the steering and ended my race.”