FIA WORLD TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP Macau
ROUND 19 - 9 laps RACE 1
Weather: sunny and windy, with a dry track. Crowd: 20,000,
full capacity.
ANDY PRIAULX AND BMW WIN WORLD TOURING CAR TITLES
 Twenty
races, ten countries, twelve race winners but one Champion
– Andy Priaulx. The FIA World Touring Car Champion was
decided on the very last race of the season in front of fully
packed grandstand, and it was to be the 2004 European Touring
Car Championship winner’s day. Priaulx had a dream weekend
after qualifying on pole, and finishing both races in 2nd
position. He could have maybe tried to finish on high note,
winning one or both races, but while his competitors in the
title fight – Dirk Müller and Fabrizio Giovanardi
– were eliminated along the way, the Briton remained
cool and capitalised on his two trips to the podium.
It was the logical conclusion because Priaulx, who scored
only one victory during the season compared to Dirk Müller’s
three and Giovanardi’s four, made of consistency his
trump card, finishing 16 races out of 20 in the points and
ten times on the podium (Dirk did it 6 times and Giovanardi
8).
The other title hopefuls saw their dreams of glory fading
away from the beginning of the event. Giovanardi crashed twice
over Thursday and Friday; a very disrupted qualifying session
placed him and Dirk well behind Priaulx on the grid. The Alfa
man’s title fight was over in Race 1 as a suspension
failure caused him to crash, and in vain he tried to get what
was left of his car back to the pits.
Müller’s lasted a bit longer. Victim of a collision
with Larini at the end of Race 1, when he was in the points,
he then dropped to 10th. His final hopes were lost when his
car smashed into the barriers on the third lap of Race 2 while
trying to recover.
BMW did the double by also winning the Manufacturers’
Championship. A glorious day for the German manufacturer who
had already won the only previous World Touring Car Championship,
held in 1987, with Roberto Ravaglia.
Marc Hennerici, who has led the Independents Trophy from
the very first race of the season, finally clinched the title
surviving the crashes that eliminated his rivals Coronel and
Cirò.
The celebrations for the new champions did not shadow the
great performances put in from Augusto Farfus and Duncan Huisman,
who scored their first victories in the championship. Not
a surprise for the Dutchman, who had already won the Guia
Race three times in the past, but definitely for the young
Brazilian, who had never seen this difficult track before.
RACE 1 – FARFUS WINS, GIOVANARDI CRASHES
 Augusto
Farfus won his first FIA WTCC race at the wheel of his Alfa
Romeo 156. Second place went to Andy Priaulx while Rickard
Rydell completed the podium. The results meant that Priaulx
was leading the championship with 93 points - a margin of
7 ahead of Dirk Müller.
At the start Priaulx got away well but was overtaken by André
Couto at the first corner. Jörg Müller went wide
entering Lisboa bend. He hit the wall, bounced back, collected
Robert Huff and they in turn collected Tom Coronel. The all
of the cars were extensively damaged and blocked the track
resulting in the race being suspended and then restarted under
safety car conditions for one lap.
New regulations meant that one extra lap was added and the
race began after a rolling start. On the straight Dirk Müller
overtook Chevrolet’s Alain Menu for fourth. André
Couto lost control of his car at Lisboa and handed Priaulx
the lead with Augusto Farfus close behind. Lap three saw Fabrizio
Giovanardi stray wide at Lisboa but he did continue. On the
next lap Priaulx was overtaken by Farfus and a tight battle
began for the rest of the race, with Priaulx putting the Alfa
man under great pressure; while Rickard Rydell was closely
chasing them in third position. The Briton mounted many attacks
at the Lisboa bend but without success. Meanwhile, title contender
Dirk Müller, was placed fourth. Giovanardi, the third
man within reach of the championship, lost all chances of
victory when, at turn 16, he crashed due to a broken suspension.
His car was able to move despite the fact it was without its
front right left wheel but the Italian soon ground to a halt.
The final lap saw more drama as Dirk Müller fell from
4th to 10th after an incident. In spite of suffering from
an aching back, after being involved in the pile up at the
start, Stefano D’Aste won the independent race with
11th position overall.
RACE 2 – HUISMAN SCORES ANOTHER WIN IN MACAU
Andy Priaulx claimed the FIA WTCC. Dirk Müller, who
was the only other driver in a position to become champion,
crashed into the Lisboa bend on lap three of the second race
and did not finish. Giovanardi did not start the race due
to the damage obtained in Race 1.
In the race, Duncan Huisman came from third to first off
the start and held onto pole for the entire race while Priaulx
came from 7th to 2nd. Alain Menu claimed 3rd position and
achieved Chevrolet’s first podium. The Lacetti’s
durability was tested however as Menu scraped the wall at
Lisboa for two consecutive laps in the opening of the race.
The corner was not as forgiving for Stefano D’Aste however,
because on lap 2 he crashed and did not continue. James Thompson
also had problems during the second lap and retired to the
pits shortly afterwards.
Lap three saw Carl Rosenblad’s crash, handing the independent
lead to Adriano De Micheli but this was short lived as the
JAS Motorsport man was involved in an accident with Peter
Scharmach, Robert Huff and Marc Hennerici at Fishermen’s
bend. Following this incident, Giuseppe Cirò was the
only independent driver to complete the race. The safety car
was deployed for a period of 4 laps while the four cars and
their debris were cleared. On the penultimate lap Nicola Larini
went straight at Lisboa losing fourth position.
Menu was later excluded by the Stewards because on one litre
of fuel was lest in his car’s tank, compared to the
three required by the regulations.
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