ROUNDS 7 & 8 – PAU, FRANCE
RACE 1 REPORT
Weather: sunny with a dry track.
MENU AND CHEVROLET WIN RACE 1
Alain Menu was victorious after leading the field from lights
to flag in Pau. He drove his Chevrolet Lacetti solidly to
turn his second pole of the season into his second win, precisely
like one moth ago in Zandvoort. Yvan Muller came home second
followed by SEAT Sport team-mate Tiago Monteiro who made his
first podium appearance in the championship.
The first corner saw Menu and Muller side my side for Menu
to squeeze through. Mid-pack: Olivier Tielemans suffered contact,
causing his Alfa Romeo to spin sideways and retire. Tielemans’
team-mate James Thompson crossed the line in tenth position
chasing Tom Coronel for ninth for much of the race.
Augusto Farfus, who had his car rebuilt overnight after his
serous accident in qualifying, had a great start promoting
himself from thirteenth to ninth . He closed in on Jordi Gené
and luck was to come his way when on lap twelve Nicola Larini
(running fourth) suffered a puncture and pitted. Consequently
Farfus was eighth until he made a move on the Spaniard to
finish seventh. Gené will line up on pole position
on the reverse grid for race two. Larini’s puncture
meant fellow Chevrolet man Rob Huff passed the chequered flag
fourth. He was followed by BMW drivers Félix Porteiro
and Andy Priaulx. Priaulx – who tried in vain to find
a gap to overtake the young Spaniard – took solo lead
of the championship for the first time this season with 34
points ahead of Jörg Müller’s 31 and Farfus’
30.
The independent category was closely fought with Stefano
D’Aste achieving his first win of the season. Local
driver Anthony Beltoise held the lead for the first half of
the race until both the Wiechers-Sport man and Sergio Hernández
passed him.
BULLET NEWS WARM-UP:
FARFUS IS BACK!
Only a few hours after rolling his BMW 320si at the end of
Saturday’s qualifying session, Augusto Farfus posted
the fastest time (1:23.327) in this morning’s warm up.
This was made possible by the great job done by the Schnitzer
Motorsport mechanics, who worked until 5.00 am to repair the
car and hardly had the time to take a shower before going
back to the track for the 8.00 warm up.
FIVE CARS TO THE BACK OF THE GRID
Five competitors applied for neutralization of the parc fermé
in between the two races in order to repair damages obtained
in the first race: Maurizio Ceresoli, Luca Rangoni, Olivier
Tielemans, Nicola Larini and Alessandro Zanardi. Therefore
they will be placed at the back of the grid for the second
race.
THEY SAID, THEY SAID…
Alain MENU
“Yvan (Muller) had a very good start and we were side
by side at turn one. I saw he would try to go on the outside
at the hairpin but in the end he must have thought better
of it. I was certainly pushing but did take caution at Virage
du Parc Beaumont and Virage Foch so as not to make a mistake.
I was in the lead here in 1986 and a mistake cost me the win
so I was keen to learn from the past. I didn’t have
a strategy but now I have some good points the aim is to get
a couple more in today’s race two to make this a good
weekend all-round.”
Yvan MULLER
“My only chance to win the race was if I was
leading by Virage de la Gare on lap one. This wasn’t
the case so I had to get on with the race. I drove without
risk but even if I could have caught up with Alain (Menu)
there wouldn’t have been opportunity to overtake. I
was very happy with the tyres over the duration of the race
and all we need to work on now to be more competitive is our
speed on the straight.”
Tiago MONTEIRO
“I’m starting to get used to the specifics
and details of the championship and car. I’m having
fun which is the best way to learn and it helps I have experienced
team-mates. During the race I wasn’t being pressured
too much by anyone so I could save my tyres a bit and I’m
confident in race two I can be quick.”
Stefano D’ASTE
“It was a really fun race, and I enjoyed fighting
with Beltoise and Hernández. The set-up of my car meant
I wasn’t fast in the early stages of the race but things
got better. I was faster than Jourdain but couldn’t
overtake him. Hernández tried to catch me but I did
a good job and kept him away.”
RACE 2 REPORT
Weather: sunny, with a dry track. Crowd: 30,000 over the
weekend.
RACE 2: FARFUS WINS, PRIAULX LEADS
Augusto Farfus claimed his second win of the season. The
Brazilian overtook pole sitter Jordi Gené off the line,
as did Andy Priaulx. The two BMW cars broke away while Tiago
Monteiro came through to claim third position for the second
time today for SEAT Sport.
A pile-up of five cars meant three laps under safety car
conditions. D’Aste suffered a problem at the braking
point of Virage de la Gare and started to spin, this caused
Hernández to collide into the back of him and also
spin. He blocked the hairpin creating a traffic jam in which
Emmet O’Brien, and Miguel Freitas were casualties and
had to retire. Olivier Tielemans and Luca Rangoni also got
caught up in the trouble but continued to finish 16th and
17th respectively. It was by rejoining the race and scoring
five points that Rangoni managed to keep the lead of the Independents’
Trophy by three points ahead of Pierre-Yves Corthals.
Gené crossed the line fifth after, on lap eleven,
he was passed by Félix Porteiro, Tiago Monteiro and
Rob Huff. Porteiro’s car obtained some damage in the
overtaking move and consequently he had to retire.
Yvan Muller and Alain Menu provided some nail biting entertainment
as they raced bumper to bumper. While Muller came home sixth,
the Swiss was overtaken by N.technology’s James Thompson
on the last lap and claimed the last point in eighth.
Another exciting fight saw Monteiro and Huff battling for
third. As soon as the race resumed after the safety car intervention,
Huff managed to pass his Portuguese rival at the hairpin,
but Monteiro reacted and claimed the position back for good
in the following corner, Pont Oscar.
Priaulx now leads the championship with two points from Augusto
Farfus and eleven points from Jörg Müller who failed
to score at the French event. The first non-BMW man in the
championship is Yvan Muller, 14 points adrift.
BULLET NEWS
D’ASTE SPEAKS ABOUT HIS CRASH
After winning the Independents’ class in Race 1, Wiechers-Sport
driver Stefano D’Aste was involved in a dramatic crash
in the second race. “I don’t know what happened.
Maybe something broke on the car after I had a clash with
Zanardi, or maybe it was a puncture. The fact is that suddenly
the car swerved to the right and I found myself spinning and
crashing,” he said.
THEY SAID, THEY SAID…
Augusto FARFUS
“I definitely didn’t expect to win a race today
because at 7pm last night I didn’t know if I could even
start. The guys worked until this morning and I pushed hard
for them today because it was a good way to say thanks. It
was not easy to keep Andy behind me, because he pushed hard
all race. So much has happened this weekend I need to go home
and put everything together in my mind.”
Andy PRIAULX
“I’d like to say a slow start to the season was
the plan but it wasn’t. However, now we are more competitive
and our progression is increasing confidence among the team.
I’d love to win a race and I was close to Farfus but
the championship means more to me than one win. A victory
will come because I know I can do it.”
Tiago MONTEIRO
“It’s been an amazing weekend and I’ve
had a very good and balanced car throughout. To start sixth
on race two was a good opportunity to score points. At every
chance of overtaking I had to weight up whether it was worth
it, and in the end I was able to capitalise on other people’s
mistakes.”
Pierre-Yves CORTHALS
“It’s been a difficult weekend for me because
I damaged my undertray yesterday which meant the car wasn’t
set up right in Race 1. Race 2 was much better and when D’Aste
crashed in front of me I was able to pass through. My second
win of the season is really good for me and the team to build
on.”
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