ROUNDS 21 & 22 – MACAU
RACE 1 & 2 REPORT
Weather: overcast, with a dry track
PRIAULX AND BMW CLAIM THIRD WTCC TITLE
For the third consecutive year Andy Priaulx and BMW emerged
as the winners of the ultimate fight for the FIA World Touring
Car Championship in Macau.
After two races full of drama in front of fully packed grandstands,
Yvan Muller’s and SEAT’s hopes disappeared on
the penultimate lap of the first race, when the diesel pump
of the Frenchman’s León TDI broke while he was
leading.
From that moment on, everything turned in favour of Priaulx,
who finished eighth gaining a one-point edge in the classification
and the right to start the second race from pole position.
With Muller sidelined for good, only James Thompson was in
a position to threaten the Guernseyman’s attempt to
retain the title. Thompson tried hard and with a fantastic
start jumped Nicola Larini and chased Priaulx closely in the
first laps. But as the race went on, Priaulx created a gap
and eventually Thompson lost second place to Larini.
Priaulx’s triumph and Muller’s dismay meant that
BMW also won the Manufacturers’ Championship with only
a 6-point margin ahead of SEAT. A close call which is testament
to how competitive the championship season was, with BMW,
SEAT, Chevrolet and Alfa Romeo all fighting on an equal level.
Alain Menu won the first race for Chevrolet, claiming his
fifth victory of the season and the seventh for the GM Group’s
brand.
To complete BMW’s lucky day, Stefano D’Aste claimed
the Independents’ Trophy – the second in three
years for the team Wiechers-Sport, while his fellow competitor
Luca Rangoni won both races in Macau, finishing runner up
and giving Proteam Motorsport the Teams’ Trophy.
The FIA WTCC faces a short break now, before the start of
the 2008 season, on March 2 in Curitiba, Brazil.
RACE 1 – MENU WINS, PRIAULX LEADS
Alain Menu was the victor of race one for Chevrolet. Yvan
Muller led the race after the first straight but on lap eight
the SEAT Sport title contender suffered a technical problem
– his engine died without warning – and had to
stop on the track. With Andy Priaulx crossing the line eighth,
he took the championship lead and invaluable pole position
for Race 2.
Gabriele Tarquini came home second. He lost third position
to Augusto Farfus on the first lap but persistently forced
the BMW Team Germany driver to defend. On the last lap Tarquini
seized his opportunity at the exit of Lisboa and went through.
Farfus spun, hit the barriers and did not finish.
Rob Huff got a good start and promoted himself from seventh
to fifth on the first lap. He eventually took third place.
Behind the Briton finished Jordi Gené for SEAT Sport.
James Thompson claimed a solid fifth place, which equated
to third in the title fight. Thompson’s team-mate André
Couto withdrew from the meeting after damage to his Alfa Romeo
obtained during yesterday’s qualifying could not be
repaired by the N.technology team.
Tiago Monteiro and Nicola Larini crossed the chequered flag
in sixth and seventh positions and Priaulx claimed eighth
spot on the final lap. The championship fight was then restricted
to Priaulx (82 pts), Yvan Muller (81) and Thompson (73).
Pierre-Yves Corthals suffered damage to his car at the start,
when he hit the wall at the first corner and therefore was
out of contention for the independent fight. Luca Rangoni
was the best independent finisher in 17th position. Stefano
D’Aste ended the race in second, just ahead of Franz
Engstler.
RACE 2 - PRIAULX WINS RACE AND CHAMPIONSHIP
Andy Priaulx remains world champion. The BMW Team
UK driver led the final race of the season from lights to
flag to claim his third consecutive world title. BMW have
double reason to celebrate as they also took the Manufacturers’
Championship for the third year.
Yvan Muller and Augusto Farfus did not took the start because
their cars were not repairable after the problems (fuel pump
failure for Muller and a collision with Tarquini for Farfus)
they had in the first race.
Off the line James Thompson got a fantastic start to jump
from fourth to second. He continued his rapid speed and overtook
Nicola Larini for second at the Lisboa corner. As the pack
took the same corner Gabriele Tarquini, Rob Huff and Alessandro
Zanardi were casualties. Zanardi and Huff did not rejoin while
Tarquini finished 14th.
Over the next couple of laps Thompson was closely chasing
Priaulx and Larini was also keeping tabs on the pair. Lap
four saw Priaulx edge away while Larini and Thompson were
nose to tail. On lap seven Larini made a stunning move at
the exit of the Mandarin corner to demote Thompson to third.
In the latest laps Larini closed the gap on Priaulx, but
not enough to try an overtaking manoeuvre, while Thompson
had to fight hard to defend his third position – that
also meant third place in the championship – from the
assaults of Tiago Monteiro.
The battle for the points in the final laps saw Jörg
Müller and Jordi Gené dropping down and handing
the 5th place to Tom Coronel who finished ahead of Rickard
Rydell, Félix Porteiro, Colin Turkington and Fredrik
Ekblom who scored the last point as Turkington was not eligible
to do so.
The independent race was won by Luca Rangoni after a tough
battle with Stefano D’Aste and Carl Rosenblad. His victory
was not enough however as D’Aste emerged as the Independents’
Trophy winner by two points.
THEY SAID, THEY SAID…
Andy PRIAULX
“I can’t believe it. I have never given up but
I knew I needed something special this season. I am proud
that I got to the last round with a chance. Yes, you need
luck to win the championship but you also need to be there
to take the luck. Today was my lucky day. I had a bad day
yesterday and I need to thank my team for giving me the motivation
for today. My car and team have always been reliable and that
is a key factor in winning the championship.”
Mario THEISSEN
“It has certainly been the most competitive season so
far. We were in a difficult situation when we arrived here
because we had to be defensive. This was confirmed with our
qualifying results. However, Macau always brings something
special and we pushed until the chequered flag. Nobody could
have expected what happened but our drivers took all the chances
and it paid off.”
Alain MENU
“I am happy and proud of what we have achieved
this season. This weekend has been fantastic although I made
my only mistake of the season in race two. After five race
wins I feel that the next thing I need is to be the world
champion.”
Yvan MULLER
“With one lap to go in the first race my diesel
pump failed. It was the first time it had happened and it
cost us the championship. It is very disappointing for all
the team but we can be proud of our achievement of second
place.”
Gabriele TARQUINI
“It has been a very good season for SEAT but
in the last event something happened and Yvan’s engine
stopped. For me, it was the first time I made it to the podium
in Macau which I am pleased about, but it is unfortunate that
we lost both the Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ championships.”
Nicola LARINI
“Five times I have got second place but still
no win. I thought today would be the day for me to get my
win but I got a bad start with clutch problems. James (Thompson)
got a great start. Monteiro was getting close to me so thought
it was now or never to overtake James at the Mandarin corner.
It was a dangerous but fair move. I tried to catch Andy (Priaulx)
but it was too late in the race.”
James THOMPSON
“People know that our chassis is three years
old and I haven’t driven the car since Monza so a lot
of credit has to go to the team. This season I have driven
with passion and the boys have worked with passion; our achievement
should not be underestimated.”
Robert HUFF
“The first race was really good. I saw how close Augusto
Farfus and Gabriele Tarquini were and held back in case something
happened. I bided my time and when Farfus spun across the
track I managed to narrowly avoid him; I nearly had to come
to a complete stand still.”
Stefano D’ASTE
“I am more than happy because it was a very difficult
year for me with a new car and a new team. At the start of
the season we had a lot of problems understanding the car
and the right way of getting the best out of it. From the
third race things changed and we improved race by race.”
Luca RANGONI
“This season has been a fantastic experience even though
it did not bring us a happy ending. We have proved we are
a competitive team and I am happy I was fighting until the
end.”
2007 FIA World Touring Car Championship
RACE CLASSIFICATION - RACE 1
POS NO CL DRIVER NAT CAR TIME LAPS GAP KPH BEST
1 8 Alain MENU SUI Chevrolet Lacetti 23:10.276 9 142.62 2:33.253
2 11 Gabriele TARQUINI ITA SEAT Leon TDI 23:12.950 9 2.674
142.35 2:32.517
3 6 Robert HUFF GBR Chevrolet Lacetti 23:14.694 9 4.418 142.17
2:33.015
4 9 Jordi GENE ESP SEAT Leon TDI 23:21.601 9 11.325 141.47
2:33.597
5 15 James THOMPSON GBR Alfa Romeo 156 23:24.035 9 13.759
141.22 2:33.657
6 18 Tiago MONTEIRO POR SEAT Leon 23:24.334 9 14.058 141.19
2:33.307
7 7 Nicola LARINI ITA Chevrolet Lacetti 23:24.774 9 14.498
141.15 2:33.366
8 1 Andy PRIAULX GBR BMW 320si 23:25.485 9 15.209 141.08 2:33.336
9 25 Duncan HUISMAN NED BMW 320si 23:25.808 9 15.532 141.04
2:33.409
10 4 Alessandro ZANARDI ITA BMW 320si 23:26.125 9 15.849 141.01
2:33.264
11 88 Rickard RYDELL SWE SEAT Leon 23:26.942 9 16.666 140.93
2:33.261
12 5 Felix PORTEIRO ESP BMW 320si 23:27.602 9 17.326 140.86
2:33.535
13 2 Jorg MULLER GER BMW 320si 23:28.122 9 17.846 140.81 2:33.580
14 27 Colin TURKINGTON GBR BMW 320si 23:28.695 9 18.419 140.76
2:33.757
15 20 Tom CORONEL NED SEAT Leon 23:29.559 9 19.283 140.67
2:33.739
16 14 Fredrik EKBLOM SWE BMW 320si 23:30.144 9 19.868 140.61
2:33.892
17 30 I Luca RANGONI ITA BMW 320si 23:32.256 9 21.980 140.40
2:34.137
18 26 I Stefano D'ASTE ITA BMW 320si 23:34.918 9 24.642 140.14
2:34.618
19 43 I Franz ENGSTLER GER BMW 320i 23:35.685 9 25.409 140.06
2:34.202
20 28 I Carl ROSENBLAD SWE BMW 320si 23:37.282 9 27.006 139.90
2:34.252
21 31 I Sergio HERNANDEZ ESP BMW 320si 23:38.724 9 28.448
139.76 2:34.492
22 22 I Maurizio CERESOLI ITA SEAT Leon 24:01.209 9 50.933
137.58 2:36.196
23 33 I Miguel FREITAS POR Alfa Romeo 156 24:02.778 9 52.502
137.43 2:37.051
24 44 I Andrey ROMANOV RUS BMW 320i 25:26.678 9 2:16.402 129.88
2:41.707
25 46 David LOUIE HKG BMW 320i 25:41.571 9 2:31.295 128.62
2:43.231
26 3 Augusto FARFUS BRA BMW 320si 20:36.784 8 1 LAP 142.51
2:32.576
27 12 Yvan MULLER FRA SEAT Leon TDI 17:59.097 7 2 LAPS 142.91
2:33.181
NOT CLASSIFIED
23 I Pierre-Yves CORTHALS BEL SEAT Leon 16:12.988 2 D.N.F.
45.28
63 I Henry LEE jr HKG BMW 320i 2:56.183 1 D.N.F. 125.05 2:56.183
FASTEST LAP
11 Gabriele TARQUINI SEAT Leon TDI 2:32.517 4 144.45kph 89.76mph
30 I Luca RANGONI BMW 320si 2:34.137 6 142.93kph 88.81mph
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