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ROUNDS 15
& 16 - OSCHERSLEBEN
RACE REPORT
MENU AND PRIAULX SHARES VICTORIES
Alain
Menu and Andy Priaulx won one race apiece in Oschersleben today. The
Swiss driver gave Chevrolet their first victory on the German track,
while the Briton scored his sixth win of the season and moved further
ahead in the Drivers' Championship. In the two latest meetings, Priaulx
has recovered 38 points from the leader Yvan Muller, reducing his gap to
11, and now he has also jumped ahead of Gabriele Tarquini (who has
scored only 2 points in the three latest races) in second position.
The first race was a Chevrolet show. Rob Huff and Menu took control from
the beginning, but the former was later black-flagged for hitting the
poleman Augusto Farfus at the start. This enabled Menu to claim his
first victory of the year from Farfus and Muller.
In Race 2, Priaulx dashed ahead of the SEAT pair of Michelisz and Nykjćr
and kissed goodbye to the rest of the field on his way to a solo flight.
Farfus and Muller finished far behind him in second and third after
Monteiro was given a drive-through for hitting both Nykjćr and Michelisz.
There was a Danish domination in both the Rookie Challenge and the
Independents' Trophy, with Nykjćr and Kristian Poulsen twice victorious
in the respective categories. In the second race they were also able to
obtain their best results so far in the overall classification: Nykjćr
fourth and Poulsen sixth.
Chevrolet still keeps a solid 55-point lead in the Manufacturers'
Championship ahead of BMW, while SEAT Customers Technology is only six
further points adrift.
The championship will resume for rounds 17 and 18 at Valencia, Spain on
September 19.
MASS
PENALTY FAVOURS PRIAULX
15 drivers were awarded 30-second time penalties for exceeding the
maximum speed of 90 kmh allowed during the rolling start of the first
race.
They were: Coronel, Nykjćr, Michelisz, Poulsen, Hernández, Barth, Gené,
Engstler, Bennani, D'Aste, Romanov and Taniguchi. However, the only
change in the race results concerns Coronel (who slips from fourth to
sixth) and the pair Monteiro-Priaulx who gain one position moving up to
fourth and fifth respectively.
In terms of Championship points, this reduced the gap between Muller and
Priaulx from 13 to 11.
QUALIFYING REPORT
FARFUS
TAKES POLE AS RAIN DISTRUPTS QUALIFYING
Augusto
Farfus (1:38.070) claimed his second pole position of the season at
Oschersleben today, the day after the Brazilian celebrated his 27th
birthday.
As the rain began to fall in Q2 Farfus put in two clean laps to take
pole ahead of Chevrolet's Rob Huff (1:38.176) and his BMW Team RBM
teammate Andy Priaulx (1:38.186).
Norbert Michelisz (1:38.634) was the best rookie in fifth, but will
start 15th after a 10-position grid penalty imposed following the
previous event in Brno.
Stefano D'Aste (1:36.881) was the fastest Independent in 13th ahead of
Sergio Hernández (1:37.282) and Franz Engstler (1:37.309) who finished
14th and 15th respectively.
Q1 - On a
dry track, the drivers were all pushing hard during the first part of
qualifying with Fabio Fabiani spinning through the gravel at the Hotel-Kurve,
Stefano D'Aste losing the back end of his car out of the Bauer-Kurve and
spinning across the track, and Tiago Monteiro bringing out the red flag
after hitting the tyres at the Hoyer-Schikane.
When the session resumed for the final three minutes, Norbert Michelisz
was the big winner moving up to fifth overall and knocking fellow rookie
Michel Nykjćr out of the top ten. Fredy Barth was pushing for a top ten
slot when he spun into the gravel at turn six.
Rob Huff was quickest of the session, his 1:35.518 breaking the lap
record he set in 2008 by 0.16-seconds.
Huff, Gabriele Tarquini, Jordi Gené, Yvan Muller, Michelisz, Alain Menu,
Farfus, Priaulx, Tom Coronel and Monteiro were the drivers going forward
to Q2, but with Monteiro parked out on track only the first nine
competed in the final ten minutes.
Q2 - With
the rain starting to fall, the pressure was on in the second part of
qualifying and Augusto Farfus ended on top due to putting in a couple of
quick clean laps at the start to end 0.106 seconds ahead of Huff.
Farfus was quickest after the first flying laps and remained on top as
the action began behind. Muller ran wide at the chicane and Michelisz
went off at the Mibau Kurve. As the rain began to fall harder Huff ran
wide and collected his teammate Menu as he rejoined with the pair then
both spinning out. Tarquini also hit the barrier at turn five as the red
flag came out.
Despite running off Huff will start second ahead of Priaulx with
Chevrolet's Menu in fourth. Tarquini (1:38.796) will start fifth ahead
of Tom Coronel (1:38.810), Yvan Muller (1:38.869) and Gené (1:39.994)
who made a mistake on his first flying lap.
ROUNDS 13 & 14 - BRNO
RACE REPORT
PRIAULX AND HUFF CLOSE IN ON THE LEADERS
 British
drivers won all today in Brno as Rob Huff took his first victory of the
season for Chevrolet in Race 1 and Andy Priaulx scored BMW's 50th WTCC
win in Race 2.
These results, joint with the bad luck that hit Yvan Muller and Gabriele
Tarquini, meant a big leap forward in the championship classification
for both, Priaulx and Huff
In Race 1, Huff claimed a lights-to-flag victory despite a short safety
car period interrupting proceedings. He crossed the line ahead of
reigning world champion Gabriele Tarquini and his teammate Alain Menu.
In Race 2,
BMW Team RBM's Priaulx came from fourth on the grid to take an extra
special victory at the place where he scored his first win for BMW back
in 2003. Colin Turkington finished second after holding off the charge
from Menu, who obtained his second podium finish of the day.
Yvan Muller did not score this weekend and remained on 199 points with
Tarquini (who retired in the second race) now just 5 points adrift on
194. Priaulx lies third, only 16 points behind the leader, whil Huff is
fourth and reduced his gap to 32.
Darryl O'Young, the young rookie from Hong Kong, dominated the
Independents' category taking two wins. He has now closed the gap in the
standings to Sergio Hernández who still leads. O'Young and Michel Nykjćr
shared victories in the Rookie Challenge that is now led by Fredy Barth.
PENALTIES FOR THREE DRIVERS
The Stewards investigated three different incidents: two in Race 1 and
one in Race 2.
Darryl O'Young was judged guilty of pushing Tiago Monteiro into a spin
during the first race. He received a 30-second time penalty that dropped
him from 8th to 17th and handed the Independents' victory to Kristian
Poulsen.
The same penalty was imposed to Mehdi Bennani for a collision with
Poulsen in Race 2. The Moroccan racer was therefore demoted from 15th to
16th.
Both O'Young and Bennani were also given a drop of 10-grid positions
that will remain suspended for two and one events (respectively).
A drop of grid position was also awarded to Norbert Michelisz for the
collision with Colin Turkington after the restart of the first race. In
this case the penalty will be applied at the next race in Oschersleben.
QUALIFYING REPORT
HUFF SECURES HIS FIRST POLE OF THE SEASON
Britain's
Rob Huff (2:10.860) scored his first pole position since Macau last year
making no mistakes on his final lap to finish 0.338s ahead of reigning
champion Gabriele Tarquini (2:11.198) at Brno. Colin Turkington will
start as best of the independents in third overall for Race 1 in Brno,
while Norbert Michelisz (2:11.436) topped the rookies in sixth overall.
Q1
- Rob Huff led the times as the WTCC cars were making steady progress
during the first qualifying session until Fabio Fabiani continued his
bad day ending beached in the gravel at T5 for the second time this
weekend.
The red
flag came out as his car was moved out of danger while Gabriele Tarquini,
Jordi Gené and Tom Coronel were yet to set a fast lap. With 10-minutes
remaining the session restarted and the field headed back on track. Huff
remained at the top with Tarquini, Menu, Muller, Gené, Farfus,
Turkington, Coronel, Michelisz and Nykjćr going through into Q2.
Andy Priaulx (2:11.761) missed the cut by 0.011s from the Danish rookie
with Tiago Monteiro (2:11.994) also struggling and qualifying in 14th.
Q2
- The
drivers left it late in the 10-minute session but it only took one
flying lap for Britain's Rob Huff to secure his first pole position of
the season ahead of reigning champion, Tarquini. Turkington was the
fastest BMW driver for the second time this season finishing in third
overall, just 0.007s adrift of the Italian.
With the whole field only recording one quick lap each it was Augusto
Farfus (2:11.260) to claim fourth position with Alain Menu (2:11.360) in
fifth.
Michelisz
and Nykjćr were left to fight it out in the Rookie Challenge during Q2
with Michelisz coming out to qualify sixth and Nykjćr (2:11.826) tenth.
Tom Coronel (2:11.528) fast lap was good enough for seventh ahead of
championship leader Yvan Muller (2:11.542) and Gené (2:11.745).
ROUNDS 11 & 12 - BRANDS HATCH
ONE APIECE FOR MULLER AND PRIAULX
Yvan Muller and Andy Priaulx claimed one victory apiece at Brands Hatch
in two extremely close races that also launched Colin Turkington as the
rising star in the WTCC heaven.
In Race 1 Muller and Rob Huff gave Chevrolet a 1-2 finish ahead of
Turkington who managed to steal third place from Alain Menu's third
Cruze, while Gabriele Tarquini scored important points finishing fourth
and Priaulx obtained an eighth place that eventually proved crucial for
the rest of the day.
Priaulx and Turkington scored BMW's second one-two at Brands. In the
12th round of the season, Priaulx crossed the line after 16 laps 0.399
seconds ahead of BMW privateer Turkington of Team ebay Motors, claiming
his fourth victory of the season. It was the triple world champion's
16th career win in WTCC. His fellow BMW Team RBM driver, Augusto Farfus
(BR), dropped back to 13th following a collision with Chevrolet's Alain
Menu (CH), but managed to improve back to eighth over the course of the
race. Behind Priaulx Turkington claimed a brilliant second place from
Tarquini, with Muller in fifth.
After a difficult beginning to his home weekend, Priaulx jumped from
zero to hero, recovering from a 10 position grid penalty that had
demoted him to 16th at the start of Race 1 to the highest step of the
podium.
The championship fight is also very close. Muller leads with 199 points
and has a margin of 23 over Tarquini, while Priaulx is a further 30
points behind. And Huff cannot be discounted, lying 69 points behind the
leader.
Thanks to the 33 points he scored in the overall championship and the
additional points for the category's pole position and fastest laps,
Turkingon made a giant leap forward in the Independents' Trophy. After
only four races, the Ulsterman is second, 11 points behind Sergio
Hernández.
Norbert Michelisz won both races in the Rookie Challenge and ousted
Fredy Barth from the lead.
QUALIFYING REPORT
CHEVROLET'S CLEAN SWEEP IN QUALIFYING
Current
championship leader Yvan Muller (1:32.481) claimed his second pole of
the year to lead a Chevrolet top three in qualifying today. Muller
topped the Q2 session 0.197s ahead of teammates Rob Huff (1:32.678) and
Alain Menu (1:32.828).
Colin Turkington (1:32.842) will start tomorrow's Race 1 in an
impressive fourth overall as best of the independents. Norbert Michelisz
(1:33.261) qualified first of the rookies in ninth.
Q1 -
Qualifying got underway with all but Tim Coronel's BMW 320si that sat in
the garage while his team worked on the car's dampers.
Stefano D'Aste had a spin at Clark forcing Colin Turkington to run off
in avoidance. Despite having his first run blighted, the Ulsterman
posted the seventh quickest time of Q1 to progress into final
qualifying.
Tom Coronel made it into the final shootout in eleventh, despite pushing
so hard he ran wide at Clark curve on his final run, as the number of
cars in Q2 was extended by the Stewards.
Huff lead for the majority of the session but was demoted by teammate
Muller in the final minutes.
Muller, Huff, Menu, Gabriele Tarquini, Andy Priaulx, Tiago Monteiro,
Turkington, Michelisz, Augusto Farfus, Franz Engstler and Tom Coronel
were the drivers going forward into Q2.
Robert Dahlgren's Volvo failed to advance to Q2, as the Swedish driver
posted the 12th best lap, while Brazilian star "Cacá" Bueno qualified
17th in his Chevrolet.
Q2 -
Muller had a big sideways moment at the start of the final shootout
running wide at Paddock Hill and compromising his first flying lap. He
recovered to record the fastest time of the session with his teammates
joining him up the front as the chequered flag came out.
Britain's Rob Huff's last lap was good enough to secure a front row
start for his home race.
Reigning champion Tarquini (1:32.873) qualified fifth ahead of
Guernseyman Andy Priaulx (1:32.973). After making it through to final
qualifying, Tom Coronel (1:33.176) improved his time and posted the
seventh fastest lap. Monteiro (1:33.257) was eighth ahead of Michelisz
in his SEAT León TDI. Farfus (1:33.337) posted the tenth quickest time
ahead of Franz Engstler (1:35.164) in eleventh overall and second of the
independents
ROUNDS 9 & 10 - PORTIMĂO
MONTEIRO
AND TARQUINI MAKE TWO SEAT WINS
Local hero Tiago Monteiro and reigning world champion Gabriele Tarquini
scored one victory apiece in Portugal, making it a perfect weekend for
SEAT Customers Technology.
In Race 1, cheered by his home crowd, Monteiro ended the monopoly of the
three WTCC champions - Tarquini, Muller and Priaulx - who had claimed
all the race wins from the beginning of the season. The Portuguese racer
came back on the WTCC winning podium two years after another home
victory at Estoril, resisting a final charge from Yvan Muller and
Tarquini.
In Race 2, Tarquini put in a dominant performance, annihilating the rest
of the field to achieve his fourth victory of the season. Muller and Rob
Huff completed the podium after a breathtaking battle with Andy Priaulx,
Augusto Farfus, Tom Coronel and Alain Menu.
Thanks to a couple of second places, Yvan Muller maintained his
leadership in the Drivers' Championship. With Priaulx and Huff
non-scorers in the first race, the Frenchman and Tarquini stretched the
gap at the front.
Norbert Michelisz and Fredy Barth shared victories in the Rookie
Challenge, while the Independents' Trophy saw successes for Sergio
Hernández and Darryl O'Young.
The championship will resume for rounds 11 and 12 at Brands Hatch, UK,
on July 18th.
LAST UPDATE - HUFF STRIPPED OF RACE 2 PODIUM
Chevrolet's Rob Huff was stripped of his third place in the second race
following a Stewards decision.
The Briton was under investigation for two different incidents with
Augusto Farfus, one in each of today's races.
After hearing the competitors and watching videos, the Panel of the
Stewards decided to impose Huff a reprimand for the first incident and a
30-second time penalty for the second one. The decision meant that Huff
slipped from third to 22nd in Portimăo's Race 2, while his teammate
Alain Menu inherited third position.
QUALIFYING REPORT
MONTEIRO GRABS POLE FOR HOME EVENT
Tiago
Monteiro claimed his first WTCC pole position since 2007 for his home
event at the Autódromo Internacional de Algarve, today. The Portuguese
driver recorded a quickest time of 1:55.372 despite an earlier collision
with Andy Priaulx's BMW and will start alongside Chevrolet's Yvan Muller
(1:55.425) on the front row for tomorrow's Race 1 ahead of BMW's Augusto
Farfus (1:55.675).
Colin Turkington (1:56.698) ended the session tenth and top of the
independents with Norbert Michelisz (1:55.991) in sixth as the best
rookie.
Q1 - The
drama started early on with local racer Monteiro colliding with Priaulx
at T12 resulting in them both having to return to the pits before
recording a flying lap. Priaulx was straight back out while the SR-Sport
team did some fast work to repair the damage to rear right of Monteiro's
SEAT León TDI, getting him out with half the 20-minute session still
remaining.
Gabriele Tarquini was provisionally quickest with a time of 1:56.097 as
the final seconds saw a jostle for position. Priaulx improved to fourth
to secure his place in Q2 as Muller, on the cusp of being knocked out,
also improved to second in his Chevrolet Cruze. Michel Nykjćr briefly
moved into the top ten before being quickly demoted by Alain Menu on his
final run.
Monteiro's last lap moved him to the top of the timesheets on home soil
ahead of the final shootout.
The top ten going through to Q2 were Monteiro, Tarquini, Muller, Huff,
Farfus, Priaulx, Menu, Gené, Michelisz and Turkington.
The result confirmed reigning British Touring Car champion Colin
Turkington as the best independent on his WTCC debut.
Q2 - In
the final 10-minute session all the drivers left it late with only four
minutes remaining as they recorded their first lap times.
Monteiro was flying, setting a fastest time of 1:55.372, which was not
bettered in the final moments. Chevrolet's Muller was just 0.053 seconds
adrift in second place.
Rob Huff (1:55.934) was the only driver to make any real improvement on
his time to jump up to fifth just behind reigning champion Tarquini
(1:55.709) in fourth. As the final seconds ticked down the order was
confirmed: Monteiro first, from Muller, Farfus, Tarquini, Huff,
Michelisz, Gené, Priaulx, Menu and Turkington.
Rounds 7 & 8 - Zolder
BELGIAN
VICTORIES FOR SEAT AND BMW
SEAT and
BMW shared victories in Zolder, on the first ever visit of the FIA WTCC
to Belgium that was blessed by a crowd of 23,000 despite a cold wind
from the North.
Jordi Gené came home first in Race 1, but it was his team-mate Gabriele
Tarquini who inherited victory after the Spaniard's car failed to pass
the technical checks because the air restrictor did not conform.
Chevrolet's duo of Yvan Muller and Alain Menu completed the podium.
The second race saw one of Andy Priaulx's famous solo escapes from the
pole position on the reverse grid. The Briton rejected the assaults from
Rob Huff and Tiago Monteiro and claimed a much-longed home victory for
Bart Mampaey and his BMW Team RBM.
Thanks to the solid performances posted by their three top drivers,
Chevrolet collected a great deal of points that enabled Muller to
maintain his leadership in the Drivers' Championship (but Tarquini and
Priaulx closed the gap) and the American brand to stay on top of the
Manufacturers.
Norbert Michelisz achieved two wins in the Rookie Challenge - and also
12 further points in the overall championship. These results meant that
the Hungarian youngster is now one point ahead of Fredy Barth in the
Challenge.
Kristian Poulsen claimed his first victory in the Independents' Trophy,
while point-leader Sergio Hernández won the second race.
Tarquini
on Pole
Gabriele
Tarquini (1:38.265) claimed his second pole of the season for SR-Sport
in Zolder after rain brought an early end to proceedings. Teammate Jordi
Gené (1:38.430) will line up alongside him on the grid for Race 1 while
Chevrolet's Alain Menu (1:38.494) will start third.
Norbert Michelisz (1:39.072) finished top rookie in sixth for the
Zengö-Dension Team while local racer Pierre-Yves Corthals (1:39.610) was
top Independent in 13th on his season debut for Exagon Engineering.
After a closely fought Q1 with the top ten covered by less than
0.4-seconds, the drivers only had chance for one flying lap in Q2 before
the heavens opened making it impossible for anyone to improve.
Q1 -
On a dry track Andy Priaulx was quickest out the box with his first time
of 1:39.349 already much faster than any time this weekend so far. As
the times continued to drop, the final minutes saw a jostle for
positions with Michelisz improving on his final run to knock SR-Sport's
Tom Coronel out of the top ten.
Darryl O'Young was in the top ten for the majority of Q1 following his
promising start to the weekend. However, as the top drivers improved
further he ended 14th with a time of 1:39.824. Belgium's Vincent
Radermecker (1:40.003) will start 16th for Chevrolet.
The top ten going forward into Q2 were Menu, Monteiro, Tarquini, Priaulx,
Muller, Gené, Michelisz, Farfus, Barth and Huff.
Corthals clocked the 13th fastest lap, emerging as the best of the
Independents ahead of O'Young and Kristian Poulsen.
Q2 -
The 10-minute Q2 session was over quickly as after eight of the top ten
had only recorded their first flying laps the rain began to fall. All
but the BMW Team RBM cars had set a fast time before the rain fell with
Farfus and Priaulx's decision to wait costing them dearly.
The final order after one flying lap was therefore Tarquini from Gené,
Menu, Muller, Michelisz, Barth, Monteiro, Priualx and Farfus. With the
track now wet Tarquini's second pole position of the season, following
his first at Marrakech last month, was secured
ROUNDS 5 & 6 - MONZA
RACE REPORT
MULLER
AND CHEVROLET JUMP INTO THE LEAD
Monza was
benevolent with Chevrolet that made the most out of today's races on the
Italian superfast racetrack. The blue-and-white cars collected one
victory (with Yvan Muller in the second race), two third places (with
Rob Huff) and a number of points that propelled the Frenchman into the
lead of the Drivers' Championship and the American brand to the top of
the Manufacturers'.
As usual the WTCC races in Monza were extremely exciting and were both
decided on the last laps, when a combination of speed and hot asphalt
took its toll on the leading drivers with of front-left tyres exploding.
Gabriele Tarquini and Huff were fighting for victory in the first race
when they both dropped down presenting an unexpected 1-2 finish to BMW
drivers Andy Priaulx and Augusto Farfus.
The same fate hit Michel Nykjćr on the last lap of Race 2 after he had
created a gap. As the Dane stopped, Muller inherited his second win of
the season and jumped on top of the standings with a 24-point margin
ahead of Tarquini and Huff.
Chevrolet leads the Manufacturers, closely followed by SEAT Customers
Technology and BMW.
Mehdi Bennani missed a great opportunity to take the lead in the
Independents' Trophy. The young North African was stripped of his Race 1
victory for straight-cutting a chicane, and in the second race he
received a drive through for a clear jump start. His problems, combined
with Franz Engstler's engine failure, enabled Sergio Hernández to climb
on top ahead of his team mate Stefano D'Aste.
Fredy Barth scored another victory (his fourth so far) in the Rookie
Challenge, while Norbert Michelisz claimed his maiden win in the second
race.
ROUNDS 3
& 4 - MARRAKECH
TARQUINI AND PRIAULX SHARE VICTORIES
Gabriele Tarquini and Andy Priaulx shared victories today in Marrakech,
coming home safe after two races that were spoiled by a number of
crashes and safety car periods.
In the first race the reigning world champion and his SEAT León TDI car
took the lead at the start and benefitted from the fight for second to
build a small gap that proved crucial the moment that the race was
frozen by the safety car for good.
In race 2 Priaulx made the most out of his pole position on the reverse
grid to take command. Two different crashes on laps 1 and 7 chaged the
race into a procession behind the safety car until the very last lap in
which Priaulx sprinted to BMW's first victory of the season beating
Chevrolet's Yvan Muller by a small margin.
It was a sweet and sour weekend for Chevrolet as they obtained two
second places with Rob Huff and Muller, but saw Alain Menu and Huff both
eliminated in massive crashes in Race 2. This also meant that SEAT
Customers Technology took the lead in the Manufacturers' Championship,
while Tarquini's win and sixth position propelled him on top of the
Drivers' Championship with 70 points from Muller (63) and Huff (46).
BMW drivers also won the two Independents' races. Franz Engstler and
local hero Mehdi Bennani encored their successes from last year with the
only difference that they swapped Race 1 and 2.
Fredy Barth dominated both races in the Rookie Challenge. Not only was
the Swiss driver able to score twice in the overall championship, but he
also set the fastest lap in Race 1.
QUALIFYING
REIGNING WORLD CHAMPION CLAIMS POLE
POSITION
Gabriele Tarquini claimed his eleventh WTCC pole position - the first of
the season for him - taking the top spot for SR-Sport on the streets of
Marrakech with a 1:45.830 that improved the existing lap record by nealy
four seconds. The Italian dominated proceedings in Morocco, topping both
practice sessions and taking pole by over half a second from the rest of
the field.
Following a qualfying session filled with action and red flags,
Chevrolet's Rob Huff (1:46.364) will start alongside him on the front
row with SR-Sport team mate Jordi Gené (1:46.375) in third.
Franz Engstler (1:48.027) was the quickest Independent in ninth while
Michel Nykjćr (1:46.375) was the top rookie in sixth after the final red
flag of the day. Rookie Challenge racer, Michelisz was quickest in Q1
but crashed out and was unable to start Q2.
Q1
- In an extended 30-minute Q1, given when racing on street circuits, the
cars took to the track with Chevrolet's Huff quickly getting on the
pace.
Gené was quick to respond in his SEAT León TDI before Yvan Muller posted
his quickest time of the session to move ahead.
Muller led as the red flag came out when his Chevrolet team mate Alain
Menu crashed into the wall exiting Turn 14. Menu was on a quick lap,
having just set the fastest sector 2 time so far, when he spun across
the circuit hitting the barrier. Michelisz narrowly avoided hitting the
Chevrolet Cruze while also on a quick lap on new tyres.
When the session restarted, Tarquini jumped into P1 before posting a
quicker time of 1:46.748 to remain at the top of the timesheets. As the
clock ticked down he was demoted by Michelisz, who recorded a 1:46.437
on new tyres. After posting the quickest time of the session however,
the Hungarian youngster then crashed into the wall at Turn 3 bringing
out the red flag again and ending the session early.
The BMW Team RBM cars of Augusto Farfus and Andy Priaulx were both
caught out by the action as they dropped out of the top ten just before
the session was red flagged. While Tom Coronel's final run allowed him
to move up to eighth and advance into Q2.
After crashing out early, Menu will start 13th for Race 1 tomorrow while
Mehdi Bennani will start 16th on the grid. The Moroccan crowds were also
in good voice, cheering loudly from the stands for both Bennani and
fellow Moroccan racer Ismaďl Sbaď.
Q2-
After less than 5-minutes the session was halted by another red flag,
this time due to oil on the track at Turn 2 left by Franz Engstler's BMW
after hitting the wall.
When the green flag came out Tarquini was quick to get on the pace,
moving up to P1 with a time of 1:46.830. Gené also put in a good lap to
jump from fourth to second. As the cars slipstreamed through the
streets, Huff put a great lap together to move from sixth to second with
only a few minutes remaining.
The session was then stopped once more as Michel Nykjćr crashed his SEAT
León TDI into the wall through the chicane at Turn 10. The session did
not restart meaning Tarquini had another comfortable lead, this time
0.534s, ahead of Huff and Gené.
Tiago Monteiro finished fourth with a best time of 1:46.696 ahead of
Muller. Coronel (1:47.044) will line up seventh in his SEAT León TDI.
It was an impressive showing from the rookies with three, Michelisz,
Fredy Barth and Nykjćr making it into the top ten for Sunday’s Race of
Morocco. Despite crashing out, Nykjćr (1:46.751) will start sixth while
Barth's time of 1:48.027 was good enough for eighth. With the
Zengö-Dension Team unable to repair the earlier damage, Michelisz will
start from P10 despite being fastest in Q1.
Franz Engstler (1:48.994) was the best of the Independents and will
start ninth. After clipping the wall early in Q2 he pitted with damage
and did not restart after the first red flag.
ROUNDS 1
& 2 - CURITIBA
RACE REPORT
MULLER AND TARQUINI ON TOP
AGAIN
History
repeated in Brazil with Yvan Muller and Gabriele Tarquini taking a
victory apiece for the second year in succession in Curitiba and leaving
Brazil as joint leaders of the Drivers Championship, the only difference
being the teams they are competing for.
The Chevrolet team commanded Race 1 with all three of their drivers
filling the podium. The good points haul means the USA brand comes away
from Curitiba leading the Manufacturers' Championship with 70 points.
All eyes were on the newly formed SEAT customer team, SR-Sport, to see
what they had to offer. Race 1 provided a best result of fourth with
Tarquini, but the defending champion came fighting back in Race 2 to
take victory ahead of team mate Jordi Gené and making it a satisfactory
end to the weekend for the team.
BMW Team RBM struggled on race day after the weather went against them
despite being the pace setters for most of the weekend. Local boy
Augusto Farfus had to settle for two sixth places, while Andy Priaulx
was forced out of the second race after a clash with his team-mate.
The newcomers were impressive. Norbert Michelisz and Michel Nykjćr
showed they can chase the most experienced drivers, Fredy Barth opened
the roll of honour of the new Rookie Challenge, while Darryl O'Young
fought for the Independents' victory in Race 1 with Stefano D'Aste and
Sergio Hernández.
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