ROUNDS 15 & 16 PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING
Weather: sunny, with a dry track.
PRACTICE 1 – ALFA ROMEO MEN ARE FASTEST
As the FIA WTCC cars hit the new Istanbul track for the first
time, the Alfa Romeos appear to have found the early pace.
Lap by lap the times were falling, with the top five drivers
eventually running under 2:07.00. These include all the four
Alfa Romeo men with Gabriele Tarquini heading the pack and
the only driver to enter the 2 minute 5 second zone. His time
of 2:05.963 was posted with five minutes of the session remaining.
Team-mate James Thompson was at the top for a long period
but in the end his best time was 0.301 of a second off that
of Tarquini. The Alfa drivers were split by Team Oreca Playstation
driver, Stéphane Ortelli’s 2:06.379 who shot
towards the top of the table in his final laps. Fourth and
fifth best times went to Fabrizio Giovanardi and Augusto Farfus.
Jordi Gené continued to impress in the new SEAT León
as he set the sixth fastest lap. The best of the BMW drivers
was Dirk Müller, his time of 2:07.114 placed him 7th
quickest with team-mate Jörg only 0.041 of a second behind.
Thomas Klenke took to the track well in his Ford Focus as
he was an encouraging 10th. The Chevrolets did not have such
a great start however as their best result came from Nicola
Larini in 16th. The best of the independent competitors was
Stefano D’Aste, 13th quickest overall while local man
Erkut Kizilirmak was at the back of the pack. Carl Rosemblad
completed only 4 laps before spinning off at Turn 1 and being
stranded into the gravel trap.
PRACTICE 2 – ORTELLI POST THE BEST LAP
Stéphane Ortelli, at the wheel of his Team Oreca SEAT
Toledo Cupra, emerged as fastest during the second free practice
session. The driver from Monaco posted a lap time of 2:05.806
in the final minutes and demoted Gabriele Tarquini to second
by beating his time by 0.143 of a second. Just as in the first
session, James Thompson was right behind his Alfa Romeo team-mate
as he was third fastest, while SEAT Sport’s Jordi Gené
repeated his good pace to set the fourth best time. The Alfa
Romeo cars of Fabrizio Giovanardi and Augusto Farfus were
5th and 6th quickest respectively while the two BMW Team Deutschland
drivers Jörg and Dirk Müller slot in the next two
positions. Thomas Klenke of Ford Hotfiel Sport continued his
good results on the Turkish track by completing the 11th fastest
lap just 1.271 of a second off the top pace. Nicola Larini
was again the best of the Chevrolet drivers improving to 13th
quickest.
Adriano De Micheli’s best lap in his Honda Accord was
16th quickest overall and the best of the independent drivers.
Fellow independent competitor, Tom Coronel only completed
5 laps as his GR Asia SEAT car had undergone an engine change
in between the sessions.
QUALIFYING – ALFA ROMEO QUARTET ON TOP
Alfa Romeo stormed the qualifying session to claim both the
front rows on tomorrow’s grid. Gabriele Tarquini will
be on pole position with Thompson to join him at the front,
then Augusto Farfus and Fabrizio Giovanardi will line up right
behind. Immediately Thompson went to the top of the time sheet
with a 2:05.128 lap - faster than any of the times posted
in the practice sessions. After ten minutes however, it was
Farfus’ turn to occupy the top spot before, nine minutes
later, Tarquini set a fantastic 2:04.525. It is incredibly
close at the top as all the Alfas are within just half a second
of each other.
Behind the red pack there are two SEAT cars. Stéphane
Ortelli achieved a time of 2:05.118 to take fifth place, while
Peter Terting came through towards the end of the session
to post the sixth best time. The fastest of the BMW drivers
was Andy Priaulx who clocked the 7th quickest time on his
penultimate lap. Behind the Briton sits another SEAT duo in
the form of Jordi Gené and Rickard Rydell with 8th
and 9th grid spots. Championship leader Dirk Müller posted
the 10th fastest lap, while his team-mate Jörg, 14th
fastest, had his times disallowed for not stopping at the
weighing scales.
The bid to be the best independent was fought between Carl
Rosenblad and Adriano De Micheli. During the session both
drivers made it into the top ten but it was De Micheli of
JAS Motorsport who was eventually quicker. With just 2 minutes
remaining he completed a lap in a brilliant 2:05.644 making
him 11th overall on the starting grid.
12th position went to Nicola Larini in his Chevrolet Lacetti
and team-mate Alain Menu appeared to have made some progress
as he was 15th overall. Rob Huff, the final Chevrolet driver
did not take part in the session as mechanics were working
to fix the flywheel of his car.
Thomas Klenke failed to emulate the results he had in practice
sessions and will start from 20th with Ford Hotfiel Sport
team-mate in the position ahead. Tom Coronel will occupy the
24th spot, having been demoted due to an engine change, with
only Jörg Müller behind him.
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