Fabrizio Giovanardi

CHAMPION 2007, 2008

“The first time Fabrizio Giovanardi drove one of our cars, he smashed it to bits against the wall at Pembrey,” remembers Triple Eight Race Engineering boss Ian Harrison.

Giovanardi persevered with the unloved Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch, but he really hit his stride in the BTCC in 2007 with the new Vectra.

“Fabrizio wasn’t really an engineer,” recalls Harrison. “He would come in, tell us what the car was doing, tell us what he wanted it to do and then leave it up to us to come up with the solutions. There was no drama with him – he just came and got on with the job.”

A superb title showdown in 2007, when Giovanardi went toe to toe with Jason Plato’s SEAT, was a highlight.

There were two more titles to add to the Italian and European crowns he already had in his pocket, but he was left without a ride when Vauxhall withdrew from the BTCC at the end of 2009. There was a brief outing in a privately run Triple Eight Vectra at the start of 2010, and an unsuccessful one-season return in ’14 with Motorbase Performance.