Rounds 7 & 8 – Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari,
Imola – 28th / 29th May 2005
ROUNDS 7 & 8 RACE REPORT
Weather: sunny and very hot, with a dry track Crowd: 22,000.
DIRK MÜLLER STRECHES HIS CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD
 On
a very hot day – in both air temperature and action
on the track – Fabrizio Giovanardi for Alfa Romeo and
Dirk Müller for BMW, claimed victories in rounds 7 and
8. All considered, it was an advantagous weekend (in favour
of) for the German driver, who managed to stretch his championship
lead to 6 points, and BMW, because Andy Priaulx (two podiums
for him today) moved up to second in the classification. With
Gabriele Tarquini and Jörg Müller out of the points,
Giovanardi climbed to 4th in the championship. However, Alessandro
Zanardi was the man of the day. Starting from pole position
on the reverse grid for the second race, the Italian driver
took the lead and for three laps resisted the pressure from
Dirk, Priaulx and Thompson. A little mistake caused him to
drop behind his fellow BMW colleagues, but he managed to defend
the third position until a few corners to the end, when Farfus
punted him into a spin at the Acque Minerali, depriving him
of his first podium result since his comeback to racing. Despite
this Zanardi finished sixth, topping the classification of
the Italian Championship like he had done in the first race.
Inquiries after the races resulted in the following decisions:
Colciago will lose ten grid position for the next race due
to his incident with Gené in Race 1; Plato received
a similar penalty due to his collision with Thompson in Race
2; as for the incident between Farfus and Zanardi in Race
2, the Brazilian youngster will also lose ten positions on
the grid of the next race, but furthermore if he is involved
in a similar incident during one of the two following events,
he will also be excluded from that race. The FIA WTCC will
now take a one month break, before hitting the track again
for Rounds 9 and 10 on 26th of June in Puebla, Mexico.
RACE 1 – GIOVANARDI CLAIMS HIS FIRST WIN
 An
engine change resulted in Terting dropped by ten position
on the grid. Tarquini also was demoted to 14th despite qualifying
5th due to the implementation of the suspended penalty he
incurred at Silverstone. The start of the race saw García
overtake Giovanardi off the line and in quick succession Priaulx
also overtook the Alfa on the inside of the first corner.
Within the first lap Giovanardi claimed back second position
from the BMW UK driver. Jörg Müller and Tarquini
made contact at Tamburello. The latter rejoined the race behind
the pack, the former went to the pits before rejoining, one
lap behind. In lap 2, Colciago braked extremely late and sent
Gené’s SEAT into the barriers at Tosa. Giovanardi
claimed the lead from García for good, while fellow
BMW drivers Priaulx and Dirk Müller both had the final
podium position in their sights. Lap 6 saw Plöderl rolling
his Ford Focus car, but escaping uninjured. In the final laps,
Dirk was closing the gap on Priaulx. The difference was reduced
from over one second in lap eight to half a second and then
just four tenths in laps nine and ten. Priaulx managed to
hold on to third spot. Farfus finished fifth and Colciago
was sixth, therefore scoring Honda’s first points. Chevrolet’s
Larini and Menu were classified 13th and 14th, while Ford’s
Klenke was 17th. His teammate Jäger had a puncture on
the last lap. Balzan had maintained his 12th position for
the entire race to be the best of the Independent drivers.
Zanardi finished a brilliant 8th position overall and therefore
won the Italian Superturismo race and also pole position for
the second race.
RACE 2 – ZANARDI SHINES BUT DIRK WINS
Alessandro Zanardi started from pole on the reversed grid.
Jörg Müller began the race from the pit lane. Dirk
Müller and Andy Priaulx had a great start as they both
jumped from fifth and sixth positions to second and third
respectively while Zanardi held on to the top spot. Antonio
García also gained two places off the start, he went
into the first corner in fifth position while Alfa Romeo man
Augusto Farfus, and Roberto Colciago made contact. Robert
Huff and Stefano Valli collided at the Tosa, and neither were
able to continue. A pack of four, consisting of the top three
BMWs and the Alfa of James Thompson, edged away over the opening
laps. On lap 2, Fabrizio Giovanardi overtook teammate Farfus
for sixth place. The leading pack had been caught by lap three
due to the battle between the BMWs. Dirk made his move on
Zanardi on the final corner of the lap and was successful
in gaining the lead. The race was so close at this point that
the first 12 drivers crossed the line within three seconds.
Zanardi lost another place in lap 4 as Priaulx demoted him
to third. García and Giovanardi clashed, meaning the
Spaniard fell from fifth to 11th. Giovanardi was overtaken
by Farfus two laps later, while Jörg Muller continued
to make great progress (having started from the pit lane)
by overtaking Alain Menu and Jordi Gené to claim 14th
place. He eventually finished 12th overall, one place behind
Nicola Larini. The latter for the whole race was able to in
touch with the leading pack, and claimed the best result so
far for Chevrolet in the FIA WTCC. Thompson came under siege
from the SEATs on lap 7. Rickard Rydell passed him which forced
the Briton off his line and as a result Plato pushed him off
the track. He rejoined in 14th place but damage to his car
meant he finished in 22nd. Lap 7 contained more breathtaking
moments as Priaulx chased Dirk for his first race win of the
season. As they began lap 8, the gap was just 0.323 of a second.
On the final lap, Farfus tried to overtake Zanardi for third
place but was unable to do so cleanly. Contact was made at
the Acque Minerali and after re-gaining control, Farfus finished
fifth with Zanardi crossing the line sixth overall and first
in the Italian Superturismo race – his second of the
day. Priaulx made a final attempt to take race victory but
went wide and therefore had to settle for second. Balzan repeated
the Independent victory he had in race 1. Thomas Klenke of
Ford achieved exactly the same result as in race 1 by crossing
the chequered flag 17th.
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