Giovanardi wins at Silverstone

The Italian passed long-time leader Jason Plato at Becketts on lap 17 of 25, taking a wide entry to the corner and then cutting back inside the SEAT on the exit, passing his title rival with superior exit speed.

Plato fell back to seventh by the flag in his Leon TDI, not helped by bent steering sustained in a late bash with Matt Neal. His result, coupled with Giovanardi's win, means he now trails the Italian by 42 points.

Giovanardi can be crowned champion for the second year in a row if he finishes second or higher in the final race and Plato does not score.

The only other man to lead the race, Mat Jackson, finished well down in 13th. After taking the lead from polesitter Plato at the start, the BMW driver was re-passed by the SEAT at Brooklands on lap two and was then forced into the gravel on the exit of Luffield on lap nine after contact with Giovanardi.

That incident dropped him to fifth and a lap later, while defending the inside line from Adam Jones at the same corner, the pair made contact and the spinning Jackson was collected by Tom Chilton.

Second went to Colin Turkington, who also won the Independents' class for Team RAC. The BMW driver passed Neal's Vauxhall exiting Luffield with five laps left and was followed by Jones' SEAT, who spent more than a lap wheel-to-wheel with the former series champion and ended up with a well-deserved podium finish.

Neal held off the charging Steven Kane, who took his Motorbase BMW from 23rd on the grid to sixth at the flag. Tenth place finisher Mike Jordan will start the final race from pole position under the reverse grid rules.

Pos Driver                  Car                  Time    
 1. Fabrizio Giovanardi     Vauxhall        30:59.002
 2. Colin Turkington        BMW                +2.768
 3. Adam Jones              SEAT               +3.806
 4. Matt Neal               Vauxhall           +4.285
 5. Steven Kane             BMW                +7.384
 6. Tom Onslow-Cole         Vauxhall           +8.670
 7. Jason Plato             SEAT               +9.658
 8. Gordon Shedden          Honda             +11.953
 9. Rob Collard             BMW               +14.853
10. Mike Jordan             Honda             +25.264
11. Jason Hughes            Honda             +40.043
12. Harry Vaulkhard         Chevrolet         +40.574
13. Mat Jackson             BMW               +44.512
14. Martyn Bell             Vauxhall          +46.259
15. John George             Honda           +1:07.632

Retirements

    Tom Chilton             Honda              9 laps
    Michael Doyle           Honda              2 laps
    Darren Turner           SEAT               2 laps
    Stephen Jelley          BMW                 1 lap
    Andrew Jordan           Honda               1 lap
    Alan Taylor             Honda              0 laps
    Erkut Kizilirmak        Vauxhall           0 laps


Fastest lap, Giovanardi 1:08.869