Following up from my first top five list which I covered my top five races in recent BTCC History, in this instalment I will cover my top five season finales since 2004.
I’ll dig deep and inform you of why certain ones have been chosen compared to others which could have been chosen.
Finale Five:
Brands Hatch GP, 2005. It was Team Halfords and Matt Neal against VX Racing’s Yvan Muller for the crown while Team Halfords also had Dan Eaves in contention for second overall.
The previous race weekend at Silverstone had seen both Neal and Muller struggle and Neal left the Northamptonshire track with a 30 point advantage. With only a maximum of fifty-two points available in the final weekend, it appeared that everything would go Neal’s way.
Qualifying saw another Halfords car qualify on pole – Dan Eaves set the fastest time to claim pole for round twenty eight of the season – Yvan Muller had the advantage over Matt Neal.
Yvan qualified third, with team mate Gavin Smith ahead of him while Neal was down in sixth, and the third of the Halfords cars – Gareth Howell lined up fifth. Jason Plato lined up fourth on the grid.
For Muller to take the title battle to the second race of the day – he had to outscore Matt Neal – if Neal scored three points more than Muller, it was over.
Race one – Muller made his way up to second behind Eaves while Neal could only finish fourth, thus the Championship lead of Neal’s was reduced by four points to twenty-six. Eaves, however secured the maximum of eighteen points – pole position, leading a lap, fastest lap as well as the fifteen for winning – and took six points out of Muller.
Race two, round twenty-nine of the season – the maths was simple. Race three would provide a maximum of seventeen points – Muller had to outscore Neal by nine points. If Neal finished third or higher, it was all over.
It was Jason Plato who took the victory in the second race of the day, having taken the lead from Eaves exiting Westfield at the half way point of the race. It wasn’t plain sailing for Plato nor Muller. Off the line, Muller tried to give himself the best chance he could of taking the title to the final race of the season by challenging Eaves around the outside of Paddock Hill.
Neal, however had dropped back to sixth off the line – his spirits were lifted when he saw Plato pass Muller for second. Neal moved into fifth when he passed James Kaye before a scary moment at the exit of Hawthorns.
Fourth was Neals with ease, passing Muller’s team mate Gavin Smith at Druids.
Next up for Neal was title rival Muller and a few laps later, there was contact at Westfield between Neal and Muller, giving the Frenchman a puncture and a first BTCC crown for Neal in the process.
At the flag, Plato took his third win of the season ahead of Eaves and Champion Neal, who had built an unassailable points gap to Muller – Neal claimed eleven points – ten for third plus one for Fastest Lap – to leave him thirty-seven ahead with seventeen to play for.
Eaves has closed up even more to Muller and was within four points on the Frenchman – his thirteen points from the second race meant he had taken nineteen points out of Muller.
The season finale saw series debutant Andy Neate due to start on pole but he pulled into the pits, leaving WSR’s Rob Collard up front by himself.
The battle for second overall lasted a lap – heading into the braking zone for Paddock Hill, Jason Hughes braked earlier, catching out the chasing pack. Muller hit the back of Eaves, who was pitched into the wall and as he came back across, took out Plato. Muller and Plato ended up in the gravel at Paddock Hill while Eaves stopped on the run up to Druids.
This meant that Muller had second sewn up by four points from Eaves. Neal won the title by forty-three points.
- Picture Credit: Ian Forinton
Finale Number Four:
Brands Hatch 2008, Fabrizio Giovanardi versus Jason Plato. VX Racing against Seat Sport in what would be Seat Sport’s final BTCC race weekend as a fully fledged manufacturer.
Giovanardi went into the final round with a forty-four point advantage over nearest rival Plato, with a maximum of fifty-two points to race for. Plato faced a huge battle to overhaul Giovanardi and he had to outscore the Italian by ten points to have a hope of taking the title fight to round two.
Qualifying sprung a surprise – Team RAC and Stephen Jelley stuck their BMW on pole alongside BMW Dealer team UK’s Mat Jackson. Jason Plato and Fabrizio Giovanardi had nightmare qualifying sessions leaving themselves down in tenth and eleventh.
Race one – Jelley got away from pole with Jackson hot on his heels. Jackson took the lead at the end of lap one and never looked back as he took his fourth race victory of the season.
Behind Jackson, Giovanardi was involved with an early race incident with Adam Jones which damaged the Italians Vauxhall Vectra and dropped him down to fourteenth – giving Plato the opportunity to claw back some of the points he needed to keep the title alive.
He fought his way up to fifth – which wasn’t enough and Giovanardi secured his second BTCC crown, down in fourteenth. Ahead of Plato, there were four BMW’s, Jackson, the Motorbase duo of Steven Kane and Rob Collard and Colin Turkington.
Plato had the gap down from forty-four points to thirty-eight with two races left. Jackson had closed the gap to Plato as well, but had his eyes set on third overall.
Race two – Jackson took his second win of the day from pole position and added in the fastest lap for good measure. With Giovanardi failing to start and Plato retiring with steering rack failure, it gave Jackson the opportunity to grab win number five for the season.
Picture Credit: Ian Forinton
Matt Neal and Colin Turkington completed the podium, the two of them worked together to pass both Motorbase BMW’s.
It also meant that Plato and Giovanardi would start alongside each at the back of the grid for round thirty… while Jackson would start eighth, five points off Plato and taking second away from the Seat driver.
The final race of the 2008 season saw Tom Onslow-Cole start from pole – it was Team Halfords Tom Chilton who made the best start and flew into the lead by Paddock Hill bend. The safety car was deployed for the first time at the end of lap one as John George had been turned into a barrel roll along the back straight – his Honda Integra was completely destroyed.
Right at the end of the race, the Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch of Arkas Racing’s Martyn Bell blew an engine, leaving oil on the track from Paddock Hill bend to Druids – all hell broke loose as drivers hit the oil and went off the track. Steven Kane benefitted from the oil to take second from Onslow-Cole while Jackson finished fourth to secure second overall by three points from Plato.
Giovanardi secured the point for fastest lap – the only point he scored all day!
Giovanardi won his second title by thirty-six points from Jackson, who finished three points ahead of Plato.
Picture Credit: Andrew Jackson
Finale Number Three:
Donington Park 2004, the battle of the Vauxhall team mates Yvan Muller and James Thompson and Anthony Reid. Reid was a very outside bet for the crown, he needed to win all three races with bonus points and hope Thompson scored very few points. If Thompson scored five or more points, Reid was out of the running.
Qualifying ahead of the final race day saw Seat Sport’s Jason Plato set the fastest time of the session to take pole. Championship contenders Thompson, Muller and Reid lined up third, fifth and seventh respectively.
Race one; round twenty-eight saw Plato convert his pole position into win number seven for the season as Thompson extended his Championship lead over Muller. Reid was knocked out of the title battle in race one.
Thompson’s second place compared to Mullers seventh meant that Thompson had a thirteen point advantage heading into the second race of the day. Thirteen points was the biggest advantage Thompson had had all season over Muller, while Plato’s win ensured he’d end the season as the driver with the most wins.
At the start, it was Matt Neal who took the lead as Plato made a slow getaway. The lead was short lived though as Thompson forced the Honda Civic driver wide. Lap two saw contact between Thompson and Muller, dropping Muller down the field and outside the top ten.
Muller had a fight to get any points from the race but he worked his way back up to seventh by the flag.
Plato took the win from Thompson with Turkington third.
Race Two – the reverse grid saw Rob Huff start on pole with race one winner Jason Plato in tenth. James Thompson would start eighth – Yvan Muller started in fourth position.
Huff led into the first corner but his time in the lead came to and end at the Old Hairpin as he ran wide and let Chilton and Muller through. Dan Eaves made it from fourth to second before the end of lap one, firstly passing Huff after his moment then Muller. Muller retook the place at Redgate on lap two.
For Thompson, he was running seventh at the end of lap one having gone off onto the grass at the Craner Curves – he was involved in a five car fight for positions four to eight.
Towards the end, Muller was chasing down race leader Chilton and set three fastest laps as he closed in on the youngster – taking 4 tenths of a second out of Chilton per lap. Chilton took the victory by less than half a second from Muller. Thompson finished fifth and the gap was down to six points…
Race three – round thirty. One race, two drivers and six points in it and the added interest of Jason Plato’s Seat Toledo. The final race was all set for a winner takes all contest between VX Racing team mates Muller and Thompson.
Starting from pole was Tom Chilton, after his race two victory. Muller lined up alongside him with Thompson slightly further back on the grid.
Chilton didn’t make the most of his starting position and it was Muller who took advantage to lead off the grid while Thompson was boxed in and forced onto the grass – dropping him to fourth. End of lap one saw Muller lead Eaves, Plato and Thompson. Chilton was fifth.
Both Thompson and Plato passed Eaves to complete the podium – Thompson setting the fastest race lap in the process. Plato set about chasing down Muller until the Safety Car was deployed to clear up the accident involving Gavin Pyper and Michael Bentwood.
Once the Safety car was withdrawn, Plato went back to attacking Muller for the race lead while Thompson sat back in third and let the two arch rivals get on with their battle. Thompson knew that if he stayed in third, he’d be Champion.
Plato was trying everything to take the final win of ’04, and at the chicane on the penultimate lap forced Muller into a half slide. Thompson looked to the outside but backed out and sat back and accepted third and his second BTCC crown.
A point for fastest lap is all it came down to… Thompson beat Muller by a point with Plato finishing third overall.
Finale Number Two:
Thruxton 2007 saw Jason Plato in his Seat Leon up against VX Racing’s Fabrizio Giovanardi. Both VX Racing and Seat Sport UK brought in a third driver to help with their drivers’ title bid – Vauxhall called in fellow GM Racer Alain Menu to drive the third Vectra while Seat Sport called upon fellow WTCC driver Tom Coronel. For Coronel, it was his BTCC debut.
Going into the weekend, Plato held a slender nine point advantage over Giovanardi, even though Giovanardi had taken more race wins. Plato had been the model of consistency and hadn’t suffered a DNF all season.
The week before however, saw Plato suffer substantial burns to his neck, arms and face after a car he was testing for Fifth Gear caught fire.
Qualifying ahead of the first race saw a Vauxhall lock out as Tom Chilton took pole ahead of Giovanardi and Menu. Plato was fourth on the grid for race one, while his Seat Sport team mates were seventh and twelfth.
Race one – punctures ruled the way as both Chilton and Menu suffered while Darren Turner also had a puncture. Off the line, Giovanardi wasn’t able to take the lead away from Chilton while Menu settled into third, defending from Plato.
It took Giovanardi a couple of laps to find a way past team mate Chilton, who had set the races fastest lap and thus taking away an extra point which Giovanardi could have claimed.
First to suffer the tyre problems was Chilton, thus promoting Plato to third. On the final lap, Menu suffered a similar fate which gave Plato second and a slightly bigger point’s margin. Menu finished fourth as Shedden took advantage of his puncture.
One race down, Plato’s advantage was down to five points.
Race two saw Giovanardi and Plato finish in the same positions – they were joined by matt Neal, who had been challenging the two of them for the race win. Twice during the second race did the two title protagonists make contact, once saw both cars off the track while Neal stayed on track.
It left a last race shootout – one point separated Giovanardi and Plato going to round thirty.
The top seven were reversed – meaning the WTCC guest drivers of Menu (Vauxhall) and Coronel (Seat) were on the front row with a pair of BMW’s behind them. Plato lined up sixth, ahead of Giovanardi.
Both the BMW’s used their superior startline ability to jump the front row starters with Jackson ahead of Turkington. Further back, there were problems for Plato and Menu at the chicane, Menu bumped down the order.
With rumours of a move to VX Racing going round the paddock, Team Halfords driver Matt Neal did nothing to dispel these rumours as he waved both Chilton and Giovanardi past before getting in Plato’s way.
Up front, Jackson continued to absorb the pressure Turkington threw at him until Turkington spun at the chicane – thus promoting Giovanardi into second. With Plato in fourth, the title was Giovanardi’s, by three points.
The win was Jackson’s second of a very impressive debut season in the BTCC.
Giovanardi became 2007 Champion by three points from Plato, Gordon Shedden held on to third by five points from Matt Neal.
Picture Credit: Ian Forinton
Finale Number Five:
Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit in 2009 saw a three way shootout for the title between Team RAC’s Colin Turkington, Fabrizio Giovanardi for VX Racing and outside bet Jason Plato of Racing Silverline.
Turkington arrived at Brands Hatch with a thirteen point advantage over Giovanardi while Plato was twenty eight points behind Turkington, meaning Plato was the outsider… but when has that stopped Plato?
Qualifying saw another surprise – Tom Chilton popped up and put his Team AON Ford Focus on pole with Plato lining up alongside him in second. Behind Plato came the three VX Racing cars of Giovanardi, Matt Neal and Andrew Jordan. Plato’s team mate Mat Jackson lined up sixth. Turkington had a shocker of a qualifying session and was down in tenth.
Race One – Chilton made the textbook start to take the lead into Paddock Hill, a lead he’d hold until Clearways on the final lap when Plato passed him to take victory by 0.015 seconds.
Behind the front two, Fabrizio Giovanardi secured third place and the important ten points that went with it as Turkington was only able to make it up as high as eighth fron tenth.
Giovanardi’s two wingmen, Jordan and Neal finished fourth and fifth while Jackson was down in twelfth – having been involved with some panel bashing early in the race.
There were two Safety Car periods in race one – the first one to clear up the Paddock Hill gravel trap after Matt Hamilton and Martin Johnson came together and both retired. The second was to remove the Honda Civic of Johnny Herbert from the Druids gravel and the Seat Leon of Gordon Shedden – Shedden had gone off at Sheene Curve.
So after race one, Giovanardi had closed the gap to six points while Plato was fourteen behind with thirty-four to play for.
Race two – as in Race one, Tom Chilton made a textbook start and took the lead from Plato at Paddock Hill bend while Giovanardi settled into third.
It was Turkington who was having to pull off the risky moves – lap one he had to squeeze down the inside of Matt Neal into Westfield – so he could catch up with the leaders.
Neal was also in the wars – Paul O’Neill shoved the VX Racing driver out of the way at Druids, a move which sent the 2005 and 2006 Champion down to fourteenth place. He recovered to eighth and pole for race three.
The defining moment of race two came on lap fifteen when Plato forced his way past Chilton for the race lead and that started a chain effect of events with the chasing pack getting backed up. Giovanardi made a risky move to pass Chilton round the outside of Surtees. This move held up both Airwaves BMW’s – allowing Turkington the opportunity to slot into third by Westfield.
The end result saw the three title contenders on the podium in reverse order – with Turkington taking a four point advantage into the final race – eight points covered the top three.
Race three saw Neal on pole with Giovanardi starting behind Turkington. Let the games begin. At the start, the two Airwaves BMW cars of Jonny Adam and Rob Collard were both flying, Collard was taken out by Chilton along Cooper straight and Matt Neal spun Adam out at Surtees.
Adam rejoined but a long way back. Meanwhile, Turkington had made it into second behind Neal with Giovanardi third… Neal slowed down to allow Giovanardi to attack Turkington. In turn, Plato got involved and he started to attack Giovanardi, which allowed Turkington to fight Neal.
Picture Credit: Ian Forinton
Lap nine saw a race and Championship decided moment. Turkington went on the attack and forced Neal wide, but not hard enough – so he needed another hit which damaged the Team RAC BMW. The move forced Neal off the track and put Turkington into the lead.
The move meant that Turkington was defending from Giovanardi and Plato, who had made his way into third. Giovanardi tried to attack Turkington at Clearways but had to back out of the move – thus giving Plato the chance to take second from Giovanardi. He found himself on the outside of Turkington at Paddock – yet that didn’t worry him as he took the lead at Druids and from there on, never looked back.
Giovanardi attempted the same move a lap later but again failed and dropped down to fourth as Chilton took third away. From there, the order stayed as it was and thus Turkington took his first BTCC crown, Plato became the second person in history to take three wins in a day and Giovanardi ended his full time BTCC career with a whimper and in third overall.
Plato came within five points of a famous comeback and set down a marker for 2010 while Giovanardi finished four points behind Plato.
Why have I chosen these five finales as the best?
The reason I have chosen these five season finales as my top five is down to the fact they show the BTCC at its best – unpredictable, suspense filled and exciting.
Yes, the 2006 and 2010 finales were interesting but they were pretty much sorted before the field arrived at the final rounds.
2004, 2007 and 2009 all went down to the final corner of the final lap of the final race of the season and you couldn’t predict what would happen and who’d become Champion.
In 2008, the battle for second went down to the final lap again while 2005 saw the battle for second ended early due to contact – something else the BTCC is known for.
However you look at it, the BTCC is what it is due to things like this and the interest it generates – and it can only improve with the new regulations which are coming in for this season.
Filed under: BTCC | Tagged: Alain Menu, Andrew Jordan, Andy Neate, Anthony Reid, Brands Hatch, Dan Eaves, Donington Park, Fabrizio Giovanardi, Gareth Howell, Gavin Pyper, Gavin Smith, Gordon Shedden, James Kaye, James Thompson, Jason Plato, John George, Johnny Herbert, Jonny Adam, Martin Johnson, Martyn Bell, Mat Jackson, Matt Hamilton, Matt Neal, Michael Bentwood, Paul O'Neill, Rob Collard, Rob Huff, Stephen Jelley, Steven Kane, Thruxton, Tom Chilton, Tom Coronel, Tom Onslow-Cole, Yvan Muller | Leave a comment »
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