A tough battle ahead for VX Racing at Snetterton

Sat 1st August 2009 The rough and tumble of racing in the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship resumed at Snetterton race circuit in Norfolk today, with VX Racing taking fifth, sixth and ninth places in qualifying for the sixth round of the championship. After a six week summer break the team returned to the track with only one aim, to continue with their campaign to retain all three championship titles. Andrew Jordan was the quickest of the Vauxhalls this afternoon with fifth fastest lap, just two thousandths of a second quicker than sixth placed driver, Fabrizio Giovanardi. Matt Neal will line up in ninth place on the fifth row of the grid.

A dry, warm and sunny day was the perfect backdrop for the opening practice session of the weekend. Giovanardi was keen to start preparing for his races tomorrow, leading the BTCC grid out of the pits. All three VX Racing drivers ran in the top six throughout the session, as they honed their qualifying set up in preparation for the afternoon’s grid-setting half hour. After 40 minutes of official practice Neal was the quickest of the three Vauxhall’s with third fastest time. Giovanardi was a hundredth of a second behind with Jordan completing the trio with fifth quickest lap.

The second practice session was used by all the drivers for longer fuel runs and race set up work. Neal was once again the fastest of the three cars, despite carrying more ballast than his team mates, and posted second quickest time behind series leader, Colin Turkington, Giovanardi trailed Neal with third fastest time and Jordan was consistent with another fifth fastest lap by the end of the second and final practice session.

With the skies clouding over and a drop in temperature, VX Racing were optimistic for the qualifying session, the Vauxhalls seeming to prefer cooler weather for optimum performance. After the first new tyre run it was Giovanardi leading the way for VX Racing with second quickest lap. Jordan was close behind with fourth fastest lap and Neal followed his two team mates, with sixth quickest time. On their second runs the Vauxhalls showed a similar pace, but in the closing stages the competition hotted up and the Vauxhalls were pushed down the order. At the chequered flag it was the 20-year-old Andy Jordan producing the best result for the team, with fifth place start for tomorrow’s first race. Giovanardi lines up alongside his younger team mate in sixth place with Neal behind on the fifth row. The VX Racing driver had posted fourth quickest lap time during the qualifying session, but afterwards stewards disallowed it for a track infringement, leaving him back in ninth place for the start of tomorrow’s first race.

Jordan had mixed emotions after his afternoon’s running, “It wasn’t pole, which I thought was in my sights today, so I’m a bit disappointed. I came here very determined to bag the top spot, so it is a bit frustrating. However, the car’s good and I’m confident we can have some good races. I’m alongside Fabrizio for the start, so I’ll be pushing to beat him into the first corner. It’s good to be the quickest VX Racing driver – that’s a bonus.”

Giovanardi said of his session, “We’ll have to look at the data and try and analyse it, as it seemed we were quicker on a damp track than later when it dried out. We’re not too far off the front runners and I’m expecting it to be very close racing tomorrow, so we should be able to get in the thick of it.”

Neal commented of his qualifying, “It was a tough qualifying and I think it’ll be a very busy day for everyone tomorrow, as this circuit is notorious for being the battle ground of very exciting, close racing. Although it was getting cooler this afternoon we were still hoping for rain, as we know we’re strong in wet conditions, but it didn’t happen.”