BTCC Rounds 22, 23 & 24 - Silverstone

[VkmSpouge]

20 cars for Silverstone this weekend. It will be interesting to see how returnees Anthony Reid and Tom Onslow-Cole and new boy, Johnny Herbert get on. There's also the little matter of the championship battle between Colin Turkington and Fabrizio Giovanardi.

The Chevrolets setting the pace in the first practice with Mat Jackson and Jason Plato at the top of the times. Tom Onslow-Cole doing very well in the Ford Focus, I hope they can continue that form throughout to the races. Anthony Reid and Johnny Herbert looking quite slow and Martyn Bell perhaps not fully fit yet.

[Allyc85]

Great start by TOC, so hope he can keep it up or at least in the top 10 :)

[VkmSpouge]

Well the Chevy is clearly the car to have as they got three of the top 5 places but look at 5th and 6th! The Fords! Have they finally unlocked the car's potential?
Improvement by Johnny Herbert as well, still slower than Dave Pinkney but beginning to get faster and faster.
Anthony Reid still struggling as were the Vauxhalls in the second practice.

[VkmSpouge]

Qualifying:

1 Mat Jackson 1m00.259
2 Rob Collard 1m00.492
3 James Nash 1m00.520
4 Jason Plato 1m00.558
5 Colin Turkington 1m00.697
6 Stephen Jelley 1m00.732
7 Jonathan Adam 1m00.768
8 Fabrizio Giovanardi 1m90.869
9 Tom Chilton 1m00.969
10 Anthony Reid 1m01.020
11 Matt Neal 1m01.060
12 Harry Vaulkhard 1m01.092
13 Tom Onslow-Cole 1m01.167
14 Paul o'Neill 1m01.274
15 Dave Pinkney 1m01.352
16 Andrew Jordan 1m01.431
17 Johnny Herbert 1m01.458
18 Martyn Bell 1m02.185
19 Martin Johnson 1m02.221
20 John George 1m02.272

Mat Jackson grabbing pole but I reckon it will be Rob Collard leading into Copse. The RML Chevies proving to be the thing to have around the track.
Colin Turkington out qualifying Fabrizio Giovanardi and there are a couple of BMWs between them.
The Fords not going quite as well as in practice but still looking competitive.
Johnny Herbert on the same pace as Andrew Jordan but I suspect that shows just how slow Jordan was. I think Team Dynamics are going to miss James Thompson.

[MattL]

Herbert went off with front end suspension/steering damage bringing red flags out after 17 mins. He's optimistic about his race pace though.

Mat Jackson's first pole since Brands Hatch at the start of 2008.

Collard's 2nd is the best ever BTCC qualifying result for Motorbase.

[WSRfan82]

good start for reid. starts in front of neal and is in a bmw nice one and turk in fromt of gio things couldnt be better for wsr.


COME ON BOYS!!!! YOU CAN DO IT THIS YEAR!!!!

[BDunnell]

I'm intrigued by the better pace of the Fords, given the long straight on the National layout. Clearly they have found a bit more straight-line speed. Good on them. Reid getting into the top 10 is also impressive given his long lay-off and the extra ballast he's carrying.

[VkmSpouge]

Race 1 Result:

1 Mat Jackson
2 Jason Plato
3 James Nash
4 Colin Turkington
5 Fabrizio Giovanardi
6 Rob Collard
7 Stephen Jelley
8 Jonathan Adam
9 Paul o'Neill
10 Matt Neal
11 Tom Chilton
12 Andrew Jordan
13 Johnny Herbert
14 Harry Vaulkhard
15 Martyn Bell
16 John George
DNF Dave Pinkney
DNF Martin Johnson
DNF Anthony Reid
DNF Tom Onslow-Cole

The Chevrolets clearly dominant with their low ballast levels and Mat Jackson took a deserved victory. Now that they will be running with a lot of ballast and Turkington and Giovanardi with less ballast, I don't think they will be as dominant.

Fabrizio Giovanardi and Stephen Jelley had a good scrap in the first half of the race. Giovanardi just seemed to have a way of picking off the BMWs just after the safety car came in.

I reckon Arena will be disappointed that all they got from their good pace was 11th.

Johnny Herbert might have made a poor start but he did do some overtaking and his battle with Andrew Jordan was a good one.

[christophulus]

Race 2

1. Jason Plato
2. Fabrizio Giovanardi
3. Mat Jackson
4. Colin Turkington
5. Tom Chilton
6. Andrew Jordan
7. Jonathan Adam
8. Johnny Herbert
9. Rob Collard
10. Paul O'Neill
11. Harry Vaulkhard
12. Stephen Jelley
13. Tom Onslow-Cole
14. Anthony Reid
15. Martyn Bell
16. David Pinkney
17. John George

Retirements

James Nash
Matt Neal

Missed the race actually, will watch it back later. Good to see Herbert and Chilton's Focus getting some points! Hopefully Jelley and Reid will do better over the next couple of rounds as I really think Turkington could use the assistance if he's going to take this title.

[VkmSpouge]

Jason Plato picked up a good victory in race 2 and Tom Chilton certainly showed the potential of that Focus in the rain. I think Colin Turkington did very well to hold onto 4th place. Very good that Johnny Herbert scored his first BTCC points.

Race 3 Result:

1 Mat Jackson
2 Rob Collard
3 Colin Turkington
4 Stephen Jelley
5 Fabrizio Giovanardi
6 Jonathan Adam
7 Jason Plato
8 James Nash
9 Paul o'Neill
10 Dave Pinkney
11 Harry Vaulkhard
12 Anthony Reid
13 Matt Neal
14 Tom Onslow-Cole
15 Andrew Jordan
16 Martin Johnson
17 John George
18 Martyn Bell
DNF Johnny Herbert
DNF Tom Chilton

Mat Jackson taking a close fought victory against Rob Collard. That was some good fair racing between the two. Stephen Jelley showed his worth by taking points off Fabrizio Giovanardi, allowing Colin Turkington to extend his championship lead to 11 points.

I feel quite sorry for Tom Chilton and Johnny Herbert who were taken out in crashes that were no fault of their own. In the incident between Herbert and Plato, the Chevrolet just walloped the Honda off the road. Aside from that I think Johnny Herbert had a good debut in the championship and showed he had the pace to run with the top drivers.

[Darlo]

I don't believe Plato's attack on Herbert was with malice - just a fired up driver attacking as always and seeing an opportunity. He put in a strong showing at his first attempt though. Just needs to attack a bit more otherwise he will be bullied off the track again!