Closing stages of BTCC – Silverstone Preview

On the back of a thrilling weekend at Knockhill, the BTCC returns to England and heads to Silverstone for Round 7 of the championship. Colin Turkington still leads the way, but thanks to a strong Sunday in Scotland, Fabrizio Giovanardi has narrowed the gap to the BMW driver, as the Italian seeks to win a hattrick of BTCC titles.

Just nine points separate Turkington and Giovanardi, with nine races in the 2009 season to go. Knockhill saw Matt Neal rule himself out of championship contention, which if anything should strengthen Giovanardi’s chances of taking that special hattrick.

If race three at Knockhill is anything to go by, then the Italian can expect the full support of teammates Neal and Andrew Jordan. In Scotland Neal handed third place over to Giovanardi, a clear sign that he is now the de facto Vauxhall number one.

Neal will now be able to go for wins with the aim of taking as many points away from Turkington as possible, while at the same time knowing that if he has the #1 Vauxhall behind him then the chances are he may be asked to move over.

VX Racing will be hoping that Jordan can step up race performance to play a part in Giovanardi’s title bid, though even without the third Vectra Vauxhall would seem to have the stronger squad to put behind their bid.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Jordan admitted that his aim for Silverstone is that “elusive first win, but with Fabrizio and Colin in a title battle, I’ll be there for support if the team needs me to be.”

Turkington needs Jelley to rediscover his Croft form and get back on the podium and denying Giovanardi points, and the second Team RAC driver is confident he can do so at Silverstone. However outrageous bad luck, of his own and others making, would seem to suggest that Turkington may have to win the title by himself.

Of course contact between title contenders and teammates isn’t unheard of in the BTCC, just remember Silverstone ’92, although it’s possibly still a little early in the season to consider drivers taking each other off on ‘purpose’.

Away from the title battle and the Chevrolet Lacettis would seem to be the clear favourites, with Silverstone suiting them down to the ground. Certainly WSR Team Principal Dick Bennetts would seem to think they could ruin his weekend, saying “Apart from those intriguingly powerful Lacetti’s, we are really looking forward to returning to Silverstone, as the drivers are also BRDC members, so it’s great for them to perform at ‘home’ as such.”

Both Jordan and Neal have said that they expect the Chevrolet’s to be the quickest at Silverstone, and with the cars seeming to get more and more suited to the BTCC and it’s spec Dunlop tyres every round, then it’s hard to see the wide spaces and long straights in Northamptonshire not suiting the Lacetti.

Jason Plato has long said he’s out of the title running and just going all out for wins, though the Racing Silverline driver now has the added incentive of being ahead of old adversary Neal in the standings, surely incentive enough for Plato score as many points as possible.

At Knockhill Mat Jackson proved Plato isn’t the only Chevrolet driver capable of winning, while should James Nash return to the grid then he’ll be expected to build on his Snetterton performance and run near the front, at a minimum in race three. Whether the third RML car will take the start though hasn’t been confirmed, though before withdrawing from the Knockhill races, Nash did state he would be at Silverstone.

One driver who definitely will be at Silverstone though is Johnny Herbert. The treble Grand Prix winner will line-up in the Team Dynamics Honda Civic vacated by touring car gun-for-hire James Thompson. How Herbert will go is probably the biggest question of the weekend.

Running at the front like Thompson is unlikely, particularly when considering some of the less than successful previous attempts by Formula One drivers to convert to touring cars, but if Herbert can out score Dave Pinkney, whose performances in recent rounds have impressed, then he’ll be doing well.

Should some of the likes of Martyn Bell, Adam Jones, Nash and the second Ford Focus miss another meeting, then the chances of Herbert recording points on his debut will increase. While we know the car is a front runner, the switch to a front wheel drive Civic from the sports cars and Speedcars that Herbert has driven in recent seasons is massive.

A final acclimatisation test at Pembrey on Monday will give him the chance to further learn the characteristics of the Honda, and unlike in Formula One, none of the rival teams seem to have objected to Herbert being granted an extra test!

Jason Hughes will still be missing, although he announced during the course of the Knockhill weekend that he will definitely be out at Brands Hatch in the bio-ethanol powered MG ZS, and that things are “looking very promising” for the Rockingham meeting in mid-September.

A final driver who may be out at Silverstone, but if not will definitely be seen at Rockingham, is former single-seater driver Matt Hamilton, who will be joining the series in an ex-Neal and Andy Priaulx Honda Civic.

With the World Aerobatic Championships taking place high over the Stowe end of the circuit on Saturday, it seems that spectacular action will be guaranteed both days at Silverstone, whether in the air or on the track!

Previous Winners

2008: Jason Plato, Fabrizio Giovanardi, Mat Jackson
2006: Gareth Howell (x2), Matt Neal
2005: Tom Chilton, Luke Hines, Gareth Howell
2004: Matt Neal, James Thompson, Tom Chilton
2003: Yvan Muller, James Thompson