ROUNDS 15 & 16 RACE REPORT
Weather: overcast with a dry track until
the end of Race 1; then a thunderstorm flooded the track and
delayed the start for the second race by nearly two hours.
TARQUINI AND RYDELL CLOSE IN ON PRIAULX
BMW and SEAT shared honours and victories at Istanbul in
the WTCC Race of Turkey.
Alessandro Zanardi of BMW Team Italy-Spain dominated the
first race, claiming his maiden win of the season from SEAT
Sport men Rickard Rydell and Gabriele Tarquini.
The second race was delayed nearly two hours after a thunderstorm
flooded the track and the marshals worked hard to dry up Turn
9. Gabriele Tarquini emerged as the fastest on the wet track
and came from behind to score his first victory of the year,
also the first since he joined SEAT Sport. His team mate Peter
Terting and Chevrolet’s Nicola Larini filled the other
podium positions.
Tom Coronel and Stefano D’Aste claimed one victory
apiece in the Independents Trophy.
The results of the Turkish meeting propelled Tarquini and
Rydell to 2nd and 3rd in the Drivers’ Championship,
only 1 and 4 points respectively behind the leader Andy Priaulx,
who suffered his blackest weekend of the season, and remained
scoreless. Dirk Müller also closed in on the Briton and
lies 4th with a 7-point gap. In the Manufacturers Championship,
SEAT re-took the lead from BMW by 9 points.
However, results remain provisional, pending technical engine
checks on Huff’s Chevrolet, Gené’s SEAT
and Zanardi’s BMW.
The FIA WTCC will resume in Valencia, Spain, on October
7th and 8th.
RACE 1 – ZANARDI CLAIMS DOMINANT WIN
Alessandro Zanardi came home ahead of the rest in Race 1.
After a solid start in his BMW 320si he propelled himself
into the lead entering the first corner. Pole man Rickard
Rydell finished 2nd joined by SEAT Sport team-mate Gabriele
Tarquini on the podium.
At the first corner of lap 2 Andy Priaulx and independent
driver Luca Rangoni made contact which sent the reigning champion
spinning across the track and obtaining damage to the rear
of his car. James Thompson was also caught up in the affair
and both Britons dropped back with Priaulx finishing 14th
and Thompson 17th.
Yvan Muller began from 4th on the grid but had a difficult
race. At the beginning he was being challenged by Duncan Huisman
but held his position for three laps until the battle allowed
BMW Team Germany duo Dirk and Jörg Müller through.
The standings didn’t remain this way for long because
late braking left Jörg and Yvan to run wide with the
former unable to finish and the latter to cross the line 13th.
Dirk Müller eventually passed the chequered flag 4th,
overtaking Duncan Huisman on the last lap.
In the middle of the field there was a five man fight between
three SEATs and the Alfas of Augusto Farfus and Salvatore
Tavano. Farfus and Peter Terting had a brief spell of close
proximity until the German went through to finish 6th and
in the points. Farfus crossed the line 9th. Tavano and Jordi
Gené both ended their races prematurely after colliding
on lap 5. Nicola Larini continued to be the best performer
from the Chevrolet team and stayed out of trouble to secure
7th place, 2 points and a front row start for Race 2.
The action continued over the next laps as a contest to be
the best independent went underway. Luca Rangoni of Proteam
Motorsport managed to overtake Farfus on the inside but Tom
Coronel of GR Asia followed him through. Rangoni then made
a mistake, nearly losing his car which allowed Coronel to
capitalise and secure 8th position. He didn’t let it
go and therefore won the Independent race and started Race
2 from pole. Pierre-Yves Corthals and Stefano D’Aste
finished second and third of the independents.
RACE 2 – TARQUINI SCORES FIRST VICTORY
SEAT Sport achieved a tactical 1-2 in difficult wet conditions
just before dusk at Istanbul. Gabriele Tarquini came from
6th on the grid and claimed victory ahead of Peter Terting
his SEAT Sport team-mate. Terting led the race from lap 2
until the final lap when Tarquini passed him. Nicola Larini
achieved a podium for Chevrolet after a fantastic drive and
some fierce defending against Dirk Müller and Rickard
Rydell on the final laps.
The race was delayed by two hours due to heavy rainfall leaving
turns 9 and 10 flooded and needing to be pumped clear of water
and mud.
At the start Larini took the lead ahead of Terting and Tom
Coronel. The latter went wide at the next corner leaving Duncan
Huisman and Dirk Müller to slot into 3rd and 4th. At
the end of lap one Tarquini looked an unlikely winner as he
was down in 9th after a slight error but fought his way towards
the front over the duration of the race.
Andy Priaulx’s race finished on lap two when one of
his tyres failed. Meanwhile, Terting overtook Larini on the
start/finish straight; a mere 0.075 of a second separated
the two.
The SEAT squad were mounting attacks throughout the field
and Huisman was a casualty as Tarquini, Rydell and Gené
all overtook him on lap five. His demotion was not to end
there as Huff passed the Dutchman on the next lap for 7th.
On the last lap Huff overtook Dirk Müller to finish 6th;
a dedicated effort from the youngest of the Chevrolet drivers
after starting 16th on the grid.
Last in the points was Jörg Müller who put in a
strong recovery from the pit-lane (where he changed tyres
just before the start) to 8th position.
It was Stefano D’Aste of Proteam Motorsport who claimed
the independent victory after overtaking Tom Coronel on the
last lap. The Turkish driver Ibrahim Okyay finished a praise-worthy
14th overall and 3rd in the independent category.
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