Vauxhall scores second win in as many meetings

Vauxhall’s Fabrizio Giovanardi worked magic at Brands Hatch this afternoon, turning an unpromising qualifying into the Luton-marque’s 101st British Touring Car Championship victory.

The Italian’s success was at the expense of team-mate, Tom Chilton, who led the race until two laps from the end. The 21-year-old had been struggling with gear shift problems for several minutes and eventually was unable to sustain his blistering pace – which had previously earned him fastest lap of the race.

In the end Chilton, from Reigate, finished eighth after reigning champion, Matt Neal, tried an optimistic move on the VX Racing driver, which saw his Team Halfords car launched into the air and out of the race.

Today’s victory was all the more sweet after VX Racing qualified eighth, ninth and 12th on Saturday, with Chilton leading Giovanardi and Gavin Smith in the times. Steady progress today saw the team improve its results with every race, ultimately claiming the top prize.

Smith suffered abysmal luck. After being pushed into the pit-lane wall off the start in today’s first race, the team was unable to repair the car in time for the second. From the back of the grid the Irishman managed to fight his way up to 10th in the final race of the day but says this will be a weekend to forget.

Fabrizio Giovanardi: “When I need to fight to win I feel great. I prefer to win the race like this than when I lead by miles.

“The car was good. I watched my team-mate in front and he was really fast. I thought, if he’s fast I can be faster, but I decided to concentrate on not making any mistakes rather than pushing Tom. It turned out to be a good choice.”

Tom Chilton: “It’s frustrating but that’s motor-racing – nothing’s a dead-cert. I was doing consistent laps, wasn’t making any mistakes and then the gear box decided to give up.

“The positives from this weekend? All three starts were the best, I’m good out of the box and I’m consistent. It’s just that in motor-racing anything could go wrong, but now I’m more motivated than ever to get my first win for VX Racing.”

Ian Harrison, VX Racing Team Principal: “We are taking advantage of every opportunity that’s put in front of us.

“You’d have to say that Tom Chilton had that in the bag until he started to get gear shift problems. If it wasn’t for that he would have won the race.”