Fabrizio Giovanardi ready to get "stuck in"

By Verity Smith and Dave Brockman
13 January 2006

Fabrizio Giovanardi comes to the BTCC with an impressive CV, having clinched titles in Spanish and Italian touring cars, and having come close to winning the World Touring Car Championship last year.

Now he's looking forward to driving for VX Racing, and taking the Astra Sport Hatch to more victories. At Autosport International we caught up with him and asked him for his thoughts on the 2006 season.

Welcome to British Touring Cars, you must be very happy to have this drive?

I’m looking forward to getting stuck in. I am not an angel!

Fabrizio Giovanardi

I am very happy, because it was my choice. I called Vauxhall to ask if they would be interested in my driving, and they said yes. My motivation was strange last year. I’d been with Alfa Romeo for 10 years but they decided to stop the program, so I thought this would be a new challenge for me.

Did you have the option to stay in the WTCC with any other teams?

I needed to be with the best team, and Alfa Romeo was the best team in the WTCC. The others teams like SEAT and Chevrolet I think are not at the top at the moment so I don’t care about the name of the championship, what I care about is that the team has everything they need to try to win. That’s why I chose to come here.

How many of the British circuits have you raced on?

Silverstone, Donington and Brands Hatch. The only way I can learn the others is on the Playstation!

You’ve won a lot of races and championships in your time, what do you think you can do in the Astra?

Win! I will fight for the championship. For me it is important to win a championship as well as a race. I will do the best that I can do.

How have you been getting on with your new Team mate Tom?

I don’t know him at all. Everybody says he is a good guy though!

How about the rest of the team, for example your engineers?

I have met them once. My biggest difficulty is to understand what they say to me, and how to ask for what I need! It could be really hard in the beginning, because I have to explain really well what I need.

BTCC is known for having quite a lot of contact. How do you feel about that?

I know touring cars well, so I am not worried about physical contact. I’m looking forward to getting stuck in. I am not an angel!