Vauxhall back in race for manufacturers title

Vauxhall has closed up on rival SEAT after today’s rounds of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Thruxton.

Vauxhall scored 56 points at the fast, sweeping Hampshire circuit, compared to SEAT’s 45 points, bringing the Luton-based manufacturer within 34 points of its adversary.

VXR’s Tom Chilton narrowly missed out on a podium in the first race of the day after making a strong start to hold second place for nine laps. But the 21-year-old, from Reigate, struggled in the second half of the race as the aggressive set-up of the car wore away his tyres, eventually finishing fourth.

In race two, Chilton clung on for ninth place to score two valuable points, despite suspension damper failure, and in the day’s final race he came home eighth.

Fabrizio Giovanardi has vowed to prove himself after suffering another non-finish today, when on-track contact damaged his steering. The Italian went on to lead his team-mates home for the second race in eighth place, but scored no points in race three.

Giovanardi, who has won European, Italian and Spanish touring car titles, says there will be no holiday for him between now and the races at Croft in six weeks, as he works with the team to hone the car to his technique.

Dubliner, Gavin Smith, consolidated his eighth place in the Drivers Championship, finishing sixth in the first race and seventh in the last ahead of his two team-mates.

Ian Harrison, Team Principal:

"You can measure the calibre of a team by its resilience and we’re a pretty resilient bunch of blokes. We’ve not forgotten how to win.

"We’ve got lots of things planned for the summer break between now and Croft and we’ll use our time wisely. Like all the other teams, we’re not going to be just putting the cars under covers and going to the beach."

Fabrizio Giovanardi:

"If I look to my performance at Oulton Park and I compare this race I think maybe something was really wrong – I cannot be this slow. I’m not depressed because I know it’s not possible to go so slow. The team do their max to help and there will be no holiday now between now and Croft.

"I’m really sorry because I know what people think. This is disappointing for me. I’m here for people not just for me. I race for a brand and I have to make the max for them. Everybody expects something better and this is my disappointment. I just need to be relaxed in my mind and do my max when I return."

Gavin Smith:

"VX Racing is a great team without question. There’s no one else on the grid I’d race with, given the choice. They’re going to keep chipping away to find solutions and I’ll be there chipping away at it with them until it comes right."

Tom Chilton:

"It’s hard to set a car up here to be good all through the race. Mine was good at the beginning and bad at the end – it’s a real compromise and we all took the gamble. From my experience here, if you get a few people on the first few laps you can then hold onto your position but I got held up and couldn’t make any progress.

"My car was a rocket in a straight line – the engine is really great. We’ve been very good in terms of a straight sprint. At the end of the day Vauxhall beat SEAT in the championship points."