BTCC Season Review: Fabrizio's fabulous double

Fabrizio Giovanardi began the season in a mode that could easily have demoralised his opposition, the Italian taking a double victory at the season-opening round at Brands Hatch.

After that weekend, three more wins were all he needed, as his consistent running saw him rack up at least 23 points at every one of the first nine rounds, and complete a sequence of 39 consecutive points-scoring races that runs back to the middle of 2007.

There were some lucky breaks, like a grassy excursion in Snetterton qualifying that forced him to park his car off the circuit when bringing it back to the pits would almost certainly have involved him failing a ride-height penalty. And there was the engine failure that stopped him from starting the penultimate race of the season - once the title had already been sewn-up.

But then came drives like the one in race two at Snetterton. After contact with Tom Chilton relegated him to 16th on lap one, Giovanardi fought back to third, limiting the damage his rival Jason Plato was doing by winning.

It proved that despite the best efforts of the others, the Italian was still the class of the field.

It was, of course, Plato who was his nearest challenger, even if he was not always the closest man to Giovanardi points-wise. After SEAT decided to introduce the Leon turbo-diesel to the championship, Plato, Darren Turner and the whole team took time to adapt to the rigours of the heavier powerplant and, in particular, the squirmish nature of the car thanks to the increased wear the new weight distribution made to the front tyres.

Jason Plato and Darren Turner at Croft © LAT

Wins for both Plato and Turner at Donington Park were a blip in frustrating early-season form, but a breakthrough mid-season test at Snetterton helped unlock all the potential of the car and saw the pair win eight times between them in the final 15 races.

Plato, in particular, was mesmeric on his day. The Snetterton, Oulton Park and Knockhill weekends in particular showed the 2001 champion at his absolute best. Utter domination was not forthcoming though, mainly due to unreliability issues with the Leon.

And there were lost points early on too, including a disqualification for a failed ride height test at Snetterton that the driver claimed was due to Giovanardi hitting him and bending a suspension arm.

Turner once more enhanced his reputation as one of the best qualifiers in the BTCC and only Plato had a better record over the year.

The ultimate team player, Turner accepted the role of Plato's tail-gunner from the halfway point of the season, probably sacrificing himself the chance of more than the two victories he picked up. He too though, had as many races scuppered by unreliability as Plato.

Both drivers now find themselves looking for drives for 2009, following SEAT's decision to end their participation in the UK with immediate effect.

As for Giovanardi's teammates, new Vauxhall recruits Matt Neal and Tom Onslow-Cole had differing seasons. Two-time champion Neal ought to have won more than once (although his Rockingham victory in the wet was excellent) and seemed to find cutting through the field a little harder than Giovanardi.

The same could be said of Onslow-Cole, but the sophomore driver usually qualified high enough that this was not an issue.

Two pole positions (the first Vauxhall driver to manage that in a season since Turkington three years ago) and two victories at Thruxton helped enhance his reputation no end, although his two third places at Knockhill were perhaps a better indication of his development.

Team Halfords were looking to bounce back to their title-winning ways after a promising first season with their self-built Honda Civics.

Tom Chilton leads at Brands Hatch © LAT

Two wins for Gordon Shedden were no more than he deserved - although two punctures while leading at Thruxton cost him two more, while Tom Chilton found things a little more difficult.

Struggling with qualifying for the first half of the season, Chilton came on song at Oulton Park and, when he kept his nose clean, was as quick as any of the petrol-powered cars in dry conditions during the later rounds. His Brands Hatch win was his first in three years and ought to see him head into the winter break with his confidence far higher than it was 12 months ago.

Mat Jackson surprisingly snatched second place from Plato at the final race of the season. The former SEAT Cupra Cup champion had Andy Priaulx's WTCC title-winning car this season, with his family Jackson MSport team running under the BMW Dealer Team UK banner.

What became clear through the season was that Jackson is just about as good a wet-weather driver as there is in the BTCC, with the drive of the season - a charge from 18th to second in a damp race two at Croft - belonging to him.

But there was more to Jackson than that, with a growing reputation as a hard, but fair racer developing through the paddock. If there was a downside to his season though, it was his inability to qualify with success ballast on board his car; Brands Hatch at the end of the season was the only time he made it higher than seventh on the grid carrying weight.

Jackson's five wins though were not enough to earn him the Independents' title. That went, for the second year running, to Team RAC driver Colin Turkington, driving a similar BMW.

After a shaky start to the season (save for a win at the first round at Brands Hatch), Turkington knuckled down and re-discovered his best form during the middle of the season. His win at Oulton Park (one of four during the year) was as accomplished as any he has taken in his career.

He eventually took the Indie title by just 10 points from Jackson, after doing what he needed to at the final round, rather than going for glory and, helped by his steadily-improving rookie teammate Stephen Jelley - who took a shock pole position at Brands Hatch - guided Team RAC to the Indie teams' title.

There was a third man in contention for the Independents' title, and that was the ultra-impressive Adam Jones. After Team Air-Cool only finished preparing their SEAT Leon hours before the start of the season, the ginger Brummie set about a blinding run of form that included a sensational podium at the early-season round at Rockingham, and five throughout the course of the season.

Unfortunately a poor weekend at Snetterton at mid-season put him on the back foot, and with the BMW proving itself as the car of choice for Indie runners, Jones did exceptionally well to keep himself in the title hunt (mathematically at least) right up until the Brands Hatch season finale.

The Motorbase BMWs of Rob Collard and Steven Kane © LAT

Dave Bartrum's Motorbase Performance team had their best season yet after switching from SEAT Leons to BMW 3-Series. Porsche Carrera Cup front-runner Steven Kane and BTCC returnee Rob Collard took a while to get used to the machines, and the 30-kilo weight penalty the cars had to carry due to the team opting for sequential gearboxes certainly set them back during the first half of the season.

Croft proved to be the turning point, and both Kane and Collard would record podium finishes before the season's end, with Brands Hatch at the end of the year marking the real high point as both drivers made it into the top three in the same race.

It was a mixed year for Mike Jordan's Eurotech-John Guest Racing team, which expanded to run two cars for the first time, one for Jordan himself and another for his son Andrew, who was as entertaining off the track as he was quick on it.

The younger Jordan almost took a shock victory at Thruxton in May on what was just his 12th BTCC start, before a mechanical problem caused his retirement. But he did at least get on the podium - twice - and showed mature racecraft beyond his 19 years.

The Honda Integras are up for sale now and Jordan Jr gets a Vectra next year, meaning he will be a sure-fire Indie title contender. Mike unfortunately won't be though, the veteran choosing to stand down from driving duties to focus on the running of the team.

Robertshaw Racing found the going hard as they attempted to run not only a pair of Chevrolet Lacettis, but Alan Taylor's Honda Integra in their first full BTCC campaign. The team suffered hugely after lead driver Matt Allison was forced to abandon his season after three rounds when he ran into sponsorship problems, with newcomer Harry Vaulkhard having nobody to compare data to. Plans to get Johnny Herbert, Warren Hughes and Euan Hankey into the spare Chevy came to nowt.

Of the drivers more commonly seen in the less prestigious half of the grid, the standout was Clio Cup graduate Micky Doyle. Driving a five-year-old Honda Civic for his family-run In-Tune Racing squad, the young Scot showed that he could well be a front-runner in the future given more competitive machinery. His highlight was certainly passing both Team Halfords Civics in one go to seal eighth place at a wet Silverstone.