FIA WORLD TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 7 - 14
laps
ROUNDS 7 & 8 RACE REPORT
Weather: cloudy, with a cold wind and dry track Attendance:
34,000 over the weekend.
SIX DRIVERS WITHIN TWO POINTS ON TOP OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP
BMW cars continued their winning tradition at Oschersleben’s
Motorsport Arena, where Andy Priaulx and Jörg Müller
claimed one victory apiece.
The results of today’s WTCC Stihl Race of Germany shook
up the championship classification that is now topped by six
drivers covered by only two points. Priaulx and Yvan Muller
on 33, Dirk Müller and James Thompson on 32, Rickard
Rydell and Gabriele Tarquini on 31. Jörg Müller
is not far behind in 7th position with 28 points.
The situation is also very close in the Manufacturers’
Championship, where BMW re-claimed the lead from SEAT by a
mere three points.
The first race saw Priaulx taking a lights to flag victory
– his third of the season – followed by Dirk and
Rydell.
In the second race Jörg Müller imitated Priaulx,
and claimed his first success of the year, while immediately
behind him Augusto Farfus and Dirk fought a spectacular but
fair duel for the second place.
Unlike two weeks ago in Brands Hatch, the Chevrolet drivers
could not squeeze into the point positions, however Robert
Huff came very close to scoring in both races.
The Independents’ Trophy races were both won by Tom
Coronel, who has built a solid lead in the points.
The FIA WTCC is now facing its first overseas journey; the
championship is heading to Brazil, where rounds 9 and 10 will
take place on July 2 at Curitiba.
RACE 1 – CONVINCING WIN FOR PRIAULX
Andy Priaulx capitalised on his pole start by shooting off
the line and not allowing anyone to get close to him. He passed
the chequered flag first with fellow BMW driver Dirk Müller
0.469 seconds behind and Rickard Rydell following at the wheel
of his SEAT León.
Dirk weaved his way from 6th to 4th before the first corner
and despite some contact with Rydell he managed to keep position.
Farfus and Tarquini were involved in a scuffle in the first
lap with a couple of overtaking moves happening before the
SEAT man went through for 5th, followed by his SEAT team-mate
Yvan Muller. The next three laps saw Priaulx, Thompson, Rydell
and Dirk pull away.
The pack behind was the source of action on lap 5 when Farfus
promoted himself back up to 6th. On the same lap Zanardi passed
Morbidelli for 10th. The nose-to-tail tension continued with
Dirk overtaking Rydell for 3rd on the first corner of lap
6 and then looked set to close the gap between himself and
Thompson. Dirk’s BMW Team Germany companion, Jörg,
also gained a place by passing Yvan Muller for 7th.
Thompson conceded second place to Dirk on lap 8 and was also
passed by Tarquini and Rydell a few laps later to eventually
finish 5th.
The fight was on for the 8th position that meant pole position
for Race 2. Yvan Muller was being put under great pressure
from Zanardi. The Italian mounted an attack on lap 12 but
hit Muller entering a corner. The former spun off while the
latter continued further down the rankings in 11th. This handed
pole to local lad Peter Terting. Farfus finished 6th overall
after spectacularly keeping control of his Alfa Romeo as he
sped across the grass following contact with Thompson. The
Brazilian then narrowly avoided being overtaken by Jörg
Müller.
The three Chevrolet drivers finished in a row with Huff,
Menu and Larini taking 12th, 13th and 14th place respectively.
Tom Coronel was 10th overall and won the Independents’
category.
RACE 2 – FARFUS IN A MÜLLER SANDWICH
Jörg Müller secured his first win of the season
to the delight of his home crowd. He took the lead after a
good start from second on the grid. Augusto Farfus had a solid
race to finish 2nd ahead of Dirk Muller who took his second
podium of the day.
From the pole Peter Terting but had a poor start, which resulted
in him entering the first corner in 4th place. This is where
he remained and eventually finished; the best of the SEAT
drivers. Rydell, Thompson, Tarquini and Yvan Muller crossed
the line in succession occupying 5th through to 8th place.
Winner of Race 1, Andy Priaulx, was overtaken by Huff and
Yvan Muller on lap 2 before Yvan then immediately passed Huff
for 8th and the final point. Huff’s team-mate Menu went
off on lap 3 and did not re-join.
Farfus, who was lying second and sandwiched between the two
BMW Team Germany cars, was applying the pressure on Jörg
but the lead man was unphased. There was no margin for error
however as, at the end of lap 6, the top three crossed the
line within 0.438 of each other. Jörg pulled away slightly
over the remainder of the race leaving Farfus to successfully
fight off Dirk’s attempted challenges.
Tom Coronel completed a positive weekend by securing his
second independent win behind the wheel of his GR Asia SEAT
León. He finished the race 12th overall.
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