VX Racing set to thrill at Oulton Park

With just two points separating VX Racing’s Fabrizio Giovanardi from current Drivers Championship leader, Jason Plato, the arrival of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) at Oulton Park next weekend is set to be a thriller.

The Cheshire venue, known as one of the most picturesque and historic circuits in Britain, has proved to be a winning ground for the Luton-based manufacturer, which has racked up eight victories since 2001.

Having won more races in 2007 than any of his rivals, Giovanardi knows now is the time to attack in a bid to snatch the Drivers Championship lead from SEAT’s Plato.

With a comfortable lead in the Manufacturers Championships, however, VX Racing will be focusing on maintaining the advantage as well as helping Giovanardi climb up the ladder to come out top at the end of the weekend.

Team-mate, Tom Chilton, narrowly missed out on a podium position at Croft and as a result lost third position to Team Dynamic’s Matt Neal in the driver’s standings.

The 22-year-old, however, is hopeful of remerging as a championship contender at Oulton Park based on his success from 2006, when he clinched a podium position despite starting from the back of the grid.

Qualifying at Oulton Park starts at 14:45 on Saturday, 23 June 2007, with the first of three races at 12:10 on Sunday, 24 June 2007.

Fabrizio Giovanardi #5

“I feel very confident that we can take the two points from Plato.

“I really admired Oulton Park last year when I went there for the first time. It’s such a lovely circuit and I felt really comfortable there.

“We had a good weekend at Croft as I closed the gap to Plato by a lot. We will have to ensure to put in a good qualifying result at Oulton Park, as this will do 80% of the job and we won’t end up at the back of the field like we did in the first race at Croft.”

Tom Chilton #7

“Oulton Park is a great circuit. I love going flat-out through the woods as you get such an adrenalin rush. It’s a real driver circuit and I won three years ago in the pouring rain.

“We came home from Croft with some positive feedback and I had a long chat with my engineer afterwards. We will go in the same direction as we did for race two at Croft, as that set-up was perfect for my car.

“Last year I got a podium starting from the back of the grid at Oulton Park. Considering we have a much better car and overall package, I am very confident we will have a good weekend.”

Stuart Harris, VXR Brand Manager

“Oulton Park is a beautiful circuit and in the past years we have always had good results there.

“We are now nearly half-way through the season and I think there is still a lot to come. Fabrizio is very close in the Drivers Championship hunt and the team knows we have to put the effort in to get him to the top.

“We had two podium positions at Oulton Park last year and we are positive we can improve on that.”