MotorSportVoice - 2008 - BTCC - Snetterton (Round 6)

After a six-week break, the British Touring Car Championship got under way once again at the Norfolk circuit of Snetterton. The SEAT Sport cars were predicted to have the advantage at the fast, former airfield, circuit. The practice sessions served to substantiate these theories, as the turbo diesel power plants appeared very effective compared to the rest of the BTCC field.

The dry qualifying session re-iterated the fact that the SEAT Sport duo of Jason Plato and Darren Turner would be a force to reckoned with, as they locked out the front row of the grid. Gordon Shedden took third, while championship leader Fabrizio Giovanardi took fourth in his maximum ballast laden Vauxhall Vectra.

The first race saw Alan Taylor retire on the warm-up lap, as his rear left wheel became detached. The start of the race saw the SEATs get away well, along with the Team Dynamics Honda Civics. Fabrizio Giovanardi suffered from substantial wheel spin and slipped back into the pack. Colin Turkington and Tom Onslow-Cole were battling well, but Onslow-Cole left the track, and rejoined. The end of the second lap saw the safety car deployed to allow marshals to clear up the debris caused by an incident involving Andrew Jordan, Martyn Bell, John George and Michael Doyle. The safety car was brought back in at the end of lap seven, as the race distance was increased from eighteen laps to twenty one laps The passing manoeuvre of the race was executed by Giovanardi, as he passed Steven Kane around the outside of the first corner. An intense battle was forming between Adam Jones and Rob Collard, as Collard passed Jones, but the move was soon reversed. This battle erupted further, as Collard again passed Jones, but so did Matt Neal and Mike Jordan. In the confusion, Mike Jordan also passed Matt Neal and Stephen Jelley joined in to pass Adam Jones. Also cashing in on the mayhem was Mat Jackson, as he passed Adam Jones and Stephen Jelley. The remainder of the race was fairly processional, except for two incidents involving Mat Jackson. He attempted to pass Neal, but the pair made contact pushing Neal wide and Jackson was through. However, Neal held on well and tried to reverse the pass. This, again, caused contact and left Mat Jackson off the circuit, but he rejoined. On the balance of the situation, it can only be classed as a racing incident, and no action was taken against either driver. A lap later, Jackson was again in the wars, as a battle with Adam Jones left him again scrambling to rejoin. Jason Plato crossed the line to take a dominant win, followed by his teammate Darren Turner. Tom Chilton took the final step of the podium. Matt Neal made a last ditch pass on Mike Jordan for tenth. As the pair crossed the line there was only 0.014 seconds between them.

The start of the second race saw the success ballast laden SEATs get away well again. This time Fabrizio Giovanardi was relieved of his ballast, and made a better start. John George left the track early into the race as Colin Turkington was pressuring Gordon Shedden, as Shedden lost the back end but held the slide and position. The second lap saw some intense action, as Giovanardi moved passed Turkington, as Tom Chilton and Darren Turner exchanged positions twice. Gordon Shedden seized the chance and made a fine pass on teammate Chilton for third. There was a close battle between Giovanardi, Rob Collard, Steven Kane and Colin Turkington, and it was Giovanardi who fell foul, as he spun off the track after contact. The contact came from Tom Chilton, but Giovanardi rejoined, albeit much further back. Giovanardi’s teammate Tom Onslow-Cole was fairing just as badly, as he spun off and lost position to Mat Jackson. Mike Jordan also got passed Onslow-Cole. Andrew Jordan was forced to retire, as Harry Vaulkhard lost control and Jordan hit him in what was unavoidable incident, damaging the front end of his Honda Integra. Adam Jones, Mike Jordan and Tom Onslow-Cole were side-by-side, as the resurgent Giovanardi was sat just behind them, waiting to pick up any places as a result of what seemed to be almost inevitable situation building up. That happened as all four tried to take the bend together, and Giovanardi profited by taking all three places at once. The sixth lap saw Plato leading from Turner, Shedden, Turkington, Collard, Neal and Kane. Onslow-Cole again left the track as he spun off, but rejoined. As the race entered the ninth lap, Neal and Kane were battling hard, and contact between the two saw Neal spin, but rejoin. Giovanardi was to benefit again, as he got past Neal. The end of the eleventh lap saw the SEAT Sport drivers swap position momentarily over the line to allow Turner to pick up an extra point for leading the race at some point. Plato retook the lead, and normal service resumed. The safety car was deployed at the end of the thirteenth lap, to allow marshals to repair the tyre bundle at the final chicane that became dislodged after constant contact through the race. Giovanardi passed Steven Kane with inches to spare as the duo crossed the line to fall under safety car control. Had he been a few inches further back and passed after crossing the line, he would have been penalised. The safety car was brought in at the end of the fifteenth lap, as the race distance was extended to twenty laps. The race restart was expected perfectly by Plato, but there was bad news for SEAT on the whole, was Turner suffered a puncture and fell back. Giovanardi placed enormous pressure on Collard and made the pass on lap sixteen. Shedden and Turkington were battling well, but Shedden ran wide allowing Turkington to pass. Shedden lost many places, and fell back into the clutches of those as far back as Mat Jackson. As the race entered the final lap, Plato was ahead by almost four seconds as second place, as second being was disputed ferociously between Turkington and Giovanardi. Plato took the chequered flag as he sealed his second race win of the day. Colin Turkington and Fabrizio Giovanardi joined him on the podium.

Jason Plato made the draw for the race three-reversed grid. He drew number eight, meaning that Gordon Shedden would start from pole, but would be surrounded by a gaggle of notoriously fast starting rear-wheel drive BMWS.

As expected the BMWs had better starts than the front wheel drive cars. Mat Jackson jumped up to first by the first corner, and was followed by Motorbase driver Steven Jane. Jason Plato had a bad start as he slipped back from his eighth place on the grid. At the end of the first lap Jackson had a small lead over Steven Kane who was battling with Gordon Shedden. Matt Neal made a pass on Rob Collard, as Fabrizio Giovanardi and Colin Turkington also passed Collard. Shedden was pushing Kane, in an attempt to force a mistake from the BMW driver. Further back in the pack, Darren Turner was reporting engine problems on the team radio. Shedden ran wide at the first corner as he attempted to drive around the outside of Kane, and he dropped back in the pack. Giovanardi was itching to pass VX Racing teammate Matt Neal, and he made the pass on the fifth lap. Plato fell back, and the suspicion was that he was suffering from the same, or similar problems to Turner. Shedden pitted to allow the team to examine his car. Stephen Jelley, Tom Onslow-Cole, Tom Chilton and Adam Jones were enjoying a battle, as Onslow-Cole made a pass on Jelley. Jelley fought back straight away, but then left the door open to let Onslow-Cole pass again. As he did, he also allowed Chilton and Jones to pass as well. At the front Jackson, Kane and Giovanardi were close together with a visible gap to Neal and then, in turn, to Turkington. Darren Turner came into the pits in the ninth lap, and his SEAT Sport team examined the car and sent him back out in an attempt to gather some points if others failed to finish. His team announced that it appeared to be a misfiring engine that was causing the problems with both Turner's and Plato's car. Onslow-Cole made a pass on Collard as he started to find his rhythm, as Plato came into the pits but was sent back out again. Onslow-Cole quickly moved up to the rear of Turkington, and was soon passing the Team RAC driver. Adam Jones and Stephen Jelley both got passed Collard, but the pit wall bore bad news for Plato, a black flag was issued to him, which appeared to be in relation to the emissions from his car. Jackson stretched out a lead at the front as Kane and Giovanardi battled for second, but as he race entered the final stages Kane left Giovanardi behind and began to push Jackson. It was all in vane, as Jackson took the chequered flag, and was followed by Kane and Giovanardi. Matt Neal was some distance behind in fourth, and Tom Onslow-Cole followed him.

The next race of the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship is from the Cheshire Circuit of Oulton Park in Little Budworth, from the 26th to 27th July 2008.