Giovanardi wins Thruxton race one
Fabrizio Giovanardi claimed his first British Touring Car Championship win of the season with a lights-to-flag victory in the first race of the day at Thruxton
The Vauxhall driver started from pole position in his Vectra and, despite his 1.5 second lead being eroded thanks to the appearance of the safety car at mid-distance, he was able to reassert his advantage over Matt Neal to win by just under half a second.
Behind Neal, who maintained his 100 per cent record of podium finishes this year, Andrew Jordan came home third to make it a one-two-three finish for Vauxhall, five years and a day after it last locked out the podium.
Jordan was forced to hold off a determined assault from Colin Turkington, who stayed on his tail all race long and finished as the best independent driver in fourth in his WSR BMW, one place ahead of the Tech-Speed Honda of the brilliant Paul O'Neill.
Adam Jones came through to sixth in his Clyde Valley Racing SEAT after winning a superb battle with James Thompson's Team Dynamics Honda.
After being passed by Jones, Thompson held up a train of cars including Rob Collard and Stephen Jelley.
The WSR BMW made it past on the inside at the chicane on the penultimate lap, just as Collard's Motorbase machine was doing likewise on the outside. The result was contact as the three tried to go around together, putting Collard in the barriers.
Jelley finished seventh ahead of the Chevrolets of Mat Jackson (RML) and Harry Vaulkhard (Tempus Sport). Jason Plato's RML-run car had been running fourth early on, but he pitted for new front tyres after a feeling a vibration in his car. He finished 10th.
The second CVR SEAT of Dan Eaves failed to take the start due to a broken steering rack sustained when he spun and hit a barrier on his out-lap.
Pos Driver Car Time 1. Fabrizio Giovanardi Vauxhall 25m16.248s 2. Matt Neal Vauxhall + 0.404s 3. Andrew Jordan Vauxhall + 1.013s 4. Colin Turkington BMW + 1.523s 5. Paul O'Neill Honda + 2.620s 6. Adam Jones SEAT + 6.841s 7. Stephen Jelley BMW + 7.904s 8. Mat Jackson Chevrolet + 10.457s 9. Harry Vaulkhard Chevrolet + 11.072s 10. Jason Plato Chevrolet + 12.323s 11. James Thompson Honda + 12.479s 12. Jonathan Adam BMW + 14.141s 13. Martyn Bell Honda + 16.411s 14. David Pinkney Honda + 17.858s 15. Tom Chilton Ford + 20.472s 16. Martin Johnson Vauxhall + 25.257s 17. Rob Collard BMW + 25.911s 18. John George Honda + 1 lap Not classified: Nick Leason BMW 10 laps Alan Morrison Ford 6 laps Liam McMillan SEAT 4 laps Dan Eaves SEAT 0 laps
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