CRASH, BANG, WALLOP, OH WHAT A RACE FOR ALFA ROMEO IN GERMANY!
After all its success in the first rounds of the European Touring Car Championship, Alfa Romeo spectacularly threw it all away in Germany at the weekend’s (16 May 2004) round at the German Hockenheim round when all three Alfa Romeo’s collided at the first bend of the first race, taking them all out.
Tarquini was the only Alfa driver back on the grid for the second race, scoring three valuable points that enable him to cling on to his title chase hopes. Alfa’s only light at the weekend was a double win for Luca Rangoni at the wheel of his Alfa Romeo 156 GTA in the privateer’s championship.
That’s a weekend I really want quickly forget,” said Tarquini at the end of the eventful Hockenheim outing.“I scored some points in the second race, but they were totally unexpected after the first race disaster despite my car being held together by duct tape and full of aches and pains from the first lap pile-up. I was following Giovanardi in seventh position, and I was preparing to outbrake him, when two cars arrived from the back of the field at a totally crazy speed. They rammed me and sent into me Fabrizio’s car. He spun, and we found ourselves forming a T in the middle of the track, which then hit Giovanardi. What a mess!”
Bad news for Alfa Romeo was, of course, good news for BMW, winning two races and claiming five podium positions out of six. With these results, BMW Team Germany’s drivers jumped into the lead of the Drivers’ Championship, with Jörg Müller two points ahead of Dirk Müller. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, BMW has already a solid 31-point lead over Alfa Romeo.
The first race was won by BMW Great Britain’s Andy Priaulx, who flew away after overtaking BMW Team Italy-Spain’s Antonio García. When the latter spun off, Dirk Müller and Jordi Gené inherited second and third places. Race 2 was a tough fight between García and the Müllers; the Spaniard led eight of the 11 laps before handing the lead to Jörg Müller for good.
SEAT Sport finally started reaping the fruits of their work. After Gené had claimed pole position on Saturday, he fought for the top positions in Race 1, and eventually came home third. It was SEAT’s first podium of the season, but also Frank Diefenbacher (5th) and Rickard Rydell (8th) managed to finish in the points. In the second race Rydell was also on pole, and led for a few hundred meters. Again, him and Gené scored points.
Peugeot’s Jan Magnussen finished Race 1 in the top-ten, while Ford had a disappointing weekend with both RS-Line drivers Roland Asch and Sebastian Grunert eliminated in the first race. In the Independents Trophy, Alfa Romeo driver Luca Rangoni claimed two impressive wins, the first for him in the season.
ETCC - Hockenheim, 16th May 2004 - Race 1:
#DRIVERTEAMCARLapsElapsed TimeAv.Speed\Gap
111Andy Priaulx (GBR) BMW Team Great BritainBMW 320i 11 20:19.111 148.57 kph
243Dirk Müller (GER) BMW Team Deutschland BMW 320i 11 20:23.292 4.181
39Jordi Gené (ESP) SEAT Sport SEAT Toledo Cupra 11 20:25.813 6.702
442Jörg Müller (GER) BMW Team Deutschland BMW 320i 11 20:26.282 7.171
510Frank Diefenbacher (GER) SEAT Sport SEAT Toledo Cupra 11 20:31.037 11.926
65Antonio García (ESP) BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320i 11 20:35.863 16.752
746Luca Rangoni (ITA) Oregon Team Alfa Romeo 156 Gta 11 20:36.199 17.088
88Rickard Rydell (SWE) SEAT Sport SEAT Toledo Cupra 11 20:36.710 17.599
944Salvatore Tavano (ITA) Oregon Team Alfa Romeo 156 Gta 11 20:37.037 17.926
1023Jan Magnussen (DEN) Peugeot Sport Engineering Peugeot 307 Gti 11 20:43.741 24.630
1120Tom Coronel (NED) Carly Motors BMW 320i 11 20:44.214 25.103
124Alessandro Zanardi (ITA) BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320i 11 20:47.019 27.908
1314Alessandro Balzan (ITA) JAS Motorsport Honda Accord 2.0i 11 20:48.657 29.546
1445Michele Bartyan (AUT) Oregon Team Alfa Romeo 156 Gta 11 21:06.458 47.347
1517Toni R. Ruokonen (FIN) GR AsiaHonda Civic Type-R 10 21:17.240 1 lap
1625Stefano D´Aste (ITA) Proteam Motorsport BMW 320i 8 15:37.061 3 laps
1727Carl Rosenblad (SWE) Crawford Racing BMW 320i 8 22:13.852 3 laps
Dnf19Roland Asch (GER) RS-Line Rotpunkt Sport Ford Focus ST170 7 13:36.626 4 laps
Dnf1Gabriele Tarquini (ITA) AutoDelta Squadra Corse Alfa Romeo 156 6 11:32.526 5 laps
Dnf18Sebastian Grunert (GER) RS-Line Rotpunkt Sport Ford Focus ST170 3 05:56.644 8 laps
Dnf2Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA) AutoDelta Squadra Corse Alfa Romeo 156 2 03:57.390 9 laps
Dnf12Kurt Mollekens (BEL) BMW Team Belgium-Luxembourg BMW 320i 1 02:25.985 10 laps
Dnf3Augusto Farfus (BRA) AutoDelta Squadra Corse Alfa Romeo 156 0 11 laps
Dnf16Simon Harrison (GBR) GR AsiaHonda Civic Type-R 0 11 laps
ETCC - Hockenheim, 16th May 2004 - Race 2:
#DRIVERTEAMCARLapsElapsed TimeAv.Speed\Gap
142Jörg Müller (GER) BMW Team Deutschland BMW 320i 11 20:19.060 148.58 kph
25Antonio García (ESP) BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320i 11 20:19.528 0.468
343Dirk Müller (GER) BMW Team Deutschland BMW 320i 11 20:19.743 0.683
49Jordi Gené (ESP) SEAT Sport SEAT Toledo Cupra 11 20:26.938 7.878
58Rickard Rydell (SWE) SEAT Sport SEAT Toledo Cupra 11 20:28.918 9.858
61Gabriele Tarquini (ITA) AutoDelta Squadra Corse Alfa Romeo 156 11 20:30.765 11.705
746Luca Rangoni (ITA) Oregon Team Alfa Romeo 156 Gta 11 20:31.534 12.474
820Tom Coronel (NED) Carly Motors BMW 320i 11 20:34.822 15.762
94Alessandro Zanardi (ITA) BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320i 11 20:35.548 16.488
1012Kurt Mollekens (BEL) BMW Team Belgium-Luxembourg BMW 320i 11 20:37.046 17.986
1144Salvatore Tavano (ITA) Oregon Team Alfa Romeo 156 Gta 11 20:41.005 21.945
1223Jan Magnussen (DEN) Peugeot Sport Engineering Peugeot 307 Gti 11 20:42.544 23.484
1327Carl Rosenblad (SWE) Crawford Racing BMW 320i 11 20:48.015 28.955
1416Simon Harrison (GBR) GR Asia Honda Civic Type-R 11 20:48.782 29.722
1517Toni R. Ruokonen (FIN) GR Asia Honda Civic Type-R 11 21:12.443 53.383
1645Michele Bartyan (AUT) Oregon Team Alfa Romeo 156 Gta 11 21:55.808 1:36.747
Dnf11Andy Priaulx (GBR) BMW Team Great BritainBMW 320i 6 11:14.941 5 laps
Dnf14Alessandro Balzan (ITA) JAS Motorsport Honda Accord 2.0i 4 07:41.869 7 laps
Dnf10Frank Diefenbacher (GER) SEAT Sport SEAT Toledo Cupra 4 07:52.399 7 laps
Dns2Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA) AutoDelta Squadra Corse Alfa Romeo 156 0
Dns3Augusto Farfus (BRA) AutoDelta Squadra Corse Alfa Romeo 156 0
Dns18Sebastian Grunert (GER) RS-Line Rotpunkt Sport Ford Focus ST170 0
Dns19Roland Asch (GER) RS-Line Rotpunkt Sport Ford Focus ST170 0
Dns25Stefano D´Aste (ITA) Proteam Motorsport BMW 320i 0
2004 FIA EUROPEAN TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP
Drivers' Championship
Pos.#DriverPoints
1 42Jörg Müller (GER) 50
243Dirk Müller (GER) 48
31Gabriele Tarquini (ITA)43
411Andy Priaulx (GBR)41
52Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA)33
63Augusto Farfus (BRA) 24
75Antonio García (ESP) 21
89Jordi Gené (ESP)15
920Tom Coronel (NED)10
1010Frank Diefenbacher (GER) 10
118Rickard Rydell (SWE)5
1246Luca Rangoni (ITA)5
1344Salvatore Tavano (ITA)3
1412Kurt Mollekens (BEL)2
1525Stefano D´Aste (ITA)1
164Alessandro Zanardi (ITA) 1
Pos.ManufacturerPoints
1BMW 116
2Alfa Romeo 85
3SEAT 29
(ends)
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