FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) 2007
BMW national team drivers fit for the rest of the
WTCC season.
The four BMW national team drivers had little time to catch
their breath following their successful start to the FIA World
Touring Car Championship (WTCC) in Curitiba, Brazil. Andy
Priaulx (GBR), Jörg Müller (Germany), Augusto Farfus
(BRA) and Félix Porteiro (ESP) were back in action
once again from 18th to 23rd March, this time for a "fitness
and teambuilding week" in Munich.
The four drivers took part in an intensive programme of activities
over the six days, picking up some valuable tips from experienced
trainers on how to maintain and further improve their physical
fitness. In addition to a comprehensive health check, a daily
early morning work-out in Munich's Englischer Garten and fitness
training, the drivers also had the opportunity to get to know
each other better and prepare together for the remaining 20
races of the World Touring Car Championship. "The week
in Munich brought me bang up-to-date as far as fitness and
diet are concerned," said WTCC champion Andy Priaulx.
"But I also had a lot of fun with my team-mates. We normally
only meet up at the race track, but here we were working alongside
each other in very different situations. This sort of thing
definitely strengthens team spirit."
For the BMW drivers the week began with a seminar on maintaining
the right diet and a performance test to determine their current
fitness levels. A check-up from the BMW health service in
the Project House at the Research and Innovation Centre (FIZ)
on Monday was followed by a fitness session in the "BMW
Backup Center", which is also used by BMW employees to
keep in trim. In the afternoon the drivers paid a visit to
the BMW Motorsport sports and touring car department, where
they displayed their potential as mechanics under the watchful
eye of the engineers.
After an endurance training session, the drivers then joined
BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen to give a crowd-pleasing
demonstration of their culinary skills for the assembled media
representatives as part of the touring-car round table on
Tuesday evening. The following morning the drivers set out
with the BMW Mountain Bike Enduro for a ride through the Englischer
Garten, before literally putting their bravery and powers
of concentration on the line in the Aschheim tightrope park.
That evening the drivers joined Theissen and an invited audience
of 1,800 as guests of honour for the presentation of several
new BMW models at the BMW subsidiary in Munich. On Thursday
the Sportschule Oberhaching sports complex provided the perfect
venue for a multi-faceted sports day, including a football
match and coordination and reaction tests.
The "four-cylinder" BMW corporate HQ building hosted
Friday's grand finale. On any other day, the drivers would
be squeezing every last drop of power from the four-cylinder
engine of the BMW 320si WTCC, but on this occasion it was
the four-cylinder pushing the drivers to the limit. The challenge
was to climb the 22 floors of the imposing building as quickly
as possible. Felix Porteiro was the first of the drivers to
reach the top in just 2'57'', and gasped. "This race
was a great way to round off an excellent week. The hard training
sessions have really paid dividends. We could not be better
prepared for the rest of the season."
The next round of the FIA WTCC will take place on May 6th
2007 in Zandvoort (NLD).
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