ROUNDS 9 & 10 - BRNO, CZECH REPUBLIC
RACE 1 REPORT
ZANARDI WINS FROM PORTEIRO
The BMW cars played with their opposition in the first race
at Brno. Taking four of the top five positions the German
manufacturer dominated, with only Alain Menu's Chevrolet in
third to upset the party. Alessandro Zanardi took his first
win from pole position, but it wasn't as easy as that.
At the start Félix Porteiro came up from third to
take the lead into the first corner. Tiago Monteiro clashed
with Gabriele Tarquini, which caused him to fall back down
the grid. Chevrolet's Robert Huff also lost places as the
race began to settle. James Thompson on the other hand had
a good start moving up to sixth to fight with Huff on the
first lap and soon managed to overtake him. During the rest
of the race Huff lost further positions to Yvan Muller, Augusto
Farfus and later Jörg Müller. Another Brit to struggle
in the race was Andy Priaulx who, unlike the other BMW cars,
seemed to lack pace and ended up battling with the independent
drivers in the closing stages.
Zanardi and Porteiro began the race from the front and remained
there throughout, ahead of Menu. However, mid way through
Porteiro was struggling with understeer and handed the lead
to his team-mate who had more speed in his car. The top three
drivers edged out a seven second lead over the rest of the
field by the chequered flag. Farfus and Jörg Müller
who made their way through the field from eighth and fifteenth
to finish fourth and fifth demonstrated the potential of the
BMW cars.
Yvan Muller who was eighth in race 1 will start from pole,
with Thompson alongside him after finishing seventh; while
Gabriele Tarquini saved a sixth place that enabled him to
stretch his championship lead to 11 points.
The Independents' class was fiercely fought. Pierre-Yves
Corthals led them through the first lap but was overtaken
by Franz Engstler and Sergio Hernández, who went on
to fight for the win. Hernández eventually crossed
the line ahead, but only just as he had to weave across the
line to keep the German behind him. Stefano D'Aste crashed
into the barriers on the final lap.
RACE 2 REPORT (See Amendment Below)
TARQUINI AND SEAT HALT BMW DOMINATION
Gabriele Tarqunini held off a charging Alessandro Zanardi
to salvage a valuable victory for SEAT Sport from the weekend
in Brno, and extend his lead in the championship to 16 points
ahead of Yvan Muller.
It was a breathtaking race. Once the start had shaken out,
Yvan Muller held onto his lead from Tarquini in second and
James Thompson in third. Chevrolet's Robert Huff had a good
start up from ninth to fifth, as did BMW Italy-Spain's Félix
Porteiro who ended the first lap in fourth.
Tarquini overtook Muller early in the race, as he appeared
to struggle for pace, and then attempted to build up a healthy
lead, which eventually saved his race. There was a fierce
fight for other point positions as Zanardi, Jörg Müller
and Huff clashed on the track, the latter losing his rear
bumper; Alain Menu managed to take advantage and slip through.
Zanardi moved up to fifth and Müller slipped down the
field ending up finishing eighth. There were further notable
overtaking moves by Menu on Muller, Zanardi on Thompson and
Augusto Farfus overtaking Rickard Rydell and Porteiro on his
way to fourth position.
Zanardi chased down Tarquini, diving up the inside on the
final lap, but having to settle for second position. Huff
overtook Yvan Muller for the final podium place, but had to
fend off Farfus in the final corners. Porteiro recovered from
several clashes to fifth position, having overtaken Yvan Muller
on the final lap, who had to settle for sixth. Menu lost his
third position when he ran wide at a corner and slipped down
to seventh. Jörg Müller scrambled back up to eighth
followed by Andy Priaulx who, again, finished out of the points.
James Thompson ended up in tenth, having begun the race beside
the pole sitter. He lacked the pace of the other cars and
after being past by several cars, he clashed with Porteiro
and fell back down the grid as cars shot past him.
In the Independents' class Stefano D'Aste was leading the
race until Sergio Hernández and Franz Engstler went
either side on the last lap; Engstler and D'Aste clashed and
went out, enabling Hernández to gain his second race
win of the day from Corthals and Romanov.
ROUNDS 9 & 10 - BRNO, CZECH REPUBLIC
RACE 2 - AMENDED RESULTS
HUFF EXCLUDED FROM THIRD PLACE
Robert Huff lost his third place in today's second race at
Brno, after his Chevrolet Lacetti car was excluded by the
Stewards due to a technical infringement: the front anti-roll
bar link did not conform.
The Briton's exclusion promoted Augusto Farfus to third and
the reigning World Champion Andy Priaulx to eighth, meaning
that he retains his fourth position in the drivers championship
behind the SEAT trio of Gabriele Tarquini, Yvan Muller and
Rickard Rydell with a 15-point gap from the Italian.
PENALTIES FOR D'ASTE AND ENGSTLER
Further to incidents occurred during today's second race,
the Stewards also imposed a drop of ten positions on the grid
of Estoril's Race 1 and a euro 1,000 fine on both Stefano
D'Aste and Franz Engstler.
The Italian was judged guilty of a collision with Engstler,
while the latter for hitting Tiago Monteiro.
The championship will resume for rounds 11 and 12 at Estoril,
Portugal, on July 13th.
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