Giovanardi fastest despite collision

The double champion set the pace in a time of 1m18.882s in a slightly damp first of two sessions at the Hampshire circuit, but was thwarted in his attempts to improve his time in a drier, later, session due to a collision with Stephen Jelley's WSR BMW at Goodwood corner that left extensive damage to both cars.

The accident brought out the red flags, reducing the session from 40 minutes in length to just 25, and robbing many drivers of the chance to improve on their morning times.

Second quickest overall was Jelley's team-mate Colin Turkington, 0.234 seconds slower than Giovanardi, while Adam Jones was a highly-impressive third quickest in the best of the Clyde Valley Racing SEATs.

Fourth fastest was Matt Neal, who set the best time in the afternoon session, despite carrying the maximum 45 kg of success ballast by virtue of the Vauxhall driver leading the championship.

Rob Collard was the only one of the top six to improve his time in the second session, the Motorbase BMW driver going fifth quickest, one place ahead of Vauxhall's Andrew Jordan.

Jelley was seventh quickest, ahead of James Thompson, who was making his first appearance in a BTCC event since 2006 in a Team Dynamics Honda.

An excellent ninth quickest in his Tech-Speed Honda was another returnee, Paul O'Neill, while Motorbase's Jonathan Adam completed the top 10.

The RML Chevrolets of Mat Jackson and Jason Plato were 11th and 12th - Plato completing just two lap of the morning session due to a suspension problem.

The Arena Fords were once again slow, both Tom Chilton and Alan Morrison suffering from a chronic lack of straightline speed on the ultra-quick track. Chilton was the quickest of the pair in 19th.

Pos  Driver               Car       Time
 1.  Fabrizio Giovanardi  Vauxhall  1m18.882s
 2.  Colin Turkington     BMW       1m19.116s
 3.  Adam Jones           SEAT      1m19.195s
 4.  Matt Neal            Vauxhall  1m19.379s
 5.  Rob Collard          BMW       1m19.688s
 6.  Andrew Jordan        Vauxhall  1m19.755s
 7.  Stephen Jelley       BMW       1m19.771s
 8.  James Thompson       Honda     1m19.950s
 9.  Paul O'Neill         Honda     1m20.004s
10.  Jonathan Adam        BMW       1m20.069s
11.  Mat Jackson          Chevrolet 1m20.305s
12.  Jason Plato          Chevrolet 1m20.351s
13.  Dan Eaves            SEAT      1m20.544s
14.  John George          Honda     1m20.885s
15.  Dave Pinkney         Honda     1m20.947s
16.  Harry Vaulkhard      Chevrolet 1m20.972s
17.  Martyn Bell          Honda     1m21.379s
18.  Liam McMillan        SEAT      1m22.013s
19.  Tom Chilton          Ford      1m22.531s
20.  Martin Johnson       Vauxhall  1m22.555s
21.  Alan Morrison        Ford      1m24.006s
22.  Nick Leason          BMW       1m25.439s