Fabrizio Giovanardi made it two wins from two at Rockingham in a carnage strewn second race for the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – which saw just twelve cars still running at the flag.
Simon Blanckley, Fiona Leggate, Chris Stockton, Richard Marsh, Erkut Kizilirmak and Adam Jones all failed to make the grid but a dramatic opening lap would see five of the front-running cars removed from contention, with the distinct possibility that some of those five won’t be able to make the start of race three later this afternoon.
When the race got underway, Giovanardi made the perfect start to maintain his lead into turn one, while
Matt Neal made a stunning start to slide into second place as the field streamed into Deene for the first time. However, it was at this point that things would start to go wrong…
Running into Yentwood, Tom Chilton tried to reclaim second place from Neal and tagged the back of the Honda Civic, which enabled him to re-take second place. It also enabled
Colin Turkington to get a run on Neal into Chapman, but as the pair then headed to Pif Paf, the
BMW was suddenly airbourne after making contact with the rear right of the Civic. Slamming to the ground, Turkington slid off into the gravel with damaged left front suspension, while Neal suddenly found himself with three wheels on his wagon as the right rear departed. Spinning as a result, Neal slammed into the side of team-mate Gordon Shedden ‘slicing the side of the Honda open like a tin’. Shedden would also have damage to his front suspension as the car returned to the pit-lane.
