Larini made it onto the podium in Estoril
Seat
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Honda
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Seat
Rickard Rydell and Tiago Monteiro give SEAT the third one-two finish of the season
Rickard Rydell and Tiago Monteiro have been victorious at the sixth meeting of the World Touring Car Championship staged this weekend at the Portuguese racetrack of Estoril. The SEAT drivers took the victory in both races, with Yvan Muller finishing third and second respectively. With this result, SEAT keep three drivers in the top three positions of the drivers’ championship and increase their advantage in the constructors’ championship.
Both in the first and second races, the SEAT Sport drivers had to fight hard for the victory, having their rivals at their wheels at all times. Rydell opened a gap of at least one second to Larini (Chevrolet) in the first race, whilst Monteiro had to overtake Porteiro (BMW) who stayed in his slipstream almost until the finish, when he was overtaken by Muller and Priaulx (BMW), who were less than three tenths apart. With the SEAT León TDI driver crossing the finish line before the BMW, Muller achieved the third one-two finish of the season for the Spanish make, after Brazil and Mexico.
Jordi Gené also managed to score after a first excellent race and a hard fight with Robert Huff (Chevrolet) and Andy Priaulx (BMW), thus getting valuable points for the championship, whilst Gabriele Tarquini was not able to finish in the points in none of the races. Pierre Yves Corthals rounded-off SEAT’s success taking the Independents' Trophy in the first race.
Statements of the drivers
Tiago Monteiro (SEAT León TDI no. 18), 7th/1st: “ A phantastic weekend and a very special one for me. After the victory in Mexico I’ve had a run of average results. I want to thank the team for their help and their great job. They have allowed me and the whole team to get this excellent result in Estoril with Rickard’s victory, mine and both podium finishes of Yvan. I’m very happy”.
Rickard Rydell (SEAT León TDI no. 10), 1st/8th: "A very good weekend for the team and for me, and I’m happy with my performance, both in practice and in the first race with my first victory of the season. It wasn't as good in the second race, but I think that we can be happy all together".
Yvan Muller: (SEAT León TDI no. 12), 3rd/4th: “This has been a great weekend for me. After the practices I couldn’t expect such a good race day for me, being twice on the podium and scoring very important points for the team in the constructors’ world championship".
Jordi Gené (SEAT León TDI no. 9), 5th/9th: "I’m happy for SEAT because this is a circuit that raised several problems. Everything went perfect in the first race, but I didn't feel comfortable with the car in the second race. It’s been a shame because I would have been able to score some more points".
Gabriele Tarquini (SEAT León TDI no. 11), 13th/11th: “This has obviously been a negative weekend. I’m leaving Estoril with a double zero. I hope I won’t have to face such a complicated race ever again".
Jaime Puig, SEAT Sport Director: "A perfect weekend. We didn’t expect to achieve such a brilliant result and the whole team has been on a perfect level fighting to the top. The weather helped us as well, since the temperature was a bit lo
Chevrolet
ESTORIL, 13th July 2008 – The Chevrolet WTCC team scored important points in the Portuguese round of the 2008 championship, thanks to a second place by pole sitter Nicola Larini and points finishes by Rob Huff. Alain Menu’s weekend brought no points after his qualifying times were disallowed because of a technical failure on his car’s fire extinguisher.
In the Drivers World Championship, both Huff and Larini move up a place in the standings, while Chevrolet moves closer to the second place in the Manufacturers’ standings.
* QUOTES
Nicola Larini (2nd/6th): “I had a good start from pole in the first race, but the SEATs just flew past me like rockets. When Yvan went wide in one corner I could slip past and start chasing Rickard. In the beginning I was struggling a bit, though I was faster than him, especially in the first and third sectors. But coming out of the long right-hander I had to take a slightly less than ideal line in order not to lose downforce at the front so that made it difficult to outbrake him at the end of the straight. So I finished second, again. In the second race I pushed as hard as I could and gained one place but there was nothing more I could have done.”
Rob Huff (4th/5th): “I had a good start and was running level with Rickard towards the end of the straight. I then could go only one way, so I thought ‘be brave’ and went around the outside. Then someone hit Jordi and he tapped me into a half spin and I lost a couple of places. I then sat behind Andy and Jordi for some eight laps at which time I thought it was time to interfere. I had looked after my tyres so I could make two good moves near the end and bring home more points, which was very good. In race two I was following the SEATs when Yvan pushed Jordi out of the way, but he came back on the track and gave a big swipe which bent the steering. From then on it was just matter of saving as many points as I could.”
Alain Menu (11th/14th): “The first race was okay. I avoided other drivers’ contacts as much as possible which meant I had to brake quite a few times, but 11th was a good result, having started 25th. In the second race I again had a good start and decided to wait a bit to see what would develop ahead of me. Gabriele Tarquini pushed me a lot going into the hairpin and there I lost some places, at the same time damaging something on the car, all I could salvage was 14th. Next race should be better at my adoptive home track of Brands Hatch. I scored Chevrolet’s first win there in 2006 and won there again in 2007. A hat trick would be nice, methinks.”
Honda had reliability problems all weekend
Honda
Despite tremendous efforts from the Italian team, N.Technology was unable to take part in today´s races for the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) in Estoril, Portugal.
Having suffered two engine failures yesterday, followed by further problems during warm-up this morning, the team was unable to repair the Honda Accord Euro R Super 2000 in time and therefore chose not to race in rounds 11 and 12.
Running as high as second fastest during testing on Friday, eventually posting the eighth best time, N.Technology have shown steady progress since their first race outing with the Honda Accord Euro R Super 2000 in Valencia last May.
The Italian outfit now hopes to show its true competitive form in two weeks time for British driver James Thompson´s home rounds at Brands Hatch.
James Thompson, car number 15
"The team worked throughout the night on the car and again this morning but unfortunately we were unable to fix it in time to take part in today´s races. After showing such promise in testing two weeks ago and again on Friday, we are all understandably disappointed.
"The next rounds take place at Brands Hatch, a track that I know extremely well and love racing at. Hopefully we will be luckier there. We have made some good progress in the last month and are due a good result soon!"
Andrea Muller, Team Manager
"The decision not to race was not taken lightly but there was simply not enough time to ensure the car would be competitive for today´s races.
"I´d like to thank the team and highlight their effort this weekend; they have worked exceptionally hard and it is a real shame that they were not rewarded with a chance to race."
Estoril, 13th July 2008. Andy Priaulx (GB) successfully reduced the gap to the leaders in the FIA World Touring Car Championship. At the “Circuito do Estoril” the BMW Team UK driver claimed third in the second race of the day, while in race one the 33-year-old finished sixth. BMW Team Italy-Spain’s Félix Porteiro (ES) also had a satisfying Sunday by finishing eighth and fourth respectively. SEAT drivers Rickard Rydell (SE) and Tiago Monteiro (PT) notched up the two victories at the Portuguese track.
Jörg Müller (DE) added two points to BMW Team Germany’s tally by crossing the finish line of race two in seventh. His team-mate, Auguto Farfus (BR), however, retired from the first race following a collision. In the second race he moved up to tenth from 20th on the grid. Alessandro Zanardi (IT) finished 20th and 13th for BMW Team Italy-Spain. In the drivers’ classification, Priaulx remains the best-placed BMW driver with 43 points. Championship leader Gabriele Tarquini (IT) left Estoril empty-handed, still with 58 points under his belt. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, BMW is second with 135 points.
Andy Priaulx (BMW Team UK):
“I am happy I got the most that was possible out of the car. We had a couple of tough races, and it is good to be back on the podium. I have closed the gap to the points’ leader. Now I shall focus on Brands Hatch, which is next on the calendar. This is a weekend to really look forward to.”
Félix Porteiro (BMW Team Italy-Spain):
“Going home with six points is very good for me. I knew it would be hard to keep Tiago Monteiro in the SEAT diesel behind me in the second race. Towards the end of the race I had to cope with brake problems, which was the reason for me losing two positions just before the chequered flag. But overall I’m happy.”
Jörg Müller (BMW Team Germany):
“Just after the start of race one there were four cars side by side. Unfortunately it was me on the outside – and I turned out to be the one who suffered. You don’t really want to finish ninth in round one of a WTCC weekend. In the second race our performance was good, but better than seventh was impossible to achieve.”
Augusto Farfus (BMW Team Germany):
“I’m deeply disappointed leaving Estoril with zero-points. Our performance was really good during the whole weekend. But my hopes for a strong result were buried as early as the start of the first race.”
Alessandro Zanardi (BMW Team Italy-Spain):
“Despite the handicap weight I carried this weekend we were able to match the lap time of the other BMW drivers. The crucial factor was again my qualifying performance. If you start from the middle of the pack it’s more likely you will be involved in a collision, and in my case this is what happened today.”