Eoin Murray faced another disappointing weekend of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Croft on Sunday. Once again Murray proved he had the pace to race at the front after qualifying an impressive 10th position for race 1. “Normally you have three or four attempts at setting a fast time in Qualifying but I could only use my first attempt after problems with my gearbox. So I was very happy with 10th position considering the problems and knowing I could have been a little faster”.

A solid start in race 1 moved Eoin up to 9th position and fighting with Jason Plato for 8th position. But on lap 4 a driveshaft failure in the arguscarhire.com Alfa ended his race. Eoin commented: “The car was fantastic in the race and I felt really confident for a good finish but the drive shaft failure ended my chance.”

Eoin started race 2 from 20th position and after a great opening lap he moved to 15th but on lap 5 he had an engine blow. This left the team with an almost impossible task of changing the Alfa engine in between races. They made a huge effort but just ran short of time meaning Eoin could not appear for race 3. Speaking after his to Croft weekend, Eoin, said “This season has been a huge disappointment for myself, the team and everyone involved but we did make big improvements on the setup of the car and we are now close to the front running pace. We must look at the positives and our luck has to change”.

Team RAC’s Colin Turkington, SEAT’s Darren Turner and Vauxhall’s Italian driver Fabrizio Giovanardi shared the victories in Sunday’s three Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship rounds in front of a bumper crowd at a hot and sunny Croft circuit in North Yorkshire. Each of their wins carries great significance: Turkington’s is the first for a BMW driver in the BTCC for 11 years; Turner’s is the first of his BTCC career; Giovanardi’s moves him to within just two points of series leader Jason Plato as the title race moves to Oulton Park in Cheshire on 24 June. Today’s race meeting also truly underlined the competitiveness of the BTCC in 2007 as all nine podium positions up for grabs in the three races were shared by nine different drivers.
 

Plato, who for the first race meeting in 2007 failed to win a race – he managed seventh, second and then eighth place finishes – said: “I’d hoped for more today and in race three in particular I probably lost six points or so because our strategy wasn’t right and that cost me several positions on the track. Sure, Fabrizio is very close now but I think Oulton Park will suit our car more – it’s a more flowing circuit and I don’t think carrying maximum success ballast will hurt my car as much there as it did here in qualifying and race one. Forget today, let’s crack on, but we will need to score well at Oulton.”

Giovanardi, who now has five wins this season to Plato’s four, added: “This was probably the hardest day of the season so far – there were so many things happening on the circuit – so to come away with two sixth places and a win is excellent. As a team we’ve achieved our aim of out-scoring Plato and keeping up the pressure on him. This is a very exciting championship for the fans and I’m delighted to be part of the fight at the front.”

Meanwhile, Vauxhall and its VX Racing squad continue to lead the Manufacturers’ and Teams’ championships, but by significantly reduced margins over SEAT and its SEAT Sport UK outfit respectively, the Spanish make enjoying the upper hand over its British rival in today’s three races. Mike Jordan consolidated his lead in the Independents Drivers’ table with strong form all day, including a podium finish outright in his Eurotech/John Guest-Pirtek Honda Integra. Team RAC maintained its holdon the Independents Teams’ table, thanks to Turkington’s landmark race one victory and also a fine second by his team-mate Tom Onslow-Cole in race three. Dave Pinkney and Richard March driving the A-Tech Alfa Romeo 156s struggled at Croft over the weekend. Best result for the team was Pinkney's 13th place in Race 3.