With the BTCC on its traditional extended summer break, it seems like a good time to cast an eye over the season so far. Foremost in my mind is Triple Eight, which has come out from behind the financial shield of the Vauxhall factory team.

The deal only came together in the week before the season opener at Thruxton, but got off to a flier with Fabrizio Giovanardi leading the championship after the first meeting. Then it all fell apart.

The team entered as Uniq Racing with Triple Eight, additional sponsorship coming from WD-40, the personal sponsor of the team’s other driver, Phil Glew. But it was all too much for Uniq: they were overwhelmed by the demand generated by the brand exposure, to the point that they had to withdraw sponsorship.

Hmm. It’s hard to believe that, given that there are a few companies with the name Uniq, and it’s not easy to find the right one via, say, Google. Incidentally, it’s the one at uniqmotorsports.com, not uniq.com or even uniqracing.eu. So where all this interest came from is anyone’s guess.

But that’s what happened. Apparently.

Anyway, Giovanardi and Glew both lost their drives. But it created an opportunity for James Nash, who has been the team’s only regular driver since the second round at Rockingham. Initially his car carried Avatar branding, from the distributor of the DVD and Blu-ray release. That only lasted one meeting though, and since then his car has been rather blank – so it’s not obvious where the money to go racing is coming from.

The other man to get in a Triple Eight Vauxhall Vectra this season is Daniel Lloyd, first at the mid-season Rockingham test, and then racing at Croft – backed by the delightfully orange TNT Post. His website is rather snazzy, and is hopeful that he’ll be back in the car for future rounds.

It’s hard to judge Lloyd’s performance, since it was his first BTCC appearance. But his 7th, 14th and 8th place finishes compare favourably to Nash’s first meeting of the year, which yielded a retirement, 10th and 8th. Not forgetting that Nash contested a number of rounds last season in a Chevrolet. So you’d have to say that Lloyd deserves another outing, but as always it all depends on money.

What’s worrying for the BTCC is that Giovanardi still has eight championship points more than Nash, despite having competed in one round to Nash’s four. It just looks daft. That’s not intended to be a criticism of Nash. But it is sad that due to sponsorship wrangling, the championship is missing a top driver – Giovanardi – in a top car.

He’s now off working with N.Technology on developing the Porsche Panamera S for the Superstars Series, Italy’s main tin-top championship. There are other familiar names to be found over there too: Johnny Herbert and Gianni Morbidelli, amongst others. Clearly there’s more money sloshing around in Italy.