Thruxton

[AndySpeed]

The team's are set up and it's looking like being an exciting weekend - James Thompson, Mat Jackson and Paul O'Neill return, Plato confirms his involvement for the rest of the season and it's sunny! :D

Vote (http://www.btccaction.co.uk/2009/04/24/vote-who-will-set-the-pace-at-thruxton) on the pace setter?

[BTCC2]

Giovanardi fastest from Turkington, Jones, Neal and Jordan.

[AndySpeed]

Jelley and Giovanardi have made contact in practice 2?

[MattL]

Yes, out at Noble. Giovanardi was on an out lap and Jelley was on a hot lap. In Jelley's words: "He moved right to the inside, which would have been fine for a front-wheel drive car to avoid him, but we use so much track coming out of the corner that I had nowhere to go."

[BTCC2]

Qualifying under way.

[BTCC2]

Neal sets the benchmark with a 1.18.305

[BTCC2]

Paul O'Neil is showing great pace on his comeback!

[BTCC2]

Giovanardi goes fastest with 17 minutes remaining with a fantastic lap of 1.17.985

[BTCC2]

Plato still not out on track.

[AndySpeed]

Giovanardi goes fastest with 17 minutes remaining with a fantastic lap of 1.17.985

Yeah he's really flying! The Integra has always gone well at Thruxton too.

[Alfa Fan]

Anyone know why Plato's sitting out qualifying?

[BTCC2]

Still early but I think it will take a lot to beat that lap time from Gio.

[BTCC2]

Anyone know why Plato's sitting out qualifying?

His suspension was damaged in First Practice, I know he ran in the Second but perhaps something to do with that?

[Alfa Fan]

Ah Plato out on track now :)

[BTCC2]

He's out on track now.

[Alfa Fan]

No sign of not-so-quick Nick out yet.

[BTCC2]

Good first lap too....up to 9th.

[BTCC2]

Giovanardi seems confident. He's only completed 1 lap so far!
The Fords are really struggling with their lack of straight line speed.

[Alfa Fan]

If Gio doesn't come back out, will this be first time anyone's sat on pole running just 1 lap in the 30 min session?

[Alfa Fan]

Plato's out on his 2nd attempt.

[Alfa Fan]

O'Neill P4 Jackson P8

[BTCC2]

This is VERY impressive from O'Neil, to jump into that car with no prior testing and to be running up with the likes of Neal, Turkington and Giovanardi is fantastic.

[Alfa Fan]

Plato P3 nice one!

[BTCC2]

Plato up to 3rd!

[Alfa Fan]

Giovanardi is supremely confident. 1 lap, pole.

[BTCC2]

Has anyone got the speedtrap results? it would be interesting to see if the Lacettis are at the top.

[BTCC2]

Giovanardi is supremely confident. 1 lap, pole.

The start of the fightback?

[Alfa Fan]

1 Giovanardi Vauxhall
2 Neal Vauxhall
3 Plato Chevrolet
4 Jordan Vauxhall
5 Turkington BMW
6 O'Neill Honda
7 Jones SEAT
8 Thompson Honda
9 Eaves SEAT
10 Jackson Chevrolet
11 Adam BMW
12 Collard BMW
13 Vaulkhard Chevrolet
14 Jelley BMW
15 Bell Honda
16 Pinkney Honda
17 George Honda
18 Johnson Vauxhall
19 Chilton Ford
20 McMillan SEAT
21 Morrison Ford
22 Leason BMW

[AndySpeed]

Pictures from today's action:
http://www.btccaction.co.uk/wpg2?g2_itemId=1488

[MattL]

Has anyone got the speedtrap results? it would be interesting to see if the Lacettis are at the top.

Yes, they are. Plato is 8.5mph quicker than Morrison's Focus, which is bottom of the pile.

[VX_Rules]

That Focus is definately a pile of something...

[Brown, Jon Brow]

what a lap by O'Neill!

[Allyc85]

Really looking forward to tomorrow now, especially after missing Thruxton last year. Hopefully O'neil and Plato cam pull off a blinding result :D

[MG2004]

Great to see Owy, Thommo and Mat Jackson back out today. The championship is looking a lot stronger suddenly, and Gio was awesome today!

Some photos from today are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/mike_ward/sets/

[BDunnell]

What a qualifying session that looks to have been! I can only echo the comments about O'Neill. That was obviously an amazing lap. But given that he was able to match Thompson and Muller in equal equipment in 2003, it maybe ought not to be an enormous surprise. Still, I'm sure Giovanardi, tyre performance and his first race start permitting, will take at least one win.

Alas, I will have to make do with race highlights, as I'm travelling back to London from Sheffield tomorrow and will miss all the coverage. Suffice to say, I've been a BTCC enthusiast since the very beginning of the '90s and I still get exactly the same excitement from the series as I ever have.

[Alfa Fan]

Credit where credits due. Collard would not have pulled out of that 3 years ago.

[Eurotech]

what the hell was that race 1 safety car about?

[Alfa Fan]

Credit where credits due. Collard would not have pulled out of that 3 years ago.

That's pretty ironic tbh

[VX_Rules]

Gows turning into Eclestone...

[Eurotech]

VXR 1-2-3 shame for Thompson though.

its funny that one GM team got 1-2-3 and the other got 8-9-10!

great result to see O'Neill get the top 6 finish that he wanted and its nice to see the chesy C&A advert back on the telly!

[Sarah]

Shame about Thommo on the last lap he was having a great battle out there. Good to see Owy and Turks right up there with the Vauxhalls at the end.

[AndySpeed]

Great to see Paul O'Neill back, he gives such great interviews!

[VkmSpouge]

Race 1 Results:
1. Fabrizio Giovanardi
2. Matt Neal
3. Andrew Jordan
4. Colin Turkington
5. Paul o'Neill
6. Adam Jones
7. Stephen Jelley
8. Mat Jackson
9. Harry Vaulkhard
10. Jason Plato
11. James Thompson
12. Jonathan Adam
13. Martyn Bell
14. Dave Pinkney
15. Tom Chilton
16. Martin Johnson
17. Rob Collard
18. John George
NCF. Nick Leason
DNF. Alan Morrison
DNF. Liam McMillan
DNS. Dan Eaves

Vauxhall 1-2-3, a very good start to the day for them.

Jason Plato and James Thompson having separate issues, which is a shame because they were both looking pretty good.

Great result for Paul o'Neill to grab 5th place in his first race of the season.

[Alfa Fan]

HiQ RAC MSA British Touring Car Championship?

Woops Steve

[Eurotech]

can Vauxhall make it two 1-2-3s and can Fabrizio try to make it 2 out of two and emulate the guy who crashed on the warm up lap?

[Eurotech]

can Vauxhall make it two 1-2-3s and can Fabrizio try to make it 2 out of two and emulate the guy who crashed on the warm up lap?
apparently not.

PRESS RELEASE- PAUL O'NEILL ON POLE FORE RACE 3

[VX_Rules]

Im Glad Oneill is on pole after another race ruining move by Plato.

Cmon ONEILL!

[VkmSpouge]

Race 2 Results:
1. Colin Turkington
2. Fabrizio Giovanardi
3. Matt Neal
4. Stephen Jelley
5. Rob Collard
6. Jason Plato
7. James Thompson
8. Adam Jones
9. Mat Jackson
10. Paul o'Neill
11. Jonathan Adam
12. Harry Vaulkhard
13. Dave Pinkney
14. Martyn Bell
15. John George
16. Martin Johnson
17. Tom Chilton
18. Andrew Jordan
19. Liam McMillan
20. Nick Leason
DNF. Alan Morrison
DNF. Dan Eaves

Colin Turkington judged that race very well. He kept his tyres in good condition as the heavier Vauxhalls lost grip and then picked Neal and Giovanardi off as they made mistakes.

Rob Collard deserves a good mention from coming from 17th to grab a good 5th place finish.

Paul o'Neill getting pole position for race 3! I really hope he can get a good start as he Jackson, Jones, Thompson and Plato directly behind him.

[Alfa Fan]

ITV completely missed O'Neill going up to 2nd. Completely missed. That was really poor.

[VX_Rules]

ITV is poor.

[VX_Rules]

The replays are shambles.

[Alfa Fan]

They should have red flagged it. This is going to be a 1-lap crap shoot

[Alfa Fan]

O'Neill's blown it.

[AndySpeed]

O'Neill's blown it.

O'Neill's tyre has blown it.

[christophulus]

I'm not entirely sure why we needed a safety car at all, never mind. Great last lap and good win for Jackson. Is he next up for a full-time deal?

[Sarah]

Did seem to take ages to clear still a good battle for the last few laps. Shame about Owy.

[AndySpeed]

Liam McMillan's accident at the end caused more damage than I'd initally thought -> http://www.btccaction.co.uk/wpg2?g2_itemId=1594

[BDunnell]

A shame for O'Neill, but these things happen. I agree with the remarks about the commentators missing him passing Jones — that was very poor indeed.

I thought some of the racing in that scrap for fourth, then third, in the last race was absolutely fantastic — clean, fair and exciting.

[Dave B]

ITV completely missed O'Neill going up to 2nd. Completely missed. That was really poor.


ITV is poor.


The replays are shambles.

That was the first time I've watched any sport on ITV since the Brazillian GP last year. Were they always that bad? :s

I'm really gutted for Paul, but what a treat to see James Thompson on the podium!

[BDunnell]

In truth, I think the BTCC coverage itself is very good — well presented and comprehensive. This was a rare, but bad, slip-up by the commentators.

[BDunnell]

That was the first time I've watched any sport on ITV since the Brazillian GP last year. Were they always that bad? :s

Yes, ITV in general is always crap, but there have been some bright spots. You have to watch this two-part recording of its coverage of the 1973 1000 Lakes Rally — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM3wHdFit4I and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVzP95k6DUk. There are some wonderful comments, very much 'of their time', from Fred Dinenage when he attempts to analyse the Finnish psyche!

Anyway, back on topic...

[VkmSpouge]

Well done to Mat Jackson on a fine victory, his restart was very good. A shame that Paul o'Neill suffered a puncture, he was on course for a fine second place.

Congratulations to Stephen for surpassing his entire 2008 points total within 4 races this year. He really has taken a large step forward.

Also well done to CVR for getting their first podium.

[speedy king]

Good job the McMillian family bought THREE Seats for their son's one driver team hey..... :rolleyes: