BTCC: VX Racing Brands Hatch qualifying notes

VX RACING DRIVERS SET FOUNDATION IN BRANDS HATCH QUALIFYING

VX Racing's Fabrizio Giovanardi qualified in fifth place in today's Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship's (BTCC) qualifying at Brands Hatch, with team-mate Tom Chilton equalising his best 2007 qualifying result, finishing fourth.

Giovanardi, who will start two places behind main title rival, SEAT's Jason Plato, in tomorrow's first race, was unable to improve his lap-time and with only three minutes remaining the Italian was forced to return to the pits when rain started to make the track slippery.

Tom Chilton had to settle for fourth place when a minor technical fault on the Vauxhall Vectra prevented him from posting an improved time during the last ten minutes of the session.

The 30-minute session was briefly interrupted following an incident involving Matt Allison and John George in Paddock Hill.

The first of tomorrow's (Sunday's) three races at the Kent circuit will start at 10.50.

Fabrizio Giovanardi #5

"I'm happy finishing in fifth considering I'm carrying 36kg success ballast in my Vauxhall Vectra.

"I'm only two places behind Plato and anything can happen around this circuit. It will be exciting tomorrow."

Tom Chilton #7

"I had a problem with the power-steering towards the end of the session, which prevented me from improving on my fourth-place lap-time.

"The car itself felt really good around the track. We will fix the problem over night and will be good to race tomorrow. I'm confident we will pull out a good result."

Mike Nicholson, VX Racing Operations Manager

"All in all I'm relatively happy with fourth and fifth places on the grid tomorrow. It was just bad luck for Fabrizio that it started to rain just when he was about to start a final flying lap on a new set of tyres.

"We're very confident for tomorrow. The Vectras are normally competitive in race-trim and I'm sure both our drivers can make up some places."

-credit: vx racing