Pau, 1st June 2008. At the "Circuit de Pau Ville", Augusto Farfus (BR) and Andy Priaulx (GB) celebrated the first two victories for BMW in the 2008 FIA World Touring Car Championship. BMW Team Germany's Farfus made perfect use of his pole position for the seventh round of the season and crossed the line 17.851 seconds ahead of second-placed SEAT driver Yvan Muller (FR). Priaulx finished eighth, and secured pole for race two.
An hour before the start of the afternoon round continuous rain set in, making for a wet track and difficult conditions. These, however, could not hamper Priaulx putting in a flawless performance for BMW Team UK, relegating Nicola Larini (IT) and Rickard Rydell (SE) to second and third respectively. This was Priaulx’s tenth WTCC victory. To date this is the highest number of wins by any driver. Farfus scored three more points by finishing sixth. His team-mate Jörg Müller (DE) and BMW Team Italy-Spain’s Alessandro Zanardi (IT) and Félix Porteiro (ES) missed out on a top eight finish in both races.

Priaulx remains the best-placed BMW representative in the Drivers’ Championship, with 33 points putting him fourth. Müller follows in seventh with 20 points. Farfus improved to ninth place with a total of 16 points. In the manufacturers’ classification, BMW is in second behind SEAT with 85 points.

Andy Priaulx (BMW Team UK):
“This weekend has been special. The rewarding thing was to drive a wet race without any mistakes. I know if you make the smallest mistake in a touring car you just end up sliding all the way into the tyres. I was really happy with the race and really happy with 11 points from the weekend.”

Augusto Farfus (BMW Team Germany):
“As the start of the season didn’t run as we had hoped for, I’m obviously very happy with this victory. In the first third of the race, I pushed hard to open up a gap between me and the rest of the field. Fortunately this worked well. It’s great finally to be back on the podium and to score points again.”

Jörg Müller (BMW Team Germany):
“In race one I narrowly missed out on eighth place, which reduced my chances of a good result in the second round. But in the wet my car just had no grip. We will analyse carefully the reasons for the problem.”

Félix Porteiro (BMW Team Italy-Spain):
“My lap times weren’t too bad today, but that doesn’t help you much on a street circuit. In the wet I didn’t risk too much, as anyway a points finish was out of reach.”

Alessandro Zanardi (BMW Team Italy-Spain):
“I paid the price for my poor qualifying performance. Our car was very competitive today, but you just cannot win anything from the midfield here in Pau. I particularly enjoyed race two, although you could hardly see anything in the early laps.”