Share this article on LinkedIn Email

Fabrizio Giovanardi has revealed that he was close to making a last-minute British Touring Car Championship return at Rockingham last weekend.



The 45-year-old Italian agreed to replace Matt Neal at Honda had the reigning champion been declared unfit to race due to a hand injury sustained in a road accident.



"Matt called me last week to see if I wanted to do it and I agreed straight away," the BTCC champion in 2007 and '08 and a former team-mate of Neal's at Vauxhall, told AUTOSPORT.



"But I told him that if there was even a small chance that he could race, then he should, because he's got a championship to win."



Giovanardi, who has nine major tin-top titles to his name, has not had a full-time drive since 2009, but has won races in Superstars and Scandinavian Touring Cars plus the European Touring Car Cup since then.



His race appearances this year have been limited to a handful of outings in the Nurburgring-based VLN, driving the Ferrari-inspired P4/5 Competizione for Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus.