BMW have the pace on the streets of Pau
BMW
Chevrolet
Seat
Honda
Click a link to go directly to that story!
BMW
Pau, 31st May 2008. BMW Team Germany’s Augusto Farfus (BR) will start the seventh round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship from pole position. At the “Circuit de Pau Ville” in South-western France the 24-year-old beat the rest of the 25-strong field by setting a best time of 1:21.960 minutes. It’s the first time this year a BMW 320si WTCC car will start the first race of a WTCC weekend from pole. At the same time, this is Farfus’ maiden pole position as a BMW works driver.
Defending champion BMW Team UK’s Andy Priaulx (GB) was seventh, 0.719 seconds behind his fellow BMW driver. Farfus’ team-mate, Jörg Müller (DE) clocked the tenth-fastest lap of the afternoon. BMW Team Italy-Spain’s Alessandro Zanardi (IT) and Félix Porteiro (ES) were 12th and 15th respectively.
“This was a tough qualifying,” said Farfus after an exciting session, which got underway 30 minutes late due to crash barrier repairs. “This result comes at exactly the right time. After the difficult start to the season we just had to begin catching up at some point, and I hope this point has now come. Surely we have made the first step in this direction. However, I haven’t won anything so far. The races in Pau are long and usually very eventful. But for the moment, I’m just very happy.”
Farfus clocked his best time on his final run in the dying seconds of the 45-minute session. Just a lap earlier he had hit the barrier in turn 5, and lost his right wing mirror. “Luckily the car was okay, so I could continue,” said Farfus. “I kept on pushing as hard as I could to make it to the top – and that’s what I managed to do.”
The script for this qualifying session is another proof of the special relationship between Farfus and the twisty Pau street circuit. Last year he rolled his car in qualifying, but still managed to score a spectacular win in race two. “Pau is a driver’s circuit,” commented BMW Team Germany’s team manager, Charly Lamm (DE), on the performance of his driver. “We have been quick quite a few times this year, but seldom were able to exploit our full potential in qualifying. Finally Augusto achieved just that today. Jörg was unlucky and got stuck in traffic several times, but still he is in a position to score points tomorrow.”
Priaulx was denied the chance to put in a perfect lap in the decisive stage of qualifying due to several incidents and yellow flags. “When you put a good lap together on a street circuit it is very rewarding and good fun, so I wish I could have found the way to do that today,” he said. “However, we have got to race yet and seeing the amount of carnage in the races so far this weekend shows us anything can happen.”
The first round will start on Sunday at 12:05hrs CEST (11:05hrs BST). Round two gets underway at 15:50hrs CEST. The two races are both covered live by Eurosport 2 and Eurosport International on TV and the official BMW Motorsport Website, at www.bmw-motorsport.com, online.
Chevrolet
PAU, 31st May 2008 – Steady rain greeted the 2008 World Touring Car Championship contenders upon their return to the streets of Pau in the southwest of France. The two free practice sessions were run in treacherously wet conditions while for qualifying the track unexpectedly stayed dry. This required a last-minute u-turn in setup, but the Chevrolet team stepped up to the plate and gave Rob Huff, Nicola Larini and Alain Menu the perfect tools to do their job. With tomorrow’s Pau Grand Prix – one of the oldest street races in the world – looking set to be a wet affair as well, qualifying was more important here than at any other race track on the WTCC calendar. Indeed, with very limited overtaking possibilities on the narrow Pyrenees streets – certainly so in the wet – the mission for the drivers was clear: qualify as close as possible to the front row to be good for the first race, or – given the success ballast they are carrying – the fourth row, to be in a better position for the second race. With a sixth (Huff), eighth (Larini) and 11th (Menu) grid position things look good for the Chevrolet team.
* QUOTES
Rob Huff (6th): “It was a difficult day today. I think it’s been one of the hardest qualifying days we’ve had in a long time, but all’s well that ends well. We kept on tweaking the car in qualifying after this morning’s wet practice sessions and we got it right where we wanted. The crew did a fantastic job in fixing the car again after my off from this morning. So to qualify sixth with 48kgs of success ballast on board is quite pleasing.”
Nicola Larini (8th): “On my last flying lap I got badly baulked again by another competitor who was weaving all over the place. If not I think I could have been two or three tenths faster than I was now. Anyway, the car was handling great towards the end of the session after I made some changes. If I have the same car tomorrow from eighth on the grid things might look just right for the second race.”
Alain Menu (11th): “On my fastest lap everything looked very good in the first two sectors since I improved in both. Then in the tiny chicane I hit the concrete kerbs on the left, bounced off into the tyre barriers on the right which in turn shot me off into the Armco on the left, damaging the rear left suspension. It’s a shame because I could have been right up there. Still, I’m surprised that with the time there was still left in the session I didn’t drop further back than 11th, so anything could happen tomorrow. Having started last in Valencia two weeks ago and going on to win the second race, I think I could still score some serious points tomorrow.”
Seat
The SEAT Sport drivers have achieved good starting positions for the first of the two WTCC races to be staged tomorrow on the urban track in Pau. Yvan Muller, Jordi Gené, Gabriele Tarquini and Rickard Rydell made a clean sweep of place two to five on the time sheets, with Tiago Monteiro ninth.
After a rainy morning the qualifying session was held on a track that was progressively drying, thus causing several position changes, with the SEAT drivers always on the front. The final grid positions were decided in the last few minutes, with Augusto Farfus taking the pole ahead of four SEAT Sport drivers.
Despite the new ballast regulations which are penalising the SEAT León TDI even more, they have been able to show once again their tremendous competitiveness, with an outstanding performance on a track like Pau, where ballast has a special meaning considering the drops and changes of direction. After today’s result, the mystery for tomorrow will be the tyre wear, and the aim of the SEAT team will be as always to score the necessary points to keep the leadership both in the constructors' and drivers' championship.
Drivers’ statements
Yvan Muller: (SEAT León TDI no. 12), 2nd: “I’m happy for the place on the front row. Especially because the weather gave us a hard time and it was difficult to find the right settings. The pole would have been perfect but I’m going to try to fight for the victory not only from the first turn but throughout the race".
Jordi Gené (SEAT León TDI no. 9), 3rd: "I’m very happy with what I have achieved today. This result gives us good hopes for the race and shows the good level we have both in dry and wet conditions. My aim is obviously to fight for a place on the podium".
Gabriele Tarquini (SEAT León TDI no. 11), 4th: "I didn’t expect to be this competitive considering the heavy weight I’m carrying in the car, but I managed to be fourth despite the mistake I made in my last fast lap. Everything will be more difficult if it rains tomorrow, but our car is the best when it comes to adapting to changing conditions".
Rickard Rydell (SEAT León TDI no. 10), 5th: “This has been a great result for SEAT as a team. It is my first time in Pau and I’ve clocked good times on the wet. I expected rain for the qualifying and the track has been completely different in dry conditions. It would be good for me if it rains tomorrow".
Tiago Monteiro (SEAT León TDI no. 18), 9th: "I’m not happy because I like this track a lot and I expected to do better. Out set-up was good for wet conditions but didn’t work out on the dry track. I haven’t been able to give it all by I’m ninth which is a strategic position. My main aim is to finish among the top eight".
Honda
N.Technology took to the French streets of Pau for the first time with the Honda Accord Euro R Super 2000 today for the FIA World Touring Car Championship's (WTCC) fourth race weekend of the season.
In an incident-filled qualifying, which saw several cars hit the barriers, James Thompson set the 14th fastest time of the 45-minute session and will start tomorrow's race on the seventh row.
Despite setting sixth fastest earlier in the session, yellow flags prevented the British driver from improving his time in the second half of qualifying.
The morning's two free practice sessions proved more successful for the Italian team however, with Thompson setting fourth fastest each time in wet weather conditions.
Eurosport's WTCC coverage begins Saturday 31 May with qualifying shown on Eurosport 2 and Asia Pacific at 15:00 (CET). Race One will be shown live on Sunday 01 June from 11:45 (CET) on Eurosport 2 and Asia Pacific with Race Two starting at 15:00 (CET), both on Eurosport International and Asia Pacific.
Live streaming will also be available for both races on www.eurosport.com and www.fiawtcc.com.
James Thompson, car number 15
"With our initial set-up, we were able to set sixth fastest in the earlier part of qualifying. Unfortunately, I had to slow down on what could have been an even better lap as there were yellow flags out. There are two races tomorrow and that's what we have to focus on now. Top eight in race one is the target so that we can maximise on the reverse grid in race two."
Andrea Muller, Team Manager
"On a wet track, during free practice, we were able to set fourth fastest with James. Unfortunately, things changed with dry weather conditions during qualifying. We are continuously learning how the car behaves and how to get the best out of it. Obviously, we are not where we would like to be but we are still at the beginning with this car."