Tom Chilton took out the final race of the weekend
Race 1
Fabrizio Giovanardi has won the 2008 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship.
The Italian driver finished the first of today’s three races at Brands Hatch a lowly 14th after damaging his Vauxhall Vectra VXR in a tangle with privateer Adam Jones' Air Cool SEAT. Both their cars ran through the Paddock Hill Bend gravel trap but were able to continue.
And although he finished outside the points - incredibly his first non-score for 40 races - Giovanardi's 14th place was still enough to give him his second consecutive title as nearest rival, SEAT’s Jason Plato, could finish only fifth.
The gap between them has closed to 38 points, but there is a maximum of only 34 available from this afternoon's final two rounds of the season.
The race was won by BMW Dealer Team UK driver Mat Jackson. Steven Kane and Robert Collard took second and third to give local team Motorbase its first double podium finish in the BTCC. Collard had held second for much of the race until Kane, who set the race's fastest lap, eventually found a way past.
As a result, Jackson has closed to within 15 points of Team RAC’s Colin Turkington, who finished the race in fourth, in the Independents Drivers’ championship which is still all to play for. Jackson has also moved five points clear of Turkington for third in the overall championship standings and could yet pip Plato for second.
Meanwhile, there was heartbreak for Turkington’s team-mate Stephen Jelley who, for the first time in his career, started from pole position but retired when his car suffered gearbox problems.
Others who were left wandering what might have been included Gordon Shedden whose Team Halfords Honda Civic ran with the leaders until falling to 13th with a tyre pressure problem.
The race had to be run behind a safety car for two laps shortly after the start to recover the stranded TH/JAG Honda Integra of John George which had spun into retirement in a collision with Jason Hughes' KWR MG ZS.
Result, BTCC race 1 Brands Hatch (provisional):
1. Mat Jackson (GBR), BMW Dealer Team UK/BMW 320si, 26 laps in 22m30.106s
2. Steven Kane (GBR), Motorbase/BMW 320si, + 2.101s
3. Robert Collard (GBR), Motorbase/BMW 320si, +7.780s
Fastest lap: Kane, 49.703s
Giovanardi successfully defended his Championship after Race 1
Race 2
Mat Jackson added a second victory of the day at Brands Hatch with a comfortable win in the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship’s penultimate round of 2008.
BMW Dealer Team UK driver Jackson led all the way from pole position to head home Vauxhall’s Matt Neal and Colin Turkington in his Team RAC BMW. This pair had run the race nose-to-tail, Turkington smartly following Neal past both Motorbase team-mates Steven Kane and then Robert Collard to complete the podium finishers.
Jackson is now just five points behind SEAT’s Jason Plato for second in the championship standings with this afternoon’s final round still to go.
Mathematically, he can also still pip Turkington to the Independent Drivers’ crown with 12 points between them and a possible 15 be won in the day's third race... Team RAC is now assured of the Independent Teams' trophy.
Having run as high as fourth early on, Plato failed to finish race two when his SEAT suffered a steering rack failure. Non-starting, after his Vectra's engine refused to start, was Vauxhall’s Fabrizio Giovanardi who in race one was confirmed as the 2008 Champion.
Bizarrely, Giovanardi and Plato will therefore start the season’s final round from the last row of the grid. With race two’s top eight reversed for the start, on pole position for the final round will be Vauxhall’s Tom Onslow-Cole.
The race was a disaster for SEAT as Plato's team-mate Darren Turner also stopped a lap from home with a punctured tyre. Out by then was Michael Doyle, whose In-Tune Honda suffered a broken differential. Gearbox and fuel pressure problems respectively prevented Robertshaw's Alan Taylor and BTC's Chris Stockton from starting.
Result, BTCC race 2 Brands Hatch (provisional):
1. Mat Jackson (GBR), BMW Dealer Team UK/BMW 320si, 24 laps in 20m14.716s
2. Matt Neal (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, +1.839s
3. Colin Turkington (GBR), Team RAC/BMW 320si, +2.483s
Fastest lap: Jackson, 49.581s
Steven Kane has a good weekend
Race 3
Tom Chilton has won today’s final round of the 2008 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship at the Brands Hatch circuit in Kent.
Chilton led all the way in his Team Halfords Honda Civic to head home Motorbase BMW driver Steven Kane and Vauxhall’s Tom Onslow-Cole.
However, officials stopped the race a lap early after oil on the track at Paddock Hill Bend led to several of the front-running drivers – including Onslow-Cole – briefly sliding off the circuit.
Indeed, Onslow-Cole had been in second before coming across the oil, dropped by Martyn Bell's retiring Arkas/Sunshine.co.uk Vauxhall Astra. Another to suffer on the slippery surface was Motorbase's Robert Collard who had been fourth but ended up sixth.
Gratefully taking fourth position for BMW Dealer Team UK was Mat Jackson - a result which means he has beaten SEAT’s Jason Plato to second in the final championship standings behind Vauxhall's Fabrizio Giovanardi.
Team RAC's Colin Turkington finished the race in fifth in his BMW to successfully defend his Independent Drivers’ title.
Meanwhile, Giovanardi – who earlier in the day was crowned BTCC Drivers' Champion for the second year running – set the race’s fastest lap. He finished the race back in 11th ahead of SEAT duo Darren Turner and Plato, all three having started towards the back of the grid after rotten race two results.
Elsewhere, privateer John George, from Cornwall, emerged unharmed from a high-speed roll in his TH/JAG Honda Integra on the opening lap.
Result, BTCC race 3 Brands Hatch (provisional):
1. Tom Chilton (GBR), Team Halfords/Honda Civic, 25 laps in 24m47.517s
2. Steven Kane (GBR), Motorbase/BMW 320si, +0.727s
3. Tom Onslow-Cole (GBR), VX Racing/Vauxhall Vectra VXR, +1.166s
Fastest lap: Giovanardi, 49.871s