ROUNDS 15 & 16 RACE REPORT
Weather: sunny and hot, with a dry track. Crowd: 21,000 in
the weekend.
ALFA ROMEO DRIVERS WIN BOTH RACES
PRIAULX IS THE NEW CHAMPIONSHIP LEADER
Alfa Romeo drivers literally dominated the two races at the
Istanbul Park today, and finished 1-2 in both the 15th and
16th FIA WTCC rounds. In Race 1 Fabrizio Giovanardi and James
Thompson crossed the line first and second, while their team
mates Gabriele Tarquini and Augusto Farfus suffered from flat
tyres on the last lap while they were lying second and fourth.
They both made up for it in the second race, with Tarquini
claiming his second victory of the season from Farfus.
Two BMW men completed the podiums: Andy Priaulx was third
in Race 1 and the amazing Alessandro Zanardi added a third
place to the win he claimed three weeks ago in Oschersleben.
The Müllers had a difficult weekend, as they were both
involved in collisions during the first race. Jörg remained
scoreless and Dirk managed to claim a fifth place in the second
race that might prove crucial in the title fight.
After the results of the Turkish event, three drivers are
in a close fight to become World Champion: Andy Priaulx, Dirk
Müller and Fabrizio Giovanardi, all covered by only four
points. Among them Priaulx, the winner of the 2004 FIA European
Touring Car Championship was the big winner today, as he managed
to steal the leadership by one point from Dirk, who had topped
the point table since the very first race of the season in
Monza. The Manufacturers Championship is also wide open, as
Alfa Romeo managed to cut their gap from 29 to 15 points behind
BMW.
RACE 1 – GIOVANARDI WINS FROM THOMPSON AND
PRIAULX
What looked set to be an Alfa 1-2-3-4 from lights to flag
was not to be, when on the last lap both Tarquini and Farfus
suffered front right tyre failures. The former was lying 2nd
behind the eventual race winner Fabrizio Giovanardi, when
he went wide and continued at a slow pace to cross the line
in 7th. Farfus’ problem was far more evident as parts
of his tyres came flying off with the remaining rubber ripping
the bodywork. But the Brazilian determinedly finished the
race in 8th to begin Race 2 from pole. With two of the Alfas
out, BMW man Andy Priaulx was left to pick up the final podium
position behind Thompson.
At the start Priaulx squeezed between the SEAT cars of Ortelli
and Terting to jump up to 5th. Within a matter of seconds
Ortelli went wide at a corner and clashed with Terting as
he re-joined the track, both retired to the pits later in
the race.
Dirk Müller’s cars was also involved and damaged.
A further incident occurred during the first lap as Hennerici
and Larini made contact collecting Jörg Müller on
the way. On lap two, García overtook Gené to
claim 7th and Zanardi overtook Dirk Müller for 9th. Meanwhile,
the four Alfas were pulling away with Giovanardi 2nd until
lap 3 when he overtook Tarquini for the lead.
After making fantastic progress at the opening stages, Coronel
came from the back of the grid to challenge Menu for 11th
spot. However the Dutchman retired with an engine failure,
just like his Turkish team-mate Kizilirmak. Ahead of them,
García mounted another attack on a SEAT, overtaking
Rydell for 6th. Over the next two laps García continued
his rapid pace and eventually got past Priaulx for 5th. However,
Priaulx reclaimed the position from García on the last
lap.
Lap 9 saw Menu battling with Rosenblad. The Chevrolet man
took 11th from the Swede and eventually finished 10th as Gené’s
SEAT León was the third car that suffered a tyre failure
and dropped from 8th to 17th in the closing seconds. All was
not lost for Rosenblad however as 11th was good enough for
him to claim the independent win.
RACE 2 – ZANARDI ON THE PODIUM AGAIN
Alfa Romeo encored in the second race as they achieved another
1-2 result. This time however it was Gabriele Tarquini who
took victory, with Farfus just 0.263 of a second behind. Zanardi
made his second podium appearance of the season as he fought
off challenges and maintained 3rd position for the entire
race.
Funke’s Ford and the two GR Asia SEAT cars of Coronel
and Kizilirman did not make the grid after their engine failures
in the first race. Farfus began from pole but was overtaken
by Tarquini on lap 1. Lap 2 saw Giovanardi pass Thompson for
6th and Dirk Müller overtook Menu for 9th. Cirò
then challenged for 9th spot but Menu kept his ground.
Rydell and García were racing side by side and it
was not long before the SEAT driver lost 4th position. On
lap 3, both García and Giovanardi passed him. Shortly
afterwards, Giovanardi attempted to overtake Zanardi and García
went round the outside of the pair. Contact ensued, sending
García spinning off the track where he remained, while
Giovanardi managed to continue. Dirk overtook Priaulx on lap
4 with the Briton subsequently loosing positions to Rydell
and Menu to finish 9th and just out of the points. At one
stage the racing was so close for the final point position,
Rydell’s SEAT, Menu’s Chevrolet and Priaulx’s
BMW were within one second of each other. It was eventually
Menu who finished 8th with Rydell 0.129 of a second ahead.
In lap 5 Giovanardi regained the positions he had lost in
the incident with García, but not for long. Rydell
was overtaken by Dirk who continued his fight through the
field and followed Thompson as they passed Giovanardi, demoting
him back to 6th. Dirk finished the race in 5th while Rydell
headed the SEAT Sport drivers with a 7th place finish.
Farfus and Tarquini, who had broken away from the rest of
the field had their own battle on the final lap as Farfus
took the lead for a matter of second’s before his team-mate
pulled back ahead coming into the home straight and secured
his second victory of the season.
Cirò had lead the independent category for most of
the race and was in a brilliant 10th position when he was
hit by Terting on the last lap. This caused him to spin and
lose four places while Hennerici went on to claim the Independent
win finishing 11th overall.
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