Fabrizio Giovanardi says he remains confident of securing a first Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship title despite losing ground to current points leader
Jason Plato at
Knockhill.
Gioavanardi had looked set to close the gap to his SEAT rival in the opening race of the weekend as he ran in third place, with Plato fifth, before contact with the
BMW of
Tom Onslow-Cole dropped the Italian own to seventh place – although he would later be promoted to sixth when the Team RAC man was excluded.
The Italian closed the gap to Plato once again with a podium in race two but in the final race of the weekend he was unable to find a way past Mike Jordan and took fifth – with Plato's second podium of the weekend allowing his to extend his lead to nine points heading to
Thruxton next month for the final three races.
"It was a different weekend," he told
Crash.net. "One moment I was very happy and two seconds later I was very upset and unhappy as I saw the lead of the championship and then didn't see it again. I tried to keep my concentration and in the second race I took back the points I lost in the first one. The reverse grid made it difficult in the third race, especially on a circuit like this, and I was behind Jason again.
"I had the chance to lead the championship but it is done and he [Onslow-Cole] made a mistake. In a normal situation it would be a normal accident and we see a lot like that but for me it is different, as I am fighting Plato; Onslow-Cole doesn't fight for anything. Okay he drives in the BMW and has to do well, but it doesn't matter in the points. All I can say is that it is racing life. It would be very different if I was fighting with Tom for the title but we can't talk about dreams, we have to talk about true life. He was in the wrong place in the wrong time.
