Results mask progress for Fabrizio Giovanardi
Fabrizio Giovanardi believes he can fight at the front at Donington Park, after a positive weekend at Brands Hatch where the results masked the progress made with his car.
The double champion took part in his maiden weekend for Motorbase Performance, and his first in the BTCC for four years, scoring a best result of ninth in the second race.
But the Italian was on the back foot following a misfire on his Ford Focus ST in qualifying, meaning he couldn’t better 18th on the grid.
Giovanardi managed to climb to 14th in the first race, but after further progress in the second, hopes of a good result in the finale went out of the window when he spun at Paddock Hill Bend.
He still managed to battle back to 16th, leaving him optimistic a corner had been turned with a car he had been struggling to get to grips with.
Speaking to TouringCarTimes, Giovanardi said: “On media day we couldn’t really test, so we tried to use the same car [here]. In qualifying I had a slight issue and the engine was misfiring at low revs, and I lost a couple of tenths which in the end made a big gap.
“It was an average car to drive – not slow, but not fast as the front [cars]. Between the first and second races we found something really important with the car, and it made a big change.
“The second race I could stay with the front guys, and we finished very close on laptime. That made me happy for the third one.
“I had a good start, and the first corner I spun without clear reason. I really don’t know why – I lost the rear. But the car was fast and I passed a lot of cars.”
Looking ahead to Donington Park in three weeks’ time, a bullish Giovanardi added: “With the car responding as it was responding here, we can be fighting at the front.”
Motorbase team manager Oly Collins said: “Fabrizio had a lot of work to do after a problem in qualifying but was very unlucky not to have gained the result we deserved.
“All three cars showed good pace this weekend and we’ll go to Donington confident of some results.”
