Alain Menu has a good record at Brands Hatch from his BTCC days
- Route To Brands Hatch, UK
- Tarquini Leads By One Point
- A Field Of 28 With Beirao And Biter
Route To Brands Hatch, UK
The 13th and 14th rounds of the FIA WTCC will take place next week at the Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit, located some 30 km South East of London. It is the third consecutive year the championship visits the racetrack.
Being a regular venue of the British Touring Car Championship, Brands Hatch is very well known by a number of WTCC competitors, starting with the local boys: James Thompson, Robert Huff and Andy Priaulx. Thompson has won here four times; Huff also tasted victory at Brands Hatch during his first year of the BTCC in 2004. Reigning world champion, Priaulx finally grabbed his first touring car win at the Kent circuit last year in the WTCC's Race 2.
Other WTCC drivers to have scored wins at Brands Hatch include former BTCC champions Alain Menu, Gabriele Tarquini and Yvan Muller. The Swiss is the recordman, with seven BTCC victories between 1995 and 2000 and two WTCC sucesses: in 2006 (Chevrolet's maiden victory in the championship) and 2007.
Before winning the 2006 WTCC's Race 1 for SEAT, Muller had already won
four times here. As for the current leader Tarquini, he scored four consecutive wins at Brands in 1994.
Tarquini Leads By One Point
Brands Hatch marks the beginning of the second half of the championship's season.
With twelve of the twenty-four rounds in the archives, ten different drivers have managed to claim victory so far. Only two of them - Ganriele Tarquini and Tiago Monteiro - have been able to win twice.
Despite remaining pointless in Estoril, Tarquini is still leading the Drivers' Championship; however his margin went down to only one point ahead of Yvan Muller. Rickard Rydell completes the SEAT Sport trio on top trailing by 10 points. BMW's Andy Priaulx and Chevrolet's Robert Huff are the first non-SEAT men in the classification, with gaps of 15 and 22 points respectively.
In the Manufacturers' Championship, SEAT lead from BMW by 37 points.
Sergio Hernández of Proteam Motorsport leads the Independents' Trophy, 5 points from team-mate Stefano D'Aste, with Pierre-Yves Corthals a further 6 points adrift.
A Field Of 28 With Beirao And Biter
The WTCC will have a field of 28 cars in Brands Hatch. Besides Dahlgren's Volvo the championship will welcome two more newcomers: Lourenço Beirão da Veiga and Aytaç Biter.
Beirão da Veiga, a 29 year-old driver from Lisbon, has won his participation at the wheel of a SUNRED SEAT León through the SEAT Eurocup. The Portuguese youngster claimed victory in the second race at Estoril and emerged as the best driver in his home event.
Biter, from Turkey, will join his fellow countryman Ibrahim Okyay in the Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport's second BMW 320si car. He has already tested with the team, three weeks ago at Monza.