MOTORSPORT NEWS ARCHIVE
Oh no! Alfa loses to BMW
For the fourth year in a row, the French Magny-Cours race
track has maintained its reputation as a BMW playground when, despite
SEAT's domination of practice and its pole position, the German car maker
blasted through to win both races in the second round of the World Touring
Car Championship at the weekend (30 April 2006). Alfa Romeo, meanwhile
could take nothing more than a back SEAT to domination of the Spaniards
and the Germans, suffering a tough weekend whose only bright light is
the fact that their result will mean a big drop in weight penalties for
the next round in the UK on 20 May.
RACE ONE
Thanks to the BMW cars superb starting capabilities, Jörg Müller
stormed through the front row SEATs to enter the first corner in the lead.
Fellow Team BMW Germany driver, Dirk Müller also shot off the line
promoting himself from 6th to 2nd within seconds. The race was then on
between them with Dirk the victor. Tarquini's speed off the line was less
successful and dropped down to fourth with SEAT Sport team-mate Rydell
in front of him. At the first corner, Tavano in his N.technology Alfa
Romeo and BMW Team Italy-Spain's Costa, went off.
As the race ensued, Dirk began to close the gap between
himself and Jörg. It was edged down until on lap 9 Dirk made a smooth
manoeuvre at Lycée bend and managed to hold the car and defend
his position to cross the line 0.436 ahead of his team-mate and fellow
countryman. Rydell was always close to the action in León but couldn't
quite challenge for a top 2 position. Meanwhile, there was a contest between
Britons, James Thompson and Andy Priaulx for 7th. Priaulx managed to close
the gap to just 0.369 of a second but did not overtake, finishing 8th
and therefore secured pole for Race 2.
Robert Huff passed the chequered place in 9th position,
the best of the Chevrolet team. For most of the race Yvan Muller was sandwiched
in between the Chevrolet cars of Larini and Huff but eventually finished
13th. Independent drivers Luca Rangoni (Proteam Motorsport BMW 320si)
and Tom Coronel (GR Asia SEAT Toledo) were involved in a battle from the
start as the former worked his way from 14th to 9th within the first lap.
Coronel overtook the Italian on lap two and stayed ahead to finish top
independent and 10th overall.
RACE TWO
Reigning WTCC world champion Andy Priaulx took victory in Race 2 at Magny-Cours,
taking the chequered flag from first on the grid ahead of Jörg Muller
and Jordi Gene to move to the head of the leaderboard. Andy Priaulx dominated
the whole of Race 2 driving his BMW Team UK 320si from pole to the chequered
flag ahead of the rest. Jörg Müller achieved 2nd place for the
second time of the day moving his way up from 7th on the grid. SEAT once
again finished in the top three but this time it was the Spaniard Jordi
Gené who lifted the trophy.
The first corner was a catalyst of action with a few drivers
retiring as a result. Dirk Müller and Rickard Rydell were the first
to suffer after another SEAT hit Rydell who then collided with Dirk. Pierre-Yves
Corthals also suffered impact and almost rolled his JAS Motorsport Honda
Accord. In a separate series of events, Luca Rangoni hit Marcel Costa
at the Adelaide hairpin; as a result the Spaniard hit his team-mate Alessandro
Zanardi and both crashed into the barriers.
SEAT's James Thompson began the race from the front row
but his team-mate, Gené, demoted him to 3rd on lap 4. Thompson
then had to defend hard to keep Jörg at bay but BMW Germany man snuck
through at the Grande Courbe on lap 5. Tension was still to come for SEAT
because Terting overtook the Chevrolet of Huff on lap 7 and then chased
team-mate Yvan Muller before passing him at Lycée two laps later
to finish 6th.
Meanwhile, the Chevrolet drivers where in the thick of
the action. Huff was challenging the SEATs and led his team-mates until
the penultimate lap in which Larini moved to 8th place leaving Huff to
finish in the spot behind. Despite moving from 21st to 7th in the first
lap, Augusto Farfus was overtaken by Yvan Muller and Huff on the second
lap. As the race ensued, the Alfa Romeo man dropped back to 12th. Stefano
D'Aste had a successful race and was among the works drivers in 5th position
overall after the first lap. He eventually finished 10th overall and won
the independents race with Roberto Colciago behind him in 11th.
Results
©
italiancar.com.au 01/05/06
