Giovanardi tops Thruxton practice
Fabrizio Giovanardi proved that a lack of winter activity has not slowed him down in the slightest as he set the fastest time in practice ahead of this weekend's British Touring Car Championship season-opener at Thruxton
The Italian, who only signed his deal with the Triple 8 Vauxhall squad 48 hours ago, clocked the benchmark time of 1m17.981s in the afternoon practice session, to beat Matt Neal's Honda by 0.273s.
His session was ended early though, as he pitted with a gearbox problem with 10 minutes remaining.
"This car has basically been built in less than a week," he said. "So you have to expect these kinds of problems."
Neal had led from his team-mate Gordon Shedden in the morning session, but with that taking place on a damp track, every driver improved on their mark during the afternoon running.
Mat Jackson put in a superb lap mid-way through the session to put his Motorbase BMW third, while Andrew Jordan was fourth quickest - and the best placed of the turbocharged cars - in his Eurotech Vauxhall.
Tom Chilton's LPG-powered Arena Ford was fifth, while Jason Plato was the best of the Chevrolet drivers in seventh - and the last man within a second of Giovanardi's pace.
Paul O'Neill, who only completed a handful of laps during the opening session to scrub in some tyres, was eighth in his Tech-Speed Honda, one place ahead of Phil Glew's Triple 8 Vauxhall.
Steven Kane, who was 14th quickest, had a scary moment during the morning session as he spun his Motorbase BMW at high speed at Goodwood corner. He recovered without hitting anything.
Pos Driver Car Time Gap 1. Fabrizio Giovanardi Vauxhall 1m17.981s 2. Matt Neal Honda 1m18.254s +0.273s 3. Mat Jackson BMW 1m18.325s +0.344s 4. Andrew Jordan Vauxhall 1m18.534s +0.553s 5. Tom Chilton Ford 1m18.542s +0.561s 6. Gordon Shedden Honda 1m18.585s +0.604s 7. Jason Plato Chevrolet 1m18.946s +0.965s 8. Paul O'Neill Honda 1m19.077s +1.096s 9. Phil Glew Vauxhall 1m19.259s +1.278s 10. David Pinkney Vauxhall 1m19.280s +1.299s 11. Rob Collard BMW 1m19.422s +1.441s 12. Tom Boardman SEAT 1m19.599s +1.618s 13. Tom Onslow-Cole Ford 1m19.696s +1.715s 14. Steven Kane BMW 1m19.699s +1.718s 15. Alex MacDowall Chevrolet 1m19.844s +1.863s 16. Matt Hamilton Honda 1m20.188s +2.207s 17. Martin Johnson Vauxhall 1m20.672s +2.691s 18. John George Honda 1m20.841s +2.860s 19. Shaun Hollamby Volkswagen 1m21.939s +3.958s 20. Andy Neate BMW 1m22.506s +4.107s
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Andy Priaulx set to leave DTM to switch to GT racing in 2014
Marc Marquez sets blistering pace in Valencia MotoGP test
Why the DTM doesn't need Britain anymore
Dale Coyne Racing retains Harvey for Long Beach IndyCar race
How to watch WRC's Croatia Rally: schedule, line-up and more
McLaren F1 team bracing for "damage limitation" in Chinese GP
How Porsche won, lost and won in Misano Formula E mayhem
How Ingram is seeking to reclaim the BTCC crown from Sutton
The tin-top world champion seeking to tick a "missing box" in the BTCC
How a BTCC Alliance swept the field away in 2023
How a top-down overhaul formed the basis of Sutton's 2023 BTCC dominance
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments