WINS FOR SHEDDEN, TURKINGTON & JACKSON
GIOVANARDI & PLATO TIED FOR CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD
Team Halfords’ Gordon Shedden, Team RAC’s Colin
Turkington and Jacksons MSport’s Mat Jackson today shared
the victories in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship’s
three rounds at the Oulton Park circuit in Cheshire. Shedden’s
and first-time winner Jackson’s successes mean that
seven different drivers have so far achieved victories this
season, but the main talking point centres on the title race
– leaving Oulton, Vauxhall’s Fabrizio Giovanardi
and SEAT’s Jason Plato are now tied for the championship
lead.
Plato had arrived at Oulton having led the series since the
opening round at Brands Hatch in early April. But in today’s
first race, Giovanardi finished ahead of him to take over
at the top and in race two extended that lead. But the Italian
retired in an accident in race three, allowing Plato an opportunity
to close back in – an opportunity the Briton duly took.
Their battle will resume at Donington Park in Leicestershire
on Sunday 15 July when coverage of the BTCC also returns to
a regular live Sunday afternoon slot on terrestrial television
channel ITV1.
Giovanardi, who has five wins to Plato’s four, said:
“It’s been a day of very high and low emotions.
We have gradually caught Plato and today, for the first time,
we got in front of him. After race two it looked like we would
leave Oulton in the lead. What happened in race three is a
great shame. I am annoyed because those 12 points gave me
some breathing space, but I’m not that worried –
our car is fast everywhere and this was meant to be one of
SEAT’s best circuits. It looks good for the rest of
the season.”
Plato added: “We can still win this championship, but
it is going to take a lot of hard work. SEAT’s Leon
has a great chassis and is superb on the brakes, but down
the straights we are losing too much time to take advantage
of that. Today’s been frustrating for those reasons,
but at least things came back our way in race three. Donington
Park could be more of a Vauxhall circuit and we’ll need
to take as many points as possible there to stay in touch
at the top. It’s going to be a very tough second half
of the season.”
Meanwhile, Vauxhall has maintained its lead in the Manufacturers’
table and its VX Racing squad remains on top of the Teams’
championship as well. Mike Jordan and Team RAC remain leaders
of the Independents Drivers’ and Teams’ championships
respectively.
BTCC points after Oulton Park, rds13, 14 & 15
(provisional):
Drivers:
1. Fabrizio GIOVANARDI & Jason PLATO, 149 points
3. Matt NEAL, 97
4. Colin TURKINGTON, 93
5. Tom CHILTON, 87
6. Darren TURNER, 85
7. Mat JACKSON, 82
8. Gordon SHEDDEN, 79
9. Mike JORDAN, 71
10. Tom ONSLOW-COLE, 57
Manufacturers:
1. Vauxhall, 324 points
2. SEAT, 295
Teams:
1. VX Racing, 226 points
2. SEAT Sport UK, 223
3. Team Halfords, 170
4. Team RAC, 140
5. Jacksons MSport, 80
6. Eurotech/John Guest-Speedfit, 70
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