SEAT starts the 2008 Touring Car World Championship with two victories
Seat
BMW
Chevrolet
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Seat
The first meeting of the Touring Car World Championship held this weekend at the Brazilian racetrack in Curitiba, witnessed a total success for the SEAT team, with two victories in two races. In race one, Yvan Muller and Rickard Rydell claimed a one-two finish for the team and Gabriele Tarquini took his SEAT León TDI to victory with an advantage of less than one second over Andy Priaulx.
In the first of two races, SEAT drivers Yvan Muller and Rickard Rydell made the most out of their grid positions to lead the race from the start. Any attack started by Augusto Farfus Jr. was useless and the Spanish make claimed the one-two finish in addition to the sixth place for Tarquini and Gené’s seventh place, although he was later penalised after touching Huff (Chevrolet). Tiago Monteiro crashed right after the start destroying one of his wheels and loosing three laps repairing it.
Gabriele Tarquini made a fantastic start to the second race and moved up from third to first in the first lap. From then on his race consisted in defending the attacks launched by the BMWs, first Porteiro and then Andy Priaulx, who crossed the finish line stuck to the Italian but without being able to pass him. Tarquini celebrated his 49th birthday in the best possible way, with a victory.
Behind him, Yvan Muller, Rickard Rydell and Jordi Gené managed to take their SEAT León TDI machines to the points, which, for Muller meant the leadership of the drivers’ championship, for Gené, his first points, and, for SEAT the leadership of the Constructors' Championship. The teams will meet again in Puebla (Mexico) on April 5th and 6th.
Drivers’ Statements
Yvan Muller: (SEAT León TDI no. 12), 1st/5th: “Both races were very hard today, as the smallest mistake could be decisive. I had to give 200 percent, but we made good teamwork in the first race with Rydell. It was not only us; it was the work of the whole team. It is important to start the championship with a victory.”
Gabriele Tarquini (SEAT León TDI no. 11), 4th/1st: “It’s been an incredible victory, especially improving two positions in the first lap. This SEAT León TDI is fantastic and even if the pressure of the BMW has been tremendous throughout the race, I was able to stand it until the end.”
Rickard Rydell (SEAT León TDI no. 10), 2nd/7th: “This is the result of the work of a large group of mechanics and engineers, not only of the drivers. The success is based on yesterday's results, because the BMW were faster than us today, that was clearly visible and I hope that this will help to stop the gossip about the TDI’s being superior.”
Jordi Gené (SEAT León TDI no. 9), 12th/8th: “I’m disappointed. I had a good pace and was fast but I’ve only been able to score one point. It’s a rather poor result considering that I could have done much better. I was not expecting to leave Brazil leading the championship, but with a podium finish in the second race and a seventh place in the first. In addition to an extremely controversial decision which we have to accept because these are the rules of the game in a new scenario”.
Tiago Monteiro (SEAT León TDI no. 18), 18th/13th: ““The plan of the weekend was broken because of Farfus’ enthusiasm in the first race. When something happens in the first race all plans are broken. It’s a shame because I had a good position and everything could have been different. I have started with a non-scorer and that’s not what I wanted. Let’s see what happens in the next race. The most important thing is that Yvan and the team are leading the championship, even if I expected more for me.”
Jaime Puig, SEAT Sport Manager: “The overall assessment of the weekend is very good. It’s been very hard and we’ll have to fight hard, because as we’ve been able to see, we’ll have to fight meter after meter. However, when you win both races and one of them with a one-two finish, and you leave leading the drivers’ and constructors’ championship, the result is really positive.”
Top-3 positions for BMW drivers at WTCC season opener
BMW
Curitiba, 2nd March 2008. BMW experienced a successful start to the 2008 FIA World Touring Car Championship. In race two at Curitiba (BR), both Andy Priaulx (GB) of BMW Team UK and BMW Team Italy-Spain's Felix Porteiro made it onto the podium by finishing second and third respectively. Jorg Muller (DE) and Augusto Farfus (BR) of BMW Team Germany completed the excellent team result by finishing fourth and sixth.
In the first round of the new season, Farfus had crossed the finish line third. However, the 24-year-old was later excluded from race one due to a breach of the technical regulations. The "V" support for fixing the engine protection did not comply with the regulations. But the Stewards considered that there was no fraudulent intent within the team. Thus Muller moved up into third place, and Priaulx was classified fourth. Porteiro came sixth, while Alessandro Zanardi (IT) was 15th and 11th at the "Autodromo Internacional de Curitiba".
Following the two races in Brazil, Priaulx ranks third in the Drivers' Championship with 13 points. Muller has got 11 points under his belt, and is fourth, Porteiro follows in sixth position, while Farfus is in seventh place. In the manufacturers' classification, BMW lies in second place with 25 points.
Andy Priaulx (BMW Team UK):
"It's not easy to gain ground from 12th on the grid. However, today I had the dose of luck that is needed for that. My car was very competitive. On Saturday we had been off the pace. But it tells you a lot about our team that we were able to deal with that."
Jorg Muller (BMW Team Germany):
"It was my goal to score points in both races, and I made it happen. My start in race one was good so I was able to go at high speed. In race two I could overtake quite a few cars. Eleven points is a very positive overall result."
Augusto Farfus (BMW Team Germany):
"It's disappointing to lose six points that I fought so hard for on the track. The speed of our car was very good, but we are still lacking outright speed so we can attack the diesel cars on the straight. We made a lot of progress over the winter."
Felix Porteiro (BMW Team Italy-Spain):
"Never had I expected to score a podium finish right at the beginning of the season. Prior to race two we made some modifications to the car. This move turned out to be successful. I'm really happy with this weekend."
Alessandro Zanardi (BMW Team Italy-Spain):
"In race one I was hit by another car in turn 1. It was just a slight touch, but a tyre valve was pushed in. Following my pit stop I was able to match the pace of the front- runners - but by this time I was one lap down. I had nothing to lose in race two. In Mexico I will launch my next attack to finish in the points."
It was a bad weekend for Chevrolet
Chevrolet
Menu And Larini Drive Strong Comeback Second Race
CURITIBA, What should have been a successful weekend for the Chevrolet WTCC team at round one of the 2008 World Touring Car Championship took a turn for the worse after barely two laps into the first race. Alain Menu was deliberately taken off by another competitor, while a broken gearbox as a result of a clash with the same competitor caused Nicola Larini to crash into Rob Huff, who later retired as well with suspension problems as a consequence of this.
In the second race, Huff again fell victim of another competitor after only a few corners, but Menu and Larini proved that the Chevrolet Lacetti had indeed the right level of competitiveness when they fought their way up from the back of the grid to tenth and 12th overall.
Alain Menu (DNF/10th): "Everything was going just fine in race 1. At the end of the first lap I had noticed Gene braked at least ten metres too early at the end of the straight, so next time round, when he did that again, I dived inside of him since the door was wide open. I was perfectly alongside him and he just deliberately turned in on me. It wasn't a case of closing the door, since we weren't even at the corner yet. Then in the second race I had a perfect start, but Rob got hit by another car and went sideways so I had to come to a near-standstill, losing all the places I had made up at the start. So from then on I could only try to limit the damage, but the car worked brilliantly and I finished tenth. Without the first-corner incident I'm sure I would have finished in the points."
Nicola Larini (DNF/12th): "In the first race I had a good start and the car felt really good. But then in the braking zone for the final corner I lost the transmission which meant I couldn't slow down fast enough and I hit Rob. It's a shame really because both of us were in a good position to take home some big points. In the second race everything went as well as it should have gone in race one, but Zanardi blocked me for a number of laps, allowing Alain to pass us both."
Rob Huff (DNF/DNF): "Unfortunately I have had one of the shortest race weekends of my career. In race one I was the victim of Nic's gearbox issues, which ultimately led to my retirement with a broken suspension. Then in the second race Monteiro got alongside me but ran over the kerbs and got launched onto my rear wheel, so I had to three-wheel to pits again. It's a pity because all three of us had a good car and we could have had a really good start to the season."
Eric Nève: "It's not the weekend we had wished for, as like so often in the past we again fell victim of other drivers' behaviour. This time it was even so blatantly obvious that the stewards stepped in with immediate sanctions. It could have been a good weekend for Chevrolet, but the top speed of today's winners is still very much a concern. Let's hope that things can improve on all issues concerned at the next round in Mexico. There are still 22 races left in this year's WTCC, so we'll go to Puebla as prepared and committed as always. "