ALFA ROMEO’S PODIUM DROUGHT ENDS, BUT BMW KEEPS WINNING IN WTCC
Alfa Romeo’s podium drought ended at the weekend (5 June 2006) in the World Touring Car Championship but BMW keep wining taking the top spot in both races in the German round of the WTCC at Oschersleben.
The results of today’s WTCC Stihl Race of Germany, with Andy Priaulx and Jörg Müller claiming one victory apiece, shook up the championship classification that is now topped by six drivers covered by only two points.
Priaulx and Yvan Muller on 33, Dirk Müller and James Thompson on 32, Rickard Rydell and Gabriele Tarquini on 31. Jörg Müller is not far behind in 7th position with 28 points. The situation is also very close in the Manufacturers’ Championship, where BMW re-claimed the lead from SEAT by a mere three points.
The first race saw Priaulx taking a lights to flag victory – his third of the season – followed by Dirk and Rydell. In the second race Jörg Müller imitated Priaulx, and claimed his first success of the year, while immediately behind him Alfa Romeo’s Augusto Farfus and Dirk fought a spectacular but fair duel for the second place.
Unlike two weeks ago in Brands Hatch, the Chevrolet drivers could not squeeze into the point positions, however Robert Huff came very close to scoring in both races. The Independents’ Trophy races were both won by Tom Coronel, who has built a solid lead in the points.
“After some disappointing results in Magny-Cours and Brands Hatch we worked on the car a lot” says Augusto Farfus. “Here I had a brilliant start in the second race and at the beginning I was fast enough to attack Jörg. I was not able to overtake him because the tyres deteriorated. I'm happy and 2nd place is very important to the team. The next race is at my home track but I have actually never raced there before. I hope to have success there as I had here.”
The FIA WTCC is now facing its first overseas journey; the championship is heading to Brazil, where rounds 9 and 10 will take place on July 2 at Curitiba.
RACE 1: BMW KEEP WINNING
Andy Priaulx capitalised on his pole start by shooting off the line and not allowing anyone to get close to him. He passed the chequered flag first with fellow BMW driver Dirk Müller 0.469 seconds behind and Rickard Rydell following at the wheel of his SEAT León.
Dirk weaved his way from 6th to 4th before the first corner and despite some contact with Rydell he managed to keep position. Farfus and Tarquini were involved in a scuffle in the first lap with a couple of overtaking moves happening before the SEAT man went through for 5th, followed by his SEAT team-mate Yvan Muller.
The next three laps saw Priaulx, Thompson, Rydell and Dirk pull away. The pack behind was the source of action on lap 5 when Farfus promoted himself back up to 6th. On the same lap Zanardi passed Morbidelli for 10th. The nose-to-tail tension continued with Dirk overtaking Rydell for 3rd on the first corner of lap 6 and then looked set to close the gap between himself and Thompson. Dirk's BMW Team Germany companion, Jörg, also gained a place by passing Yvan Muller for 7th.
Thompson conceded second place to Dirk on lap 8 and was also passed by Tarquini and Rydell a few laps later to eventually finish 5th.
The fight was on for the 8th position that means pole position for Race 2. Yvan Muller was being put under great pressure from Zanardi. The Italian mounted an attack on lap 12 but hit Muller entering a corner. The former spun off while the latter continued further down the rankings in 11th. This handed pole to local lad Peter Terting.
Farfus finished 6th overall after spectacularly keeping control of his Alfa Romeo as he sped across the grass following contact with Thompson. The Brazilian then narrowly avoided being overtaken by Jörg Müller.
The three Chevrolet drivers finished in a row with Huff, Menu and Larini taking 12th, 13th and 14th place respectively. Tom Coronel was 10th overall and won the Independents' category.
RACE 2 – ALFA ON THE PODIUM
Jörg Müller secured his first win of the season to the delight of his home crowd. He took the lead after a good start from second on the grid. Augusto Farfus had a solid race to finish 2nd ahead of Dirk Muller who took his second podium of the day.
From the pole Peter Terting but had a poor start, which resulted in him entering the first corner in 4th place. This is where he remained and eventually finished; the best of the SEAT drivers. Rydell, Thompson, Tarquini and Yvan Muller crossed the line in succession occupying 5th through to 8th place.
Winner of Race 1, Andy Priaulx, was overtaken by Huff and Yvan Muller on lap 2 before Yvan then immediately passed Huff for 8th and the final point. Huff's team-mate Menu went off on lap 3 and did not re-join.
Farfus, who was lying second and sandwiched between the two BMW Team Germany cars, was applying the pressure on Jörg but the lead man was un-phased. There was no margin for error however as, at the end of lap 6, the top three crossed the line within 0.438 of each other. Jörg pulled away slightly over the remainder of the race leaving Farfus to successfully fight off Dirk's attempted challenges.
Tom Coronel completed a positive weekend by securing his second independent win behind the wheel of his GR Asia SEAT León. He finished the race 12th overall.
(ENDS)
Race One Results
N° / Driver / Laps / Time / GAP1 / 1 / Andy PRIAULX (BMW 320si ) / 14 / 00:22:12.805
2 / 43 / Dirk MULLER (BMW 320si ) / 14 / 00:22:13.274 / + 0.469
3 / 3 / Rickard RYDELL (SEAT Leon ) / 14 / 00:22:19.366 / + 6.561
4 / 2 / Gabriele TARQUINI (SEAT Leon ) / 14 / 00:22:20.342 / + 7.537
5 / 11 / James THOMPSON (SEAT Leon ) / 14 / 00:22:24.047 / + 11.242
6 / 15 / Augusto FARFUS (Alfa Romeo 156 ) / 14 / 00:22:24.402 / + 11.597
7 / 42 / Jorg MULLER (BMW 320si ) / 14 / 00:22:24.730 / + 11.925
8 / 10 / Peter TERTING (SEAT Leon ) / 14 / 00:22:25.221 / + 12.416
9 / 16 / Gianni MORBIDELLI (Alfa Romeo 156 ) / 14 / 00:22:25.866 / + 13.061
10 / 20 / Tom CORONEL (SEAT Leon ) / 14 / 00:22:26.248 / + 13.443
11 / 12 / Yvan MULLER (SEAT Leon ) / 14 / 00:22:30.160 / + 17.355
12 / 6 / Robert HUFF (Chevrolet Lacetti ) / 14 / 00:22:30.485 / + 17.680
13 / 8 / Alain MENU (Chevrolet Lacetti ) / 14 / 00:22:34.077 / + 21.272
14 / 7 / Nicola LARINI (Chevrolet Lacetti ) / 14 / 00:22:35.251 / + 22.446
15 / 14 / Florian GRUBER (SEAT Leon ) / 14 / 00:22:35.531 / + 22.726
16 / 9 / Jordi GENE (SEAT Leon ) / 14 / 00:22:35.922 / + 23.117
17 / 30 / Luca RANGONI (BMW 320si ) / 14 / 00:22:36.973 / + 24.168
18 / 5 / Marcel COSTA (BMW 320si ) / 14 / 00:22:37.993 / + 25.188
19 / 31 / Stefano D'ASTE (BMW 320i ) / 14 / 00:22:44.797 / + 31.992
20 / 46 / Jens EDMAN (Peugeot 407 ) / 14 / 00:22:48.660 / + 35.855
21 / 19 / Maurizio CERESOLI (SEAT Toledo Cupra ) / 14 / 00:22:55.106 / + 42.301
22 / 34 / Diego ROMANINI (BMW 320i ) / 14 / 00:23:04.942 / + 52.137
23 / 18 / Salvatore TAVANO (Alfa Romeo 156 ) / 14 / 00:23:12.443 / + 59.638
24 / 4 / Alessandro ZANARDI (BMW 320si ) / 13 / 00:22:53.176 / + 1 LAP
25 / 24 / Ryan SHARP (Honda Accord Euro R ) / 10 / 00:22:34.939 / + 4 LAPS
- / 33 / Emmet O'BRIEN (BMW 320i ) / 5 / 00:08:47.016 / D.N.F.
- / 23 / Pierre-Yves CORTHALS (Honda Accord Euro R ) / 0 / 00:00:00.000 / D.N.F.
Results Race Two
N° / Driver / Laps / Time / GAP1 / 42 / Jorg MULLER (BMW 320si ) / 14 / 00:22:11.321
2 / 15 / Augusto FARFUS (Alfa Romeo 156 ) / 14 / 00:22:12.720 / + 1.399
3 / 43 / Dirk MULLER (BMW 320si ) / 14 / 00:22:13.028 / + 1.707
4 / 10 / Peter TERTING (SEAT Leon ) / 14 / 00:22:14.234 / + 2.913
5 / 3 / Rickard RYDELL (SEAT Leon ) / 14 / 00:22:17.050 / + 5.729
6 / 11 / James THOMPSON (SEAT Leon ) / 14 / 00:22:17.794 / + 6.473
7 / 2 / Gabriele TARQUINI (SEAT Leon ) / 14 / 00:22:18.718 / + 7.397
8 / 12 / Yvan MULLER (SEAT Leon ) / 14 / 00:22:20.808 / + 9.487
9 / 6 / Robert HUFF (Chevrolet Lacetti ) / 14 / 00:22:20.971 / + 9.650
10 / 1 / Andy PRIAULX (BMW 320si ) / 14 / 00:22:21.172 / + 9.851
11 / 16 / Gianni MORBIDELLI (Alfa Romeo 156 ) / 14 / 00:22:21.902 / + 10.581
12 / 20 / Tom CORONEL (SEAT Leon ) / 14 / 00:22:23.245 / + 11.924
13 / 4 / Alessandro ZANARDI (BMW 320si ) / 14 / 00:22:23.247 / + 11.926
14 / 9 / Jordi GENE (SEAT Leon ) / 14 / 00:22:23.519 / + 12.198
15 / 14 / Florian GRUBER (SEAT Leon ) / 14 / 00:22:24.031 / + 12.710
16 / 5 / Marcel COSTA (BMW 320si ) / 14 / 00:22:25.065 / + 13.744
17 / 18 / Salvatore TAVANO (Alfa Romeo 156 ) / 14 / 00:22:28.965 / + 17.644
18 / 24 / Ryan SHARP (Honda Accord Euro R ) / 14 / 00:22:32.859 / + 21.538
19 / 31 / Stefano D'ASTE (BMW 320i ) / 14 / 00:22:39.134 / + 27.813
20 / 46 / Jens EDMAN (Peugeot 407 ) / 14 / 00:22:40.590 / + 29.269
21 / 7 / Nicola LARINI (Chevrolet Lacetti ) / 14 / 00:22:49.475 / + 38.154
22 / 19 / Maurizio CERESOLI (SEAT Toledo Cupra ) / 14 / 00:23:04.780 / + 53.459
23 / 30 / Luca RANGONI (BMW 320si ) / 14 / 00:23:05.348 / + 54.027
24 / 33 / Emmet O'BRIEN (BMW 320i ) / 14 / 00:23:10.949 / + 59.628
25 / 34 / Diego ROMANINI (BMW 320i ) / 12 / 00:20:32.715 / + 2 LAPS
- / 8 / Alain MENU (Chevrolet Lacetti ) / 2 / 00:03:18.397 / D.N.F.
2006 WTCC Drivers’ Championship
Drivers /1 /
2 /
1 /
2 /
1 /
2 /
1 /
2 /
1 /
2 /
1 /
2 /
1 /
2 /
1 /
2 /
1 /
2 /
1 /
2 / Total
1 / A. Priaulx / 10 / 0 / 1 / 10 / 1 / 1 / 10 / 0 / 33
2 / Y. Muller / 8 / 8 / 0 / 2 / 10 / 4 / 0 / 1 / 33
3 / D. Müller / 5 / 0 / 10 / 0 / 0 / 3 / 8 / 6 / 32
4 / J. Thompson / 6 / 0 / 2 / 5 / 6 / 6 / 4 / 3 / 32
5 / R. Rydell / 3 / 0 / 6 / 0 / 4 / 8 / 6 / 4 / 31
6 / G. Tarquini / 4 / 3 / 5 / 4 / 3 / 5 / 5 / 2 / 31
7 / J. Müller / 0 / 0 / 8 / 8 / 0 / 0 / 2 / 10 / 28
8 / A. Farfus Jr / 1 / 10 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 3 / 8 / 22
9 / P. Terting / 0 / 1 / 3 / 3 / 8 / 0 / 1 / 5 / 21
10 / A. Menu / 0 / 6 / 0 / 0 / 2 / 10 / 0 / 0 / 18
11 / J. Gené / 0 / 4 / 4 / 6 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 14
12 / R. Huff / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 5 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 5
12 / A. Balzan / 0 / 5 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 5
14 / N. Larini / 0 / 2 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 3
15 / G. Morbidelli / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 2 / 0 / 0 / 2
15 / A. Zanardi / 2 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 2
2006 WTCC Manufacturer’s Championship
Teams /1 /
2 /
1 /
2 /
1 /
2 /
1 /
2 /
1 /
2 /
1 /
2 /
1 /
2 /
1 /
2 /
1 /
2 /
1 /
2 / Total
1 / SEAT / 14 / 12 / 11 / 11 / 18 / 14 / 80
2 / BMW / 15 / 3 / 18 / 18 / 7 / 8 / 69
3 / Chevrolet / 3 / 9 / 7 / 7 / 11 / 11 / 48
4 / Alfa Romeo / 7 / 15 / 3 / 3 / 3 / 6 / 37
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Alfa Romeo Australia / Fax: (02) 9701 3555
E:
Edward Rowe
Public Relations Manager / Tel: (02) 9701 8000
Alfa Romeo Australia / Fax: (02) 9701 3555
Mob: 0407 913 244
E:
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Release Number: 532-alfa-AU
Date of Issue: 1 December 2018. Time of Issue: 21:26:41