ROUNDS 11 & 12 RACE REPORT
Weather: sunny and windy, with a dry track. Attendance: 76,000
over the weekend, 48,000 on Sunday.
DOUBLE TRIUMPH FOR ALFA ROMEO, AS THOMPSON GRABS
THE LEAD
Alfa Romeo cars clearly dominated the FIA WTCC Mexican weekend.
N.technology’s three drivers claimed two 1-2 finishes
for the Italian manufacturer, results that propelled Augusto
Farfus back in the fight for the title. The Brazilian driver
is now on equal points with Andy Priaulx, and they are only
three points behind James Thompson, who grabbed the lead thanks
to a couple of fifth places. The Championship is still wide
opened with six drivers, representing three manufacturers
(SEAT, BMW and Alfa Romeo) covered by only 9 points.
In the first race the limelight shone on two young drivers,
Salvatore Tavano who claimed his first WTCC victory, and Ryan
Sharp, third overall in the JAS Motorsport independent Honda
Accord.
The second race saw Farfus jumping ahead of his team-mate
Gianni Morbidelli to clinch his second win of the season;
while another independent, Tom Coronel, seemed able to challenge
Rickard Rydell for third before being slowed down by a technical
problem.
Dirk Müller and Priaulx saved BMW’s honour on
a track which is clearly more favourable to the front-wheel-drive
cars. As for Chevrolet, they had a black weekend. The only
consolation was that Robert Huff, hospitalized in Puebla after
his Race 1 crash, was discharged a few hours later after being
given a clear bill of health.
The FIA WTCC will resume in Brno, Czech Republic, on September
2nd and 3rd.
WARM-UP – RYDELL DEMOTED, TAVANO ON POLE
After qualifying first yesterday, Rickard Rydell blew his
engine during the warm-up session, he was therefore demoted
10 grid positions thus handing pole to Salvatore Tavano.
RACE 1 – A DOUBLE FOR ALFA ROMEO
Alfa Romeo claimed a 1-2 victory in Race 1 with Salvatore
Tavano leading all the way. Augusto Farfus came from 4th on
the grid to finish second. The podium was completed by Ryan
Sharp of JAS Honda who had to defend hard to keep fourth placed
and fellow independent driver Tom Coronel at bay. Rickard
Rydell crossed the finish line 8th and started Race 2 from
pole.
The opening lap saw a severe accident involving Rob Huff
and Duncan Huisman. Huff crashed hard into the wall of the
new banking, Huisman then hit the rear left side of the Chevrolet.
With the car stranded on the track and Huff unable to get
out, the race was suspended after two laps. After Huff was
put in an airambulance and his car was towed away, the rolling
re-start took place behind the safety car.
On the re-start Farfus and Sharp fought for 2nd position
and Tom Coronel and Yvan Muller fought for 4th. Lap 5 saw
Alessandro Zanardi and Yvan Muller make contact which resulted
in the Italian drop down to 21st. Despite escaping the incident,
Yvan was soon to drop down the field as on lap 8 he had to
observe a drive through penalty for a jump start; this left
him to finish 14th. It was also on lap 8 that Farfus overtook
Sharp for 2nd on the banking of the new section of the track.
Jordi Gené, who was lying 5th, was clearly losing
grip and his team-mate James Thompson was able pass him on
the inside of the banking on lap 11. With the Spaniard struggling
in his SEAT, Dirk Müller also went through, for 6th.
Over the final four laps, Tarquini and Morbidelli were fighting.
After some shuffling of position, Tarquini went wide on lap
15th and eventually finished 10th. Morbidelli faired better,
finishing 7th.
Alain Menu achieved the best result from the Chevrolet team,
he passed the chequered flag 12th overall.
RACE 2 – ALFA ROMEO DRIVERS ENCORE
It was double success again for the N.technology Alfa Romeo
team as Race 2 saw another 1-2 finish. Augusto Farfus was
the man who claimed victory after starting 7th on the grid.
He was followed across the line by Gianni Morbidelli while
Rickard Rydell came home 3rd for SEAT Sport.
Rydell and Morbidelli got good starts and did not let the
BMW of Dirk Müller squeeze through off the line. By lap
2 Farfus was already 3rd. On lap 5 he overtook Rydell for
2nd and it was on the next lap that he secured the lead. Just
as in the first race, Alessandro Zanardi and Yvan Muller were
involved in an incident. It happened on lap 3 and both cars
spun off the track, unable to continue. Similarly, neither
of Chevrolet drivers were able to finish; Alain Menu retired
on lap 4 and Nicola Larini on lap 7.
In amongst the action was a battle to be the victorious independent.
Tom Coronel was leading Ryan Sharp in 6th position but the
Scotsman was hot on his tail until lap 5 when the JAS Honda
went out at turn 1. The race was to provide even more challenges
for Coronel because on lap 13, when he was lying 4th after
some competent overtaking, he suffered suspension problems.
The GR Asia man drifted down to 6th but still claimed the
independent victory.
Dirk Müller crossed the finish line 4th and secured
the best result out of the BMW drivers. Despite starting at
the back of the grid due to neutralisation of parc fermé
in-between the races, Andy Priaulx worked through the pack
to salvage 7th position and 2 championship points.
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