Giovanardi wins season opener

The 41-year-old Italian made a bad start from the front row in his Vauxhall, but overtook Jason Plato at Druids on the opening lap and then moved up to second when Colin Turkington spun his WSR BMW at Graham Hill bend two laps later.

Mat Jackson had assumed the lead after making a great getaway from pole position in his UK Dealer Team BMW, but began to lose time to Giovanardi when a brief rainshower wet the track surface during the middle stages of the race.

With six laps to go his 3.5-second advantage had been eroded to nothing by Giovanardi, and a slightly sideways moment exiting Surtees was all that the veteran needed to put his Vectra inside the BMW into Clearways and into the lead.

Giovanardi still needed to push hard as Jackson kept pace with him as the track dried out and crossed the line just 0.215 seconds behind Giovanardi, who took the 13th BTCC win of his career.

Plato ran third for most of the race on his way to the final podium position, but was given a run for his money by SEAT team-mate Darren Turner. The pair made slight contact at Graham Hill bend with two laps left, but it did not affect their finishing spots and gave SEAT the first podium finish in the BTCC for a diesel-powered car.

With the SEATs unable to lap as quick as the rest of the field in the late stages, Plato ended the race at the front of a seven-car train that was separated by less than three seconds.

Matt Neal finished on Turner's bootlid, but the two-time champion was one of the stars of the race.

After being forced onto the grass by Steven Kane on the way into Graham Hill bend on lap seven, Neal was a revelation.

In the final eight laps he made his way up to fifth, benefiting in no small way from a spot of wheel-banging with Tom Chilton at Clearways in a move that saw the Team Dynamics Honda driver slip down to ninth by the flag.

Gordon Shedden took sixth in his Dynamics car, ahead of Tom Onslow-Cole's Vauxhall, Kane's Motorbase BMW, Chilton and the Team Air Cool SEAT of Adam Jones, who climbed up from 15th at the start.

Turkington had a second spin at Graham Hill Bend later in the race and could finish only 20th.

The race was even worse for the BTC Lexus team, who suffered a double retirement, and for Arkas Racing when Erkut Kizilirmak's Vauxhall hit the wall on lap one and Martyn Bell also failed to make the finish.

Pos Driver                Car               Gap
 1. Fabrizio Giovanardi   Vauxhall      24 laps
 2. Mat Jackson           BMW            +0.215
 3. Jason Plato           SEAT           +6.277
 4. Darren Turner         SEAT           +7.463
 5. Matt Neal             Vauxhall       +7.873
 6. Gordon Shedden        Honda          +8.430
 7. Tom Onslow-Cole       Vauxhall       +8.842
 8. Steven Kane           BMW            +9.100
 9. Tom Chilton           Honda          +9.670
10. Adam Jones            SEAT          +18.316
11. Matt Allison          Chevrolet     +22.030
12. Rob Collard           BMW           +25.854
13. Mike Jordan           Honda         +26.582
14. Stephen Jelley        BMW           +28.887
15. Andrew Jordan         Honda         +29.017
16. Jason Hughes          MG            +39.679
17. John George           Honda          +1 lap
18. Harry Vaulkhard       Chevrolet      +1 lap
19. Erkut Kizilirmak      Vauxhall       +1 lap
20. Colin Turkington      BMW           +2 laps
21. Alan Taylor           Honda         +2 laps

Not classified

    Michael Doyle         Honda         19 laps
    Chris Stockton        Lexus          2 laps
    Martyn Bell           Vauxhall       2 laps
    Stuart Oliver         Lexus          0 laps
    
    
Fastest lap - Giovanardi, 49.416s on lap 4