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 Thursday, 15 May 2008 |
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Rounds 11&12 - 26/27 June, Donington Park (Great Britain) |
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Written by Jeff Seabrook
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Monday, 28 June 2004 |
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THE BMW DRIVERS STAGE A COME BACK
Donington, 27 June 2004: On home ground Andy Priaulx notched up win number four in the FIA ETCC season in his BMW Team Great Britain car, while Jörg Müller (BMW Team Deutschland) claimed a second place finish in what was a sensational come back for the BMW drivers. After qualifying Jörg's fifth position was the highest of any BMW driver and Andy was a lowly 13th. However, the drivers worked overnight with their teams to produce two superb cars and two great results.
The Alfa Romeo cars were much stronger than in the last two race weekends and they were able to claim a win in race one thanks to James Thompson, who was making a guest appearance for Italian team. The other Alfa Romeo driver on the podiums was Gabriele Tarquini who was third in race one and second in race two. Alex Zanardi (BMW Team Italy-Spain) enjoyed his weekend and came away with two points for seventh in race two.
This result has put Andy four points ahead of Dirk Müller (BMW Team Deutschland)
In the Drivers' Championship and BMW 53 points ahead of Alfa Romeo in the Constructors' Championship. In the Independents Trophy class it was one win for the Alfa Romeo Salvatore Tavano and one for Tom Coronel in his Carly Motors BMW 320i. Tom, therefore, still leads this class but Tavano is now second 35 points behind him.
The win has bolstered Andy's confidence and after the race he looked forward to the remaining rounds of the series and declared: "In race one I tried to be relaxed as I knew what I had to do to be in the best possible position for race two. It worked well and I was able to pick up the positions. In race two I just had to drive as fast as I could without making mistakes. I made two good starts and the rest is now history. For me this is the point where I think I can win the championship as I got this win with 40 kilos of weight. I am very, very happy, but It is going to be tough from now on." Jörg was delighted after race one and his comment was: "The first race was really clean and fair and it was good to drive that way with Tarquini. I really enjoyed it and hope we have some more races this season like that. We had good overtaking manoeuvres and it was great getting second place, which I didn't expect. Thompson was uncatchable and drove really well on his home circuit."
RACE 1
Weather: Bright and sunny - 20ºC
Jörg Müller was the star of the first race. He made an amazing start from fifth on the grid and was able to follow the Alfa Romeo of polesitter James Thompson across the line at the end of the first lap. From then on he was under constant pressure from the Alfas of Gabriele Tarquini, Fabrizio Gionvanardi and Augusto Farfus Jr. Tarquini managed to overtake him on lap four and stayed there until Jörg got back in front on lap eight. From this point on he was able to control the pace and so at the chequered flag followed Thompson over the line. It was also a good race for the RBM team-mates, Andy Priaulx (BMW Team Great Britain) and Kurt Mollekens (BMW Team Belgium Luxembourg). Kurt moved from 12th on the grid to eighth to claim pole for race two and Andy made up seven places from 13th to sixth and claimed fastest lap. It was a relatively incident free race as FIA ETCC events go but Antonio Garcia had to cope with no brakes from lap six on and Carly Motors driver Klaas Zwart didn't start as he suffered a differen
tial problem on the grid. SEAT's Rickard Rydell was upholding the Spanish manufacturer's honours, but suffered what he thought was an electrical problem on the last lap that dropped him from sixth to last. Tom Coronel always knew he would have a tough job to win the Independents Trophy Class from 20th on the grid, but he managed to move up to 13th overall and second in class behind the Alfa Romeo of Salvatore Tavano.
RACE 2
Weather: Same as race one, bright and sunny 20ºc
Kurt Mollekens was on pole, but as soon as the lights went out Andy Priaulx got a great start and led into the first corner. Behind him there was a lot of action as there was a collision between Fabrizio Giovanardi's Alfa Rome, Jordi Gené's SEAT and Jörg Müller's BMW 320i. Jörg's explanation of what happened was: "I am very unhappy about what happened as I have not had an accident for two and a half years. There was enough space on the inside for Giovanardi to go through the corner, but I got hit by him and then we just went off the circuit and I went into Jordi, which I am sorry for." Sadly all three cars retired. However, for Andy there were no such problems as he was able to keep a constant pace and, despite having first Augusto Farfus Jr and then GabrieleTarquini behind him, was never in danger of letting an Alfa driver by. Dirk Müller also made a great start, despite his 40 kilos, and was able to go from ninth to sixth at the end of lap one and then eventually up to fourth and claim fastest lap. This tim
e it was the turn of Tom Coronel to win the Independents Trophy class and also have a good close race with the SEAT of Rickard Rydell .
Results and Positions
BMW Team Deutschland - Schnitzer Motorsport
No 42 - Jörg Müller (GER) Qual 5th - Race 1 - 2nd - Race 2 - DNF - 10 kilos ballast
No 43 - Dirk Müller (GER) Qual 8th - Race 1 - 9th - Race 2 - 4TH - 40 kilos ballast
BMW Team Great Britain - RBM
No 11 - Andy Priaulx (GBR) Qual 13th - Race 1 - 6th - Race 2 - 1st - 40 Kilos ballast
BMW Team Belgium Luxembourg - RBM
No 12 - Kurt Mollekens (NLD) Qual 12th - Race 1 - 8th - Race 2 - 6th
BMW Team Italy-Spain - Ravaglia Motorsport
No 4 - Alex Zanardi (ITA) Qual 15th - Race 1 - 12th - Race 2 - 7th
No 5 - Antonio Garcia (ESP) Qual10th - Race 1 - 10th - Race 2 - 5th - 10 kilos ballast
BMW Privateer Teams
Carly Motors - No 20 - Tom Coronel (NLD) Qual 20th - Race 1 - 13th - Race 2 - 8th
Carly Motors - No 22 - Klaas Zwart (NLD) Qual 21st - Race 1 - DNS - Race 2 - DNF
Proteam Motorsport - No 25 - Stefano D'Aste (ITA) Qual 16th - Race 1 - 17 th - Race 2 - DNF
Crawford Racing - No 27 - Carl Rosenblad (SWE) Qual 22nd - Race 1 - 17 th - Race 2 - 14th
Race 1 - 13 laps
1. James Thompson (GBR/Alfa Romeo) 21m 45.646s
2. Jörg Müller (GER/BMW 320i) 21m 49.494s
3. Gabriele Tarquini (ITA/Alfa Romeo) 21m 50.074s
4. Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA/Alfa Romeo) 21m 50.732s
5. Augusto Farfus Jr (BAR/Alfa Romeo) 21m 51.376s
6. Andy Priaulx (GBR/BMW 320i) 21m 57.205s
7. Jordi Gené (ESP/SEAT) 22m 00.205s
8. Kurt Mollekens (BEL/BMWS 320i) 22m 02.932s
Race 2 - 13 laps
1. Andy Priaulx (GBR/BMW 320i) 21m 46.941s
2. Gabriele Tarquini (ITA/Alfa Romeo) 21m 48.094s
3. James Thompson (GBR/Alfa Romeo) 21m 49.932s
4. Dirk Müller (GER/BMW 320i) 21m 51.224s.
5. Antonio Garcia (ESP/BMW 320i) 21m 55.170s
8. Kurt Mollekens (BEL/BMW 320i) 21m 56.908s
7. Alex Zanardi (ITA/BMW 320i) 21m 57.535s
8. Tom Coronel (NLD/BMW 320i) 21m 59.022s
Championship Positions
Drivers
1. Priaulx 72
2. Müller D 68
3. Müller J 65
4. Tarquini 57
5. Giovanardi 46
6. Garcia 34
7. Farfus 28
8. Gené 17
9. Diefenbacher 17
10. Thompson 16
11. Coronel 16
12. Rydell 13
13. Mollekens 7
14. Rangoni 5
15. Tavano 3
15. Zanardi 3
17. D'Aste 1
Manufacturers
1. BMW 176
2. Alfa Romeo 123
3. SEAT 46
Michelin Independents Trophy
1. Coronel 96
2. Tavano 61
3. Balzan 59
4. D'Aste 54
5. Rangoni 43
6. Bartyan 38
7. Rosenblad 35
8. Harrision 23
9. Ruokonen 21
10. Asch 11
11. Klenke 8
12. Zwart P 7
13. Grunert 7
14. Zwart K 3Only registered users can write comments.
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