Fabrizio Giovanardi won a relatively calm third race at Croft this afternoon, as Jason Plato suffered a disappointing end to a tough weekend, leaving his championship challenge dented as he drops to fourth in the standings at the halfway point in the season.

At the start of the race, it was Motorbase Performance’s Rob Collard who led the pack after beating Mike Jordan, Adam Jones and Fabrizio Giovanardi away from the line. It was a sign of the pace that Motorbase have shown throughout the weekend as Collard fended off the advances of Giovanardi, however the ballast-free Vectra proved too rapid and the reigning champion found a way through at Tower on lap two. On the same lap, John George suffered a heavy impact at the Jim Clark Esses, ensuring the safety car appeared in each of the day’s three races.

As the pack continued round the lap to pick up the safety car, Jason Plato collided with the side of Colin Turkington’s BMW at the hairpin, which was lifted the SEAT up into the air and dropped him down through the order as he ran on to the grass on the start-finish straight.

The race restarted on lap seven and there was almost cause for the safety car to come out again immediately as Darren Turner was punted into the gravel by Mat Jackson on the outside of Clervaux, leaving the SEAT beached. However, the quick-acting marshals were able to remove the Leon under waved yellow flags, allowing the race to continue.

Fabrizio Giovanardi continued to lead from Collard and Adam Jones. Collard’s strong weekend came to a premature end on lap eight when a gentle tap under braking from Jones was enough send the BMW sliding wide. As he rejoined the track, Collard was collected by Mike Jordan in a clash that ripped off the front of the Motorbase BMW and forced Collard to retire from what would have been his best result of the season.

The second half of the race was calm in comparison to the rest of the day’s action, with Giovanardi coming home for his fourth win of the season. Adam Jones finished second, also taking victory in the independents’ championship, while Matt Neal was third. Tom Chilton finished the race in fourth for Team Halfords after defending from Mat Jackson, who crossed the line fifth. Gordon Shedden was sixth, ahead of Tom Onslow-Cole and winner of the first two races, Colin Turkington. Stephen Jelley finished the race in ninth, while Andrew Jordan was tenth. Harry Vaulkhard ended his home event with an 11th place finish, while Jason Plato could only manage 12th position. Erkut Kizilirmak was the last of the finishers in 13th position.

Heading into the second half of the season, Fabrizio Giovanardi leads the drivers’ championship by 23 points from Matt Neal. Mat Jackson is third, a further 20 points behind. After picking up just three points at Croft, Jason Plato now sits fourth in the standings, 46 points behind Giovanardi.