Giovanardi lays down gauntlet with one lap wonder!

By Burning Rubber on Apr 25, 09 04:13 PM

gioaction blog.jpg British Touring Car Championship...Thruxton

REIGNING champ Fabrizio Giovanardi destroyed the opposition with just one flying lap to take pole for the first of tomorrow's HiQ MSA BTCC races at Thruxton.

The VX Racing star set a lap of 1.17.985m with just the one lap around the fast Hampshire circuit, and it was a time that no-one would be able to match.

Team-mate Matt Neal was the closest, putting his Vauxhall Vectra second on the grid while his old nemesis Jason Plato snuck into third just behind him.

And Gionvanardi's time was even more impressive than usual - because his car had been in bits just hours earlier after a high-speed smash in free practice. smash blog.jpg

Neal, who leads the championship by 38 points to Team RAC's Colin Turkington's 32, wasn't too disappointed to miss out on pole, because he is carrying 45kg of success ballast.

Plato meanwhile managed a late charge to leap from tenth to third in his Racing
Silverline Chevrolet Lacetti, denying a VXR top three by demoting Andrew Jordan to fourth.

Series latecomer James Thompson will start from eighth in his Team Dynamics Honda Civic, while a struggling Harry Vaulkhard lines up 13th in the Tempus Sport Lacetti.