FIA WTCC NEWSLETTER # 27 – 11 August 2006
FARFUS TO CARRY 80 EXTRA KILOS AT BRNO
One victory and one second place at Puebla may have propelled
Alfa Romeo’s Augusto Farfus back into the fight for
the world title, but they also resulted in the maximum 80
kg handicap the Brazilian youngster must carry in the next
event at Brno. Ten more than the new championship leader SEAT
Sport’s James Thompson. BMW main men, Andy Priaulx and
Dirk Müller are not much lighter, with 60 and 65 kilos
on board.
Farfus’ team-mates, Gianni Morbidelli and Salvatore
Tavano are on extra weight too by 60 and 35 kilos respectively.
A total of 14 drivers are listed to carry ballast in the in
the Czech event, including GR Asia’s independent Tom
Coronel, who claimed a 4th and a 6th in Mexico.
Driver - handicap for results in the previous meetings
- handicap for the championship points - total handicap
Augusto Farfus 20 kg + 40 kg = 60 kg 20 kg 80 kg
James Thompson 40 kg + 10 kg = 50 kg 20 kg 70 kg
Dirk Müller 35 kg + 10 kg = 45 kg 20 kg 65 kg
Andy Priaulx 60 kg – 20 kg = 40 kg 20 kg 60 kg
Gianni Morbidelli 20 kg + 30 kg = 50 kg 10 kg 60 kg
Salvatore Tavano 0 kg + 30 kg = 30 kg 5 kg 35 kg
Peter Terting 40 kg – 20 kg = 20 kg 15 kg 35 kg
Rickard Rydell 20 kg – 10 kg = 10 kg 20 kg 30 kg
Gabriele Tarquini 25 kg – 20 kg = 5 kg 20 kg 25 kg
Jörg Müller 30 kg – 20 kg = 10 kg 15 kg 25
kg
Yvan Muller 20 kg – 20 kg = 0 kg 15 kg 15 kg
Jordi Gené 20 kg – 20 kg = 0 kg 10 kg 10 kg
Tom Coronel 0 kg + 10 kg = 10 kg 0 kg 10 kg
Alain Menu 0 kg + 0 kg = 0 kg 5 kg 5 kg
BMW’S TRADITION: FOUR WINS IN A ROW AT BRNO
The Brno Automotodrom is one of BMW’s favourite racetrack.
In recent years, the Czech circuit hosted four meetings of
the FIA European Touring Car Championship, from 2001 to 2004.
Since the introduction of the current Super 2000 racing cars
Alfa Romeo claimed two victories (Giovanardi in 2002), but
all the following four races went to BMW as Dirk Müller
and Andy Priaulx grabbed one win apiece in both 2003 and 2004.
Priaulx also holds the fastest race lap, 2:11.903; however
the qualifying record for a Super 2000 cars belongs to Rickard
Rydell and his SEAT Toledo Cupra: 2:09.913.
ZANARDI LENDS HIS VOICE TO “CARS” MOVIE
Alessandro Zanardi is among the dubbers who have worked on
the Italian version of Disney-Pixar 3D animated movie “Cars”,
directed by John Lasseter. The BMW Team Italy-Spain’s
driver has lent his voice to the character Guido, a funny
forklift of Italian origin.
WTCC CARS ON THEIR WAY BACK TO EUROPE
The WTCC cars and parts are currently on their way back to
Europe. Packed in 29 containers, they sailed from the harbour
of Vera Cruz, Mexico, on Sunday 6th August on board of the
‘OOCL Faith’ cargo vessel.
Arrival in Antwerp, Belgium, is expected on 28th August;
from there a convoy of 29 trucks will transport the precious
cargo straight to Brno.
Three of the 25 cars that took part in the Brazilian and
Mexican rounds – Andy Priaulx’s BMW, Tom Coronel’s
SEAT and Robert Huff’s Chevrolet – have been sent
back via air freight.
ESTORIL TO HOST SECOND FIA ETC CUP
The Portuguese race track of Estoril will to host the second
edition of the FIA European Touring Car Cup. The event will
take place on October 21 and 22, gathering the best Touring
Car drivers from the major national championships in Europe.
The ETC Cup also marks the return of international touring
cars to Estoril after three years, as the circuit located
30 km West of Lisbon hosted the final round of the FIA European
Touring Car Championship in 2003.
Compared to the first edition, that was held on October 15,
2005 in Vallelunga, Italy, the second European Cup fully adopts
the World Touring Car Championship format: two 30-minute free
practice sessions and one 30-minute qualifying session on
Saturday; 15-minute warm-up and two 50 km back-to-back races
on Sunday. The grid for the second race is determined by the
results of the first race, with the top-eight drivers classified
in reverse order.
Cars of both the eligible categories – Super 2000 and
Super Productions – will race together, with the latter
placed behind the former on the grid.
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