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Plato feeling the heat in BTCC

Jason Plato has a big fight on his hands if he is to win this year’s Dunlop British Touring Car Champ­ionship

Plato is marked man as Vauxhall’s Chilton (left) and Giovanardi close in

By Jonathan Gill

25th April 2007

The SEAT star won the final race last weekend at Rocking­ham in Northants to maintain his early series lead. But Fabrizio Giovanardi has shown that the pre-season favourite won’t have it all his own way. A pair of wins for Vauxhall’s Italian ace has moved him into second position in the standings of the Auto Express-backed series.

Giovanardi’s rise up the table was assisted by the misfortune of others, notably reigning champ­ion Matt Neal and Colin Turkington, who each suffered retirements and slipped down the points table. But even though Plato has increased his series lead, the 2001 title holder has reiterated his belief that this year’s race is going to be one of the closest fought in BTCC history.

“It was predicted, wrongly, that this was going to be a SEAT walkover, but as I’ve been saying all along, this will be the most competitive BTCC in many a year,” insisted Plato. “Vauxhall has now clearly re-emerged as a winning force, and the BMWs and Hondas – plus a few others – are also proving increasingly difficult to stay ahead of.

“It’s no secret that we haven’t got the quickest car in a straight line, and the next round at Thruxton, Hants, is the fastest on the calendar. So I’m not expecting it to be easy there.” Giovanardi’s wins, the first for Vaux­hall’s brand-new Vectra racer, were backed up by three strong finishes from team-mate Tom Chilton.

And the Italian is certainly looking forward to more success. “It’s too early to start talking about the championship, but it was great to win two races at Rockingham and we now have a very competitive car. We know it is very strong along the straights, so I think we’ll be in good shape at Thruxton,” he grinned.

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