First BTCC pole for Andrew Jordan

Sat 16th May 2009 VX Racing’s Andrew Jordan secured his first BTCC pole position at Donington Park this afternoon, but it was his Vauxhall teammate Fabrizio Giovanardi who set the fastest laptime in the 30-minute qualifying session.

Giovanardi looked set for a second consecutive pole position after ending the session at the top of the timesheets, only for his Vectra to fail to start following his mandatory visit to the scrutineering bay. The Italian’s was stripped of his laptimes, which handed pole for tomorrow’s opening race to Jordan.

It was another sensational performance from Giovanardi, who carries 27kg of success ballast heading into round seven but that will be little consolation for the reigning champion, who will now start from the back of the grid. In contrast, Jordan can celebrate becoming the BTCC’s youngest ever pole-position qualifier.

Giovanardi was not the only driver to lose his times during the session as both Airwaves BMWs failed their ride-height checks. However, for Adam and Collard, it happened early enough in the session for them to be able to set additional quick laps and climb back up the order.

The rain held off at Donington, allowing the Saturday afternoon qualifying session to take place on a dry track. Giovanardi was quickest from early on in the session and was provisionally joined on the front row by Jordan in the closing stages of the session.

However, it’s Jordan who starts Sunday’s first race from the front of the grid, with Tempus Sport’s Harry Vaulkhard alongside him, in what is also a personal best qualifying performance. James Thompson scored the best qualifying result of the season so far for Team Dynamics, in third, with old sparring partner Jason Plato alongside him on the second row.

Stephen Jelley slipped from fastest in the morning sessions down to fifth in qualifying, while Rob Collard is the first of the Airwaves BMWs in sixth. Colin Turkington starts from seventh spot, ahead of championship leader Matt Neal in eighth. Jonathan Adam and Mat Jackson round out the top ten.

Notable in their absence from qualifying were Cartridge World racer Dan Eaves and Team AFM’s Nick Leason. Eaves’ run of bad luck continued first thing this morning as he failed to complete even a single lap in his newly rebuilt SEAT Leon and will now be forced to sit out tomorrow’s races as the team has no replacement parts available. Meanwhile Leason struggled with a clutch problem in free practice and was unable to make it out for qualifying.

Sunday’s first race gets underway at 11:45am.