FIA WTCC newsletter 09_2008
52 TONNES OF FOOD COLLECTED IN CURITIBA
The WTCC Race of Brazil, which took place last Sunday in
Curitiba, again made a contribution towards the aid of the
starving people of Brazil.
Like in 2007, together the City Hall of Curitiba; KSO, the
championship promoter; HSBC and TIM, partners of the event,
offered free tickets to the public in exchange for two kilograms
of food.
52 tonnes of food (compared to last year's 24) were collected
throughout the campaign and donated to the charity society
Instituto Pró-Cidadania de Curitiba, who will distribute
the food to those in need.
On Sunday morning, in front of absolutely packed grandstands,
the Mayor of Curitiba Beto Richa; the Chairman and General
Manager of KSO Jacques Behar and Marcello Lotti; and the Markerting
Director of HSBC Glenn Valente, presented a board symbolizing
the success of this humanitarian initiative to Mrs Fernanda
Richa, president of the charity institute.
This will now result in the distribution of more than 300,000
meals.
DRIVERS SUPPORT GREEN CAMPAIGN
The first round of the 2008 season in Curitiba also marked
the beginning of the WTCC's support for the FIA's Make Cars
Green campaign.
Make Cars Green is an international campaign, aimed at reducing
the impact of motoring on the environment. As part of the
campaign, the FIA has launched a public policy Declaration
which calls on the United Nations to adopt the first ever
worldwide target for CO2 emissions in passenger cars. Make
Cars Green also outlines how policy makers, industry and consumers
can all play a constructive role in the development of a more
ecologically sustainable means of personal mobility in the
future.
In Curitiba all the WTCC drivers posed for a group photo
to support the campaign. Their World Rally Championship colleagues
have done the same in Mexico, and the Formula One competitors
will do it next week in Australia.
BRAZIL REVIEW - SEAT'S DOUBLE VICTORY
SEAT Sport team opened the 2008 FIA WTCC with a double victory
at Curitiba, in front of a crowd of 45,000.
The León TDI cars won both races: in the first one
pole sitter Yvan Muller crossed the line first followed by
his team-mate Rickard Rydell, while Gabriele Tarquini - on
his 46th birthday - resisted the charge of BMW's reigning
champion Andy Priaulx in the second race.
As a consequence of these results, Muller and Tarquini are
equal with 14 points on top of the Drivers' Championship,
while in the Manufacturers' Championship SEAT lead by 8 ahead
of BMW.
BMW drivers Priaulx, Jörg Müller, Augusto Farfus
and Félix Porteiro made life tough for their fellow
SEAT competitors and collected three podium results: Müller
third in Race 1 (after Farfus' exclusion for a technical infringement),
Priaulx and Porteiro second and third respectively in Race
2.
Chevrolet suffered a nightmare weekend. Alain Menu's dramatic
shunt in qualifying - from which he escaped unharmed - seemed
to be an omen and all three Chevrolet men (Robert Huff, Nicola
Larini and Menu) were eliminated in collisions during the
first race. The second race was not much better: only Larini
made it to the end, but out of the points.
In the Independents' Trophy, Olivier Tielemans scored two
victories on his first appearance in the Wiechers-Sport BMW.
YOKOHAMA PARTNER OF SPEED RACER
During last week's WTCC event in Curitiba, Yokohama exhibited
the Mach 5 car that will star in the new Warner Bros movie
'Speed Racer'.
The movie, written and directed by Andy and Larry Wachowski
(creators of 'The Matrix') will be released from May 9th,
2008.
'Speed Racer' stars Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci, Matthew
Fox, John Goodman, and Oscar winner Susan Sarandon; the movie
is based on the classic series 'Mach Go Go Go' created by
Japanese anime pioneer Tatsuo Yoshida.
Yokohama will exhibit the Mach 5 car at various other WTCC
events this year.
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