MotorSportVoice - 2008 - BTCC - Donington Park (Round 3)

The desire for the third meeting of the BTCC season was that it be a dry meeting, and the qualifying session was just that. VX Racing’s Tom Onslow-Cole claimed his first ever pole position in the BTCC, ahead of SEAT driver Jason Plato. Congratulations must be conveyed to Plato, his wife Sophie and their daughter, Alena, who was born only a few days before the meeting.

The Donington Park National circuit was the setting for this week’s BTCC racing. As happened with a support race there last year, the lights failed on the first start of race one. The cars meandered around the midlands circuit once more and prepared for the manual, flag start. West Surrey Racing’s Colin Turkington allowed the uncertainty of the situation get the better of him as he went to early on the flag start, and was later penalised with a drive though penalty, along with Stuart Oliver. Pole-sitter Tom Onslow-Cole made a great start and led away Jason Plato and Darren Turner. The second lap saw championship leader Fabrizio Giovanardi make an uncharacteristic mistake as he left the tarmac to make a detour on the grass. He re-joined but was forced to pit to have grass removed from the front of his car, as it was obstructing air flow and thus the cooling. Behind Giovanardi’s self-made incident, John George and Rob Collard came together in spectacular fashion. Collard retired as his stricken BMW sat in the gravel, yet John George attempted to drive his Honda Integra back to the pits with the rear-left wheel missing. However, only a matter of a few hundred yards had been covered when he lost control of the three-wheeled Integra, and retired on the spot. The safety car was deployed to clear up the debris from the incident, and this aided Turkington greatly as he had rejoined at the back of the field, following his penalty trip to the pits. His day got worse when he rejoined the race from the pits, he tangled with Erkut Kizilirmak, and even though both continued, they were slowed significantly by the incident. As the safety car came into the pits, Onslow-Cole held his nerve well and re-started the race perfectly. Darren Turner and Jason Plato were pushing hard to pass Gordon Shedden, and this paid off as Shedden went wide, and both chasers went through. Bad luck was to strike for Turner though, as his car slowed on the pit straight, he limped around the lap and made a pit stop, where the team found it to be a problem with a pipe connected to the turbo. Mat Jackson and Tom Chilton made contact, which resulted in Chilton’s car being partially airborne, and then both ended in the gravel and out of the race. Jackson appeared to be angry with Chilton, and by body language appeared to be pinning blame on Chilton. However, from race footage it would seem that it was racing incident, but if blame were to be dealt out, it would probably be to Jackson himself. The safety car was sent out again to allow the marshals to clear the two cars way from the dangerous place they were sat in. This was good for Giovanardi as it allowed the field to compress again, and potentially allow him to make up some more places due to this. Onslow-Cole again restarted the race well, but early into the lap he ran wide, allowing Plato to pass him for the lead, followed by Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal. Shedden locked up moments later allowing Neal and Onslow-Cole to pass him. Towards the end of the race Darren Turner again slowed, but opted to persevere to the end of the race. Plato crossed the line to take the SEAT Turbo Diesel’s first BTCC win, a win which he later dedicated to his new daughter Alena. Matt Neal was second, with his team mate Tom Onslow-Cole in third. Andrew Jordon took a fantastic win in the Independent’s class, with a fifth place overall.

The second race was preceded by two support races, and some rain had begun to fall during those, and right up to the start of the Touring Car race. As the lights were on and the cars were ready to start racing, Andrew Jordan threw open his door. This was reportedly as he had stalled the car. Once this was sorted out, race control elected not to go through the formalities of another formation lap, and started the race from there. Plato got away well, but two fast starters were Gordon Shedden and Giovanardi who was free of his massive success ballast, which had hindered him throughout qualifying and race one. Darren Turner visited the gravel at turn one but soon rejoined, as Andrew Jordan made slight contact with Giovanardi losing both only a tiny amount of time for both drivers. Both would be glad to be clear of the incident unfolding behind, as Erkut, Alan Taylor and ******* collided, causing mayhem on the first corner. The safety car was deployed to pick up the cars at the start of the second lap. As racing continued on the first lap, Mike Jordan was pushed off track by Jason Hughes. Jason Plato was passed by Gordon Shedden, and Giovanardi was up into third place behind the pair. As the safety car took control, a few cars opted to change tyres to suit the rain which appeared to be falling more and more. Mike Jordan elected for intermediate tyres on the rear, and dry on the front. Harry Vaulkhard chose a full set of intermediates. As the safety car came in, Shedden got away well, but was chased by Plato and Giovanardi. Many of the rear-wheel drive BMW drivers elected to pit for intermediate tyres at this point, these included Mat Jackson, Steven Kane and Colin Turkington. Shedden ran wide, and allowed Plato and Giovanardi to pass him, and further back Onslow-Cole and Matt Neal passed Andrew Jordan, As the race moved into the fifth lap, Fabrizio Giovanardi saw an opportunity to pass Jason Plato, and took it. The track was seemingly very slippery, but more manageable for those on clicks, and tending to show that the drivers who elected to change to intermediate tyres, had in fact, made a bad choice. Andrew Jordan was slipping back as he was passed by Tom Chilton and Darren Turner. Matt Neal made a good move to pass Gordon Shedden. Erkut suffered a large impact, as he lost control of his car and hit the wall at speed. He walked away from the incident. Onslow-Cole and Shedden made contact as the cars were following Matt Neal. Shedden spun off and was lucky not be collected by Onslow-Cole as the spinning Integra crossed the track again. Both drivers continued, but Shedden had lost many places. The rain appeared to be falling more heavily again, as people wondered whether the move to wet tyres for some would prove to be a shrewd one, but it soon waned again. Onslow-Cole passed Matt Neal as did Darren Turner moments later. Whereas Onslow-Cole then pulled away, Turner did not, and it formulated a three way battle between himself, Matt Neal and a chasing Tom Chilton. This battle reached a head, as contact between Chilton and Neal resulted in the latter leaving the track and ending up making light contact with the wall. Giovanardi took the race win from Jason Plato and Tom Onslow-Cole. John Guest Racing driver Andrew Jordan again took the Independents class win, this time with a sixth place overall.

The winner of race two, Fabrizio Giovanardi, drew the ball to determine how many of the top ten positions were reversed for race three, and he drew number nine. This meant that Gordon Shedden would start from pole with Chris Stockton alongside him. Two very fast independent drivers would be on row two, with Adam Jones ahead of Andrew Jordan.

With the weather still uncertain, many different tyre choice combinations were present throughout the field. Some drivers opted to have all round wet tyres, some electing to have slicks on the front and many more besides. Second placed man Chris Stockton pulled into the pits at the end of the formation lap, leaving Andrew Jordan with an empty grid slot ahead of him into the first corner. Gordon Shedden got away well, as Darren Turner was himself starting well, as he moved up to second, and Andrew Jordan passed Adam Jones to take third. Race leader Gordon Shedden continued on at the chicane in the early laps and gifted Darren Turner the race lead. Shedden rejoined way down in the field. As the pack crossed the line and began the next lap, Andrew Jordan spun out on the damp track. Tom Onslow-Cole was pressing leader Darren Turner, as Jason Plato was being pressured by Fabrizio Giovanardi. This pressure paid off, as Giovanardi moved alongside on the high speed downhill section, and made the move stick. The track was still slippery and some drivers were getting sideways around parts of the track. Matt Neal passed the ailing Gordon Shedden, and Adam Jones was also soon past the Team Halfords driver as well. Darren Turner was someway clear of second placed Onslow-Cole, who was battling with team mate Giovanardi. As the front runners began to encounter back markers, Giovanardi made an uncharacteristic error and hit the back of Onslow-Cole into the final chicane. Onslow-Cole saved well and regained position, but both had visible damage. Early into the next lap, Giovanardi was passed Onslow-Cole. Another mistake from Giovanardi resulted in both Onslow-Cole and Plato to pass him. As the final lap began, Turner was clear in first, with Onslow-Cole pushing as hard as possible to claim his first win. He was chased by Plato, who was being pursued by Giovanardi. Turner held on to claim the race win, SEAT’s second of the meeting. Team Air Cool driver Adam Jones claimed the Independents class win with a seventh place overall.