ROUNDS 13 & 14 RACE REPORT
Weather: overcast, with a dry track. Attendance: 46,000.
ANDY PRIAULX BACK IN THE LEAD WITH A 9-POINT MARGIN
Jörg Müller of BMW Team Germany and Robert Huff
of Chevrolet shared victories in the seventh meeting of the
2006 FIA WTCC. Huff’s result makes it nine different
winners so far this season.
However Andy Priaulx of BMW Team UK emerged as the actual
winner of the weekend. The reigning world champion collected
a 5th and a 2nd that, due to the fact that James Thompson
did not score, resulted in Priaulx reclaiming the championship
lead with a 9-point margin ahead of Thompson.
But the title fight is still wide open, with three meetings
to go and 60 points to be awarded. Eight drivers are covered
by only 17 points, from Priaulx (58) down to the Rydell-Tarquini
duo (41).
In the Manufacturers Championship the battle is even closer,
with BMW edging SEAT by one.
In front of a record crowd – the largest for a car
race since the new circuit was inaugurated in 1987 –
the WTCC drivers staged in a great show, plenty of overtaking
and clashes.
The FIA WTCC will resume in Istanbul, Turkey, on September
23rd and 24th.
RACE 1 – JÖRG MÜLLER LEADS BMW 1-2
Jörg Müller claimed his second victory of the season
after promoting himself two positions off the line and taking
the lead into the first corner. He then drove solidly to finish
ahead of Alessandro Zanardi for BMW and Yvan Muller for SEAT.
Pole man Gabriele Tarquini didn’t survive the first
lap after contact was made with Andy Priaulx entering a corner,
sending the Italian wide and into the gravel where he could
not resume. The Stewards considered the collision a normal
race incident.
Augusto Farfus too went off on the first lap. At the start
his Alfa Romeo 156 and Duncan Huisman’s BMW 320si made
contact to avoid Rickard Rydell’s car, stalled with
an engine problem.
Drama in the first lap continued when Priaulx was overtaken
by Yvan Muller and Jordi Gené for 3rd and 4th. The
battle between Gené and Priaulx continued throughout
the race creating some superb entertainment. The SEAT man
defended to the end though and crossed the line 4th and 0.448
seconds ahead of the reigning champion.
Another fight for positions was being contested slightly
further down the field. In the opening lap Alain Menu overtook
Tom Coronel for 6th. The latter appeared to be closing the
gap until lap 4 when Menu edged away. Persistence was a virtue
for Coronel however as he eventually re-gained 6th position
on the last lap, also winning the independent race.
Menu passed the chequered flag 7th with his Chevrolet team-mate
Robert Huff in the position behind. Huff impressively worked
his way through the pack after starting 24th on the grid.
The reward for his efforts was pole for Race 2. Just missing
out on the points was Dirk Müller. On laps 6 and 7 he
and independent driver Luca Rangoni from Proteam Motorsport
jostled for 8th position. It was top class racing but neither
of them secured the position as Rangoni made a mistake and
strayed off into the gravel and Dirk was soon overtaken by
Huff.
RACE 2 – FIRST VICTORY FOR ROB HUFF
Robert Huff was victorious in the FIA WTCC for the first
time. At the wheel of his Chevrolet Lacetti he led the race
from start to finish. Fellow countryman Andy Priaulx came
home second. Yvan Muller claimed the third podium spot after
an action-packed last lap.
Rickard Rydell’s and Maurizio Ceresoli’s SEAT
cars were both missing from the grid. At the start Jörg
Müller jumped from 8th to 5th and then proceeded to overtake
Tom Coronel for 4th. Yvan Muller also overtook his fellow
SEAT driver to lye 5th. Jörg appeared to have a second
podium appearance in his sights as he was racing side by side
with Alain Menu. On lap 4 the pair had a clash and Menu went
off and eventually retired. This allowed Zanardi to move up
to 3rd (he had previously overtaken Coronel and Yvan Muller)
while Jörg slotted back in 5th place behind Yvan Muller.
Coronel dropped down the field over the next few laps and
eventually came to a halt off the track at turn 5 due to an
engine problem. This meant that the independent win went to
Stefano D’Aste of Proteam Motorsport who finished 11th
overall, with his own team mate Luca Rangoni and Maurer Motorsport’s
newcomer Vincent Radermecker immediately behind.
The penultimate lap saw Yvan Muller chase Zanardi for 3rd
spot. Coming out of the pit straight the pair collided and
Zanardi shot across onto the gravel. With this action happening
Jörg mounted a final challenge on Yvan Muller out of
the last corner but to no avail. He finished 4th ahead of
his BMW Team Germany companion Dirk Müller. Jordi Gené
and Peter Terting claimed 6th and 8th positions separated
by Nicola Larini. Gianni Morbidelli crossed the line 14th
which was the best of the Alfa Romeo squad.
Investigations regarding the collisions between Y. Muller
and Zanardi and between J. Müller and Menu resulted in
no further actions; while Rangoni was considered guilty of
colliding with Sharp and was given a penalty of 5 positions
on the starting grid for the next race; however the penalty
is suspended for the next two race meetings.
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