Oulton Park proves biggest challenge this season for VX Racing

Oulton Park proved to be one of the biggest challenges of the season so far for VX Racing. The fourth round of the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship at the popular track brought each of the drivers a podium finish. However all three had to fight hard every lap of every race to produce these strong results. Fabrizio Giovanardi notched up his 100th BTCC race at the Cheshire circuit, competing in his fourth season of the championship. Andrew Jordan was delighted to take his third podium finish of the season so far. Matt Neal, with a third, a fourth and a seventh place retains his Drivers’ Championship lead, but only by two points. VX Racing continued to accumulate points to retain the lead in both the Teams’ Championship and the Manufacturer/Constructor title chase.

The start of the first race saw Neal make up one place to ninth, but Jordan dropped back to 11th from his 10th place start, while Giovanardi maintained position in sixth. He challenged Stephen Jelley ahead of him from the off, finally passing his rival on the third lap. On the next lap Neal overtook Rob Collard to take eighth place, while Jordan soon moved up to tenth. In the closing stages Giovanardi was struggling and dropping back into the clutches of Jelley, “It was much as I expected, with more drop off on the tyres during the race compared to others. I was quite fast up until that point.” said the Italian. However Giovanardi kept ahead of Jelley, benefiting from Mat Jackson retiring with a puncture to finish fourth.

As the race progressed Jordan had to defend hard to keep Collard behind him and his clever defending tactics were frustrating Collard, with the VX Racing driver’s rival pushing him sideways and off track to make his way past. Jordan’s performance was particularly impressive, considering that he was struggling with tyre wear and engine oil leaking on to his left rear tyre, but was able to salvage a single championship point finishing in tenth place. Neal took seventh position at the chequered flag. He remained optimistic saying: “I don’t think it’s a damage limitation exercise yet, We take the weight off for the next race, we’re three places further up on the grid and then in the third race there’s the reverse grid, so there’s everything to play for.”

The second race started with Giovanardi in fourth place, Neal in seventh and Jordan in tenth position. The Italian VX Racing champion made good use of the first corner to take second position, with Neal improving to sixth and Jordan up to seventh place. Giovanardi was hot on the heels of the lead car of Colin Turkington, while Neal passed Jonathan Adams for fifth place and Jordan followed him through later in the lap. A retirement from Stephen Jelley promoted Neal to fourth and Jordan to fifth, but Adam then retook Jordan to put him back into sixth place. For the remainder of the race Neal hounded third place driver, Jason Plato, but the two highly experienced touring car specialists were as wily as each other and Neal was unable to pass his arch rival, crossing the finishing line in fourth place. Meanwhile Jordan kept Thompson at bay throughout the race to take sixth at the chequered flag. Giovanardi maintained second place for the whole distance, unable to challenge leader, Turkington, as his tyres dropped off, taking his first podium of the day. “It’s another podium and more points, but I had a problem with a wishbone and felt that something wasn’t right with the car,” said the BTCC champion.

The third race, with a reverse grid, featured Jordan on the front row in second place, with Neal in fourth and Giovanardi in sixth place. At the green flag, Jordan and Neal held position while Giovanardi moved up to fifth place. The positions remained constant until Adam spun out, promoting Neal to third, but with Jason Plato barging past Giovanardi the BTCC champion remained in fifth. Collard passed him in the closing stages, dropping him back to sixth which he maintained to the chequered flag. Jordan took his third podium of the season with second place and Neal took third place for another podium finish.

Jordan celebrated his second second place of the year, saying, “It’s the first weekend that I’ve come away with three points finishes, but we made progress throughout the day. I thought I’d be able to have a go at the lead from the start, but I think Thompson’s car was set up for the start and was just as quick off the line.” Neal said of the weekend, “We knew this was going to suit the BMWs, so it’s been a tough weekend. The car feels fine, but we just didn’t have anything more at this track. Croft will also suit the BMWs, but we’ll still be taking the fight to them.”

The VX Racing team will return to track action in two weeks time for the fifth round of the BTCC, delivering its unique brand of touring car racing to Northern England. Croft circuit, close to Darlington, will host the event from 13-14 June.