Results FIA WORLD TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUNDS 17 & 18 RACE REPORT
Weather: sunny and hot, with a dry track. Crowd: 52,000 in
the weekend.
SEAT AND BMW SHARE RACE VICTORIES
D. MÜLLER, PRIAULX AND GIOVANARDI WITHIN 5 POINTS
The WTCC Race of Spain provided two breathtaking races to
a large and enthusiastic crowd.
Race 1 turned into another historical landmark for Spanish
motorsport, with a Spanish driver – Jordi Gené
– winning a World Championship race in a Spanish car
– SEAT. The new León, victorious on its only
third appearance on the track. Race 2 provided one of the
greatest spectacles in touring car history. Dirk Müller,
Andy Priaulx and Fabrizio Giovanardi had an immense battle
for the final two podium positions, but their fight was also
pivotal in the bid to be the first FIA World Touring Car Champion.
As it stands, the trio head to Macau for the final meeting
within five points of each other. Dirk leads Priaulx by a
single point and Giovanardi is in striking range. BMW have
claimed a stake on the Manufacturers’ championship,
however their lead of 25 points over Alfa Romeo acts as no
guarantee considering there are 36 points still to play for.
Despite two difficult races today, Marc Hennerici has one
hand on the Independents’ trophy but can’t rest
on his laurels as recent consistency has placed Giuseppe Cirò
15 points behind with 20 still to be awarded.
The final act will take place along the narrow and insidious
streets of Macau, where each little mistake is paid for very
dearly. Dirk Müller and Priaulx will have a small advantage
in points and experience, as the last time Giovanardi raced
there was in the 1988 F3 Grand Prix. And it’s easy to
predict that none of them will give up until the last corner.
RACE 1 – TRIUMPH FOR SEAT AND GENÉ
At their home race, SEAT Sport had two drivers celebrating
on the podium. With a lights-to-flag lead, Jordi Gené
claimed his first win of the season with teammate Peter Terting
crossing the line 3rd. The two SEAT León cars were
divided by Dirk Müller who jumped back to the championship
lead by just two points.
At the start, Dirk sped ahead of Terting but was forced wide
and therefore remained in 3rd position. In the first corner,
Huff and Farfus collided which left the 4th placed Chevrolet
stranded in the gravel and the Alfa Romeo rejoining at the
back after a visit to the pits. Also on the first lap, Giovanardi
was chasing the Müllers with García close behind.
Giovanardi made a move on the inside of Jörg and the
German went wide and dropped four places to 8th. Lap 2 saw
Funke and Hennerici involved in an incident which resulted
in both of them being towed out of the gravel. In the next
lap Jörg began to work his way through the field again
as he overtook Larini. Meanwhile, Terting was being hunted
by Dirk for 2nd position.
Over the next three laps Terting had to defend extremely
hard but Dirk successfully overtook the SEAT on lap 6. Fellow
BMW Team Deutschland driver, Jörg, overtook Tarquini
with Larini and García still close behind. Priaulx
moved up to 4th on lap 9 after passing Giovanardi, and he
held the position determinedly. As the cars crossed the line
into lap 10, there was an extremely tight battle between Jörg
and Giovanardi. The fight ensued but it was Jörg who
crossed the chequered flag one position ahead of the Alfa
man to claim 5th.
On lap 10 Tarquini, Larini, García and Zanardi were
bumper to bumper. Larini overtook Tarquini for 7th. The latter
then pushed García off the track and obtained a drive
30-second penalty after the race which demoted him to 16th.
Marc Carol had a fantastic 10th place result on his first
appearance in the FIA WTCC. Neither of the Ford Hotfiel sport
drivers finished after being involved in separate incidents.
De Micheli of JAS Motorsport was the winner of the independent’s
race. After the implementation of Tarquini’s penalty,
he was 11th overall. Zanardi finished 8th winning pole for
Race 2.
RACE 2 – SOLO FLIGHT FOR JÖRG MÜLLER
Jörg Müller was victorious in the second race of
the day as he cruised across the finish line over seven seconds
ahead of the rest. Behind him though was a spectacular fight.
Fabrizio Giovanardi, Andy Priaulx and Dirk Müller all
are in contention for the drivers’ title and caused
nail biting moments for much of the race. They finished in
the order with less than one second separating them.
Alessandro Zanardi began from pole with Nicola Larini also
on the front row. Off the line Larini was passed by several
drivers. Giovanardi overtook Priaulx, who was then involved
in some contact with Dirk and dropped to 6th after loosing
places to Terting and Larini. Jörg stormed through and
by the end of lap 1 he had jumped from 4th to 1st where he
remained. In lap 2 Dirk overtook Zanardi for 3rd. De Micheli
was fighting among the works drivers in lap 3 as he challenged
Priaulx for 5th but then the Italian independent was involved
in two incidents with Terting and Gené. De Micheli
obtained a drive-through penalty for clashing with the German.
On lap 5 action stepped up a gear as Giovanardi overtook
Dirk for 2nd. While they battled, Priaulx had overtaken Zanardi
and caught up on the pair. Furthermore, over the subsequent
laps, García had also managed to latch on to the front
pack.
On lap 8 Dirk tapped Giovanardi and temporarily lost control
of the rear of his car. This allowed Priaulx to slot into
3rd and the Briton then had Giovanardi in his sights. Priaulx
made a move for 2nd but in fact lost out as Dirk slipped past
him on the inside. The positions did not remain this way for
long however. Lap 8 saw Dirk try to push past Giovanardi but
this was not to be, he was out-braked by Priaulx and then
passed by García. García was swiftly demoted
back to 5th on the next lap though, as Dirk once again focused
on overtaking the BMW Team UK car.
The final two laps provided a spectacular show but the top
four positions remained. Zanardi finished ahead of García
in 5th. Marc Carol put in another impressive performance.
The young Spaniard finished as the best SEAT driver as well
as in the points after crossing the line 8th. Right behind
him was Tomas Engström who claimed the independent win
ahead of Cirò by 0.225 of a second.
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