DOWN TO THE WIRE!
At the beginning of 2007, VX Racing took on the challenge of turning the Vectra into a BTCC race winner. By the end of the season, they had won both the Drivers' and Manufacturers' Titles.
Words by Fiona Miller
Pictures by Jakob Ebrey.
If a Hollywood scriptwriter was trying to capture tension, suspense and drama, he would be well advised to study the finale to this year’s British Touring Car Championship.
Going into the season-closing three races at Thruxton in Hampshire, the Manufacturers’ and Drivers’ Championships were still there for the taking, with VX Racing and lead driver Fabrizio Giovanardi just trailing biggest rivals, SEAT and Jason Plato.
But win Vauxhall did - and in style. Vectra lined up 1-2-3 on the grid for the first of the three races, the hugely popular Giovanardi won two of them on his way to claiming the 2007 Drivers’ title while Vauxhall regained the Manufacturers’ crown for the first time in three years. And all this in the first year of the Vectra’s racing life.
‘You couldn’t have written the script, could you?’ says VX Racing’s Team Principal, a euphoric Ian Harrison ‘We snuck in under the wire and did the job. All tributes should go to the crew and drivers. It was a really hard-fought Championship, and winning it with Vectra, a new car, has added gloss to what’s been a tough season.
I’d be the first to admit that we made mistakes this year, but we bounced back when it mattered. It’s a fantastic result for everyone at Vauxhall, VX Racing and Triple Eight Race Engineering’.
There were plenty of highs and lows through the year, but multiple touring car champion Giovanardi’s experience and racecraft smoothed the difficult patches keeping them in touch at the top of the tables. By mid season, the engineers were getting to grips with the new Vectra, and a string of solid results kept them in the race for the championships.
But for Giovanardi, Donington was a tough weekend, leaving him 25 points adrift of Plato in the Drivers’ points – but good showings at Snetterton and Brands Hatch (with three wins from six races) helped him claw right back.