Various
News from the Audi Group for the weekend of 13 October 2006.
SEAT wins BTCC manufacturers’ title
BTCC: For the first time, SEAT won the coveted manufacturers’ trophy of the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC). James Thompson’s fifth place and Jason Plato’s eighth position secured the title for the Spanish brand in the first of three heats of the finale at Silverstone. Jason Plato finished runner-up in the drivers’ championship classification.
Points for SEAT drivers at Valencia
WTCC: Peter Terting was the most successful SEAT driver of the WTCC event at Valencia (Spain). The young German took fifth place with his Léon in the first race of the weekend. In the second race Frenchman Yvan Muller scored points for SEAT finishing sixth. SEAT drivers Gabriele Tarquini and Rickard Rydell, who are in the top five of the championship, struggled with the success ballast they had to take onboard their Léon cars. Both were also involved in accidents during the races and scored no points. Before the final round of the championship in Macao, both are still in contention for the driver’s title.
Title will be decided at season finale
Supercopa: The title in the German SEAT Léon Supercopa will only be decided at the season finale at Hockenheim. After two spectacular races at Le Mans neither René Rast, who won the heat on Saturday, nor Florian Gruber or Fredy Barth were able to score enough points to clinch the championship. The title fight is now open between these three drivers. Christian Hohenadel won the race on Sunday. But despite his third victory of this season he has no more chance to win the title.
Bad luck after good starting position
FIA-GT: The strong performance of Christophe Bouchut and Peter Kox at the ninth round of the FIA GT Championship at Adria was not honoured with a good result. Having started from fourth position, Bouchut defended third place with the Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT. After 43 laps he handed the car over to Peter Kox who had to retire after only three laps with a broken transmission.
Results and points
Le Mans (F), 15 October, DTM round 9
1 Bruno Spengler (Mercedes) 39 laps in 1h 03m 09.292s
2 Mika Häkkinen (Mercedes) + 0.398s
3 Tom Kristensen (Audi A4 DTM) + 12.770s
4 Martin Tomczyk (Audi A4 DTM) + 23.709s
5 Bernd Schneider (Mercedes) + 24.044s
…
8 Timo Scheider (Audi A4 DTM) + 29.203s
9 Christian Abt (Audi A4 DTM) + 40.180s
10 Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Audi A4 DTM) + 42.277s
12 Pierre Kaffer (Audi A4 DTM) + 50.128s
14 Thed Björk (Audi A4 DTM) + 59.708s
16 Vanina Ickx (Audi A4 DTM) - 2 laps
Positions after 9 of 10 rounds: 1 Schneider, 66 points; 2 Spengler, 53; 3 Kristensen, 50; 4 Tomczyk, 38; 5 Häkkinen, 25; 6 Frentzen, 24; … 8 Ekström, 21; 11 Scheider, 9; 13 Abt, 4; 14 Stippler, 3; 16 Kaffer, 1.
Next race: Hockenheim (D), 29 October
Valencia (E), 8 October, World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) round 17
1 Augusto Farfus (Alfa Romeo) 15 laps in 28m 20.311s
2 Luca Rangoni (BMW) + 0.743s
3 Nicola Larini (Chevrolet) + 2.268s
4 Salvatore Tavano (Alfa Romeo) + 6.397s
5 Peter Terting (SEAT Léon) + 7.698s
…
9 James Thompson (SEAT Léon) + 15.138s
10 Yvan Muller (SEAT Léon) + 15.631s
14 Tom Coronel (SEAT Léon) + 20.601s
16 Jordi Gené (SEAT Léon) + 21.507s
17 Maurizio Ceresoli (SEAT Léon) + 21.790s
19 Oscar Nogues (SEAT Léon) + 24.892s
23 Rickard Rydell (SEAT Léon) - 2 laps
24 Gabriele Tarquini (SEAT Léon) - 4 laps
Valencia (E), 8 October, World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) round 18
1 Jörg Müller (BMW) 13 laps in 23m 15.498s
2 Duncan Huisman (BMW) + 0.861s
3 Luca Rangoni (BMW) + 1.485s
4 Nicola Larini (Chevrolet) + 2.395s
5 Augusto Farfus (Alfa Romeo) + 4.435s
6 Yvan Muller (SEAT Léon) + 11.324s
12 James Thompson (SEAT Léon) + 18.266s
13 Tom Coronel (SEAT Léon) + 19.469s
18 Maurizio Ceresoli (SEAT Léon) + 27.896s
20 Rickard Rydell (SEAT Léon) + 30,843s
21 Peter Terting (SEAT Léon) + 31.525s
22 Oscar Nogues (SEAT Léon) + 34.564s
Positions after 18 of 20 rounds: 1 Farfus, 60 points; 2 Priaulx and Müller, 59; 4 Tarquini, 57; 5 Rydell, 54; … 7 Thompson, 49; 8 Muller and Terting, 48; 10 Gené, 36; 19 Coronel, 12.
Silverstone (GB), 15 October, British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) round 28
1 Gareth Howell (Honda) 22 laps in 22m40.400s
2 Colin Turkington (MG) + 2.100s
3 Tom Chilton (Vauxhall) + 3.098s
4 Matt Neal (Honda) + 4.291s
5 James Thompson (SEAT Leon) + 4.785s
…
8 Jason Plato (SEAT Leon) + 9.909s
12 Tom Ferrier (SEAT Toledo) + 15.287s
Silverstone (GB), 15 October, British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) round 29
1 Matt Neal (Honda) 14 laps in 14m27.047s
2 Gordon Shedden (Honda) + 0.452s
3 Fabrizio Giovanardi (Vauxhall) + 0.700s
4 Gavin Smith (Vauxhall) + 2.705s
5 Rob Collard (MG) + 2.883s
…
7 Tom Ferrier (SEAT Toledo) + 8.894s
10 Darren Turner (SEAT Leon) + 17.024s
Silverstone (GB), 15 October, British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) round 30
1 Gareth Howell (Honda) 25 laps in 28m09.575s
2 Colin Turkington (MG) + 0.966s
3 Tom Chilton (Vauxhall) + 5.129s
4 Jason Plato (SEAT Léon) + 5.721s
5 James Thompson (SEAT Léon) + 6.104s
6 Darren Turner (SEAT Léon) + 6.627s
…
8 Tom Ferrier (SEAT Toledo) + 12.054s
Final positions after 30 rounds: 1 Neal, 289 points; 2 Plato, 233; 3 Turkington, 228; 4 Shedden, 204; 5 Giovanardi, 163; 6 Thompson, 156; ... 14 Turner, 36.
Le Mans (F), 14 October, SEAT Léon Supercopa round 12
1 René Rast (SEAT Léon) 16 laps in 29m 20.257s
2 Fredy Barth (SEAT Léon) + 3.384s
3 Damian Sawicki (SEAT Léon) + 4.821s
4 Erik Janis (SEAT Léon) + 8.618s
5 Christian Hohenadel (SEAT Léon) + 9.823s
Le Mans (F), 15 October, SEAT Léon Supercopa round 13
1 Christian Hohenadel (SEAT Léon) 14 laps in 30m 46.336s
2 Mikko Heino (SEAT Léon) + 0.260s
3 Florian Gruber (SEAT Léon) + 2.169s
4 Fredy Barth (SEAT Léon) + 2.687s
5 René Rast (SEAT Léon) + 3.404s
Positions after 13 of 15 rounds: 1 Rast, 177 points; 2 Gruber, 164, 3 Barth, 163; 4 Hohenadel, 112; 5 Bauer, 112.
Next race: Hockenheim (D), 28 October
Adria (I), 15 October, FIA GT Championship round 9
1 Biagi/Davies (Maserati) 144 laps in 3h 00m 59.760s
2 Bertolini/Bartels (Maserati) + 9.092s
3 Longin/Kumpen/Hezemans (Corvette) + 41.181s
4 Babini/Pescatori (Aston Martin) + 1m 00.390s
5 Gollin/Ramos (Aston Martin) - 1 lap
Positions after 9 of 10 rounds: 1 Bartels and Bertolini, each 69 points; 3 Bert, 55; 4 Janis, 54; 5 Piccini and Deletraz, each 52.
Next race: Dubai (UAE), 11 November
Coming up next week
Finale of the American Le Mans Series at Laguna Seca (Saturday) … Finale of the Italian Superstars Touring Car Series at Misano (Sunday) …