ROUNDS 7 & 8 - PAU, FRANCE
RACE 1 REPORT
THE SUN SHINES FOR FARFUS AND BMW
The sun was shining for the first WTCC race in Pau this morning.
BMW Team Germany's Augusto Farfus led the drivers out on the
first lap and carefully negotiated the first few corners,
keeping the SEAT cars behind him. However, as they reached
Turn 3, the problems began behind the top six.
After a pile up that involved most of the field at the Virage
du Lycée, the race was suspended while the track was
cleared up and then resumed behind the safety car.
Pierre-Yves Corthals (who was involved in the Turn 3 pile
up) and Oscar Nogués, the Independents' Trophy pole
sitter (who had crashed after the start) did not make the
grid.
Again Farfus made the best start and led safely, building
a big gap of 10 seconds by lap 10 and eventually winning by
a margin of nearly 18 seconds. SEAT driver Yvan Muller followed
him into second place. His team mate Jordi Gené took
third position only two tenths behind Muller by the end. However
he had to defend his position from a charging Robert Huff
who pushed his Chevrolet up to fourth position, and was chasing
the podium. Huff started the race from sixth position but
during the race overtook Rickard Rydell and then Gabriele
Tarquini who finished sixth and fifth respectively.
Chevrolet's Nicola Larini overtook Andy Priaulx for seventh
position, pushing the British driver to eighth place. However
the latter will now start on pole for the second race, opening
the possibility for a successful BMW weekend.
In the Independents' class the competition was wide open.
Laurent Cazenave led them to victory in his home race at the
wheel of the Wiechers-Sport BMW 320si, followed by Sergio
Hernández who won the fight for second with Stefano
D'Aste and Franz Engslter who finished third and fourth respectively.
After today's first race, Yvan Muller reduced his gap to
the championship leader Gabriele Tarquini to four points.
Rickard Rydell and Jordi Gené complete a SEAT quartet
on top of the classification. Robert Huff has matched Andy
Priaulx' score and he is now the first non SEAT driver in
the championship.
FIRST LAP PILE-UP AT LYCÉE
A domino effect occurred as the field reached Turn 3. Alain
Menu was punted by Alessandro Zanardi who had been bumped
by Tiago Monteiro who had been pushed by Félix Porteiro.
The cars were so close that it was not possible to determine
who had started it all.
This caused a pile up and all the middle and back fielders
were forced to stop because the track was blocked.
RACE 2 REPORT
ANDY PRIAULX REIGNS IN THE RAIN
The heavens opened in Pau so that Race 2 was in complete contrast
to the first. The drivers were forced to start the race behind
the safety car on an extremely wet track. After the safety
car came in at the end of lap 3, Andy Priaulx led the pack
into the rain in the BMW Team UK car. Experience seemed essential
in this race as the reigning world champion drove faultlessly
to claim his first win of the season and making it a double
victory for BMW after Augusto Farfus' in Race 1.
Priaulx held off a charge from Chevrolet's Nicola Larini
who kept close to the Brit throughout the race, and SEAT drivers
Rickard Rydell and Gabriele Tarquini who took third and fourth
spots respectively.
Robert Huff rounded off a strong weekend for him in fifth
position, ahead of Farfus, who passed Yvan Muller and Jordi
Gené earlier in the race to take sixth position.
The final points went to Muller (seventh) and James Thompson
(eighth) who scored his first point at the wheel of the N.technology
Honda Accord. Thompson fought his way past Jörg Müller
to gain the single point.
Further back the race had a few incidents as Sergio Hernández
went wide at Turn 2 while leading the Independents' class,
allowing Stefano D'Aste to take the lead. Also at Turn 2 Alessandro
Zanardi had a perilous moment when he slid down the pit straight
into a spin. He was none the worse, but he and Müller
(who moved out of his way) lost places to Tom Coronel. For
the rest of the race Müller seemed unable to get round
the corner without going straight as he went off more than
once, and rejoined. He lost places to Coronel and Tiago Monteiro
in the SEATs, and finished out of the points.
Alain Menu failed to finish the race when he clipped the barrier
at Turn 8 and put his Chevrolet, bonnet first, into the tyre
wall. He limped back to the pits but was unable to continue.
Gené had to pit and struggled to finish the rest of
the race, ending it a lap down on the leader. Race 1 winner
of the Independents' class Laurent Cazenave did not finish
after a collision with Franz Engstler at Turn 4.
This left the class open for a fight between Hernández,
D'Aste and Engstler. D'Aste finally came out on top to take
the win and finish the race fourteenth overall ahead of Engstler
and Oscar Nogués.
Tarquini increased his lead in the championship table to 45
points and is chased by fellow SEAT Sport drivers Muller (38)
and Rydell (37). Priaulx climbed to fourth and reduced his
gap to the lead to 12 points.
The championship will resume on 15th June at Brno, Czech Republic,
for rounds 9 and 10.
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