Fabrizio Giovanardi secured his second consecutive HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship title in round 28 at Brands Hatch. It was a somewhat ironic way for the Italian to clinch the title, as his 14th place finish was the first time he has failed to score in a race this season.

Newly crowned champion Giovanardi said, “It was strange to win the title without scoring a point! The race was very close and very tough, with so many cars qualifying within a few tenths of a second. I got a bit of a bang on track and from there I was happy to get to the finish as I knew Jason wasn't high enough.

"It's my ninth title, but you never get bored of it and I want to win a tenth! Every year is different though. SEAT won't be here but the BMWs are strong and so is the Honda so we can't relax over the winter and need to work hard to keep improving our car."

Victory in the race went to Mat Jackson in the Accident Exchange backed BMW. It was a good race for BMW, as well as local team Motorbase Performance, whose drivers Steven Kane and Rob Collard surrounded Jackson on the podium.

It was another BMW, driven by Stephen Jelley, which started the race from pole position. The Team RAC driver held onto the lead as the race got underway, but his best BTCC qualifying performance was not to be followed by a win. It was Mat Jackson who led the pack across the start-finish line at the end of the opening lap, assuming the inside line at Clark Curve and powering past Jelley along the straight. Darren Turner was third, ahead of Gordon Shedden and Rob Collard.

Lap two saw Fabrizio Giovanardi run wide at Paddock Hill Bend, running wide into the gravel with Team Aircool’s Adam Jones. That dropped Giovanardi down the order and he would be unable to recover to a points-scoring position. Behind Giovanardi and Jones, there was contact between John George and Jason Hughes running up the hill towards Druids. George’s Integra was left stranded on the track, bringing the safety car out on track at the end of the lap.

The restart came on lap five, with Jackson continuing to lead. Early leader Stephen Jelley’s race ended early when his BMW slowed coming out of Graham Hill Bend, dropping him down through the order. He managed to limp back to the pits despite the car being stuck in fifth gear.

Meanwhile, out on the track, Jason Plato’s quest to keep his slim championship hopes alive saw him battling with Vauxhall’s Matt Neal for eighth position. With Plato ahead of the Vectra, he closed on the back of Colin Turkington’s Team RAC BMW, who had earlier lost out to the super-quick Steven Kane.

Both Kane and Motorbase teammate Rob Collard were making quick progress around the Brands Hatch Indy circuit. Collard moved up to third position when he passed Gordon Shedden’s Team Halfords Honda Civic on the way into Paddock on lap 12. Shedden tried to take the place back at Druids but Collard persevered around the outside and impressively held the spot. It wasn’t a good couple of laps for Shedden, who subsequently lost fourth position to Steven Kane. Kane and Collard then swapped positions when the latter ran wide on the exit from Graham Hill Bend.

In front of an enthusiastic home crowd, the Motorbase drivers were enjoying their best race of the season. With both cars up at the front, they went on to fill the second and third steps of the podium. Kane made a move on Darren Turner up at Druids on lap 19 to go second, while Collard claimed third when Turner slowed five laps from the end.

Turner’s turned out to be playing the team game, dropping down the order in a bid to Jason Plato stay in with a chance of the title. Turner dropped to do battle with the Vauxhall of Matt Neal, allowing Plato to move ahead. There was contact between Turner and Neal in the closing stages and the contest ended with Neal ahead of the SEAT.

At the end of a dramatic title-decider, it was a fourth win of the season for Mat Jackson. Steven Kane finished second ahead of Motorbase teammate Rob Collard, while Team RAC’s Colin Turkington made it a BMW 1-2-3-4. Jason Plato finished fifth – not enough to keep him in the championship fight – ahead of Neal in sixth and Turner in seventh. Tom Chilton, Tom Onslow-Cole and Andrew Jordan completed the top ten. Fabrizio Giovanardi finished outside the points in 14th, but it was enough to see him crowned champion with two races to spare.