Alain Menu took his third win at Brands Hatch in three years
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Chevrolet
Chevrolet Driver Wins Third Consecutive Brands Hatch WTCC Race
BRANDS HATCH - The Chevrolet WTCC team dominated the proceedings at Brands Hatch today. Swiss touring ace, Alain Menu, won his third consecutive WTCC race at the Kent track, the first driver in the WTCC history to score three wins at the same track. Rob Huff looked the certain victor in today's first race, when two laps from the end his front left tyre punctured. The same fate befell team mate Nicola Larini who was running in seventh position and was looking at a first row start for race 2. From that moment, Menu who ran in fourth slowed down to conserve his tyres, dropping him back to eighth and thus gaining the pole position for race 2. In the second race Menu was in a class of his own, despite a quick getaway by Porteiro at the start, and scored his eighth WTCC victory for Chevrolet.
* QUOTES
Alain Menu (8th/1st): "In race 1, I had a good start but in Turn 2 Farfus tried to close the door when it was already too late. I just kept my foot down and then he tried again resulting in him going off and me losing places. Despite the heavy hit the car felt okay afterwards. Near the end I noticed that both Rob and Nic were crawling to the pits and the team warned me over the radio to look after my tyres. I let some people past, which then gave me eighth at the finish which was good for pole for race 2. It helped me because in the end I scored more points than if I had finished fourth and then maybe fifth in the second race. In the second race, Porteiro was faster out of the blocks than me but after the safety car I passed him again going into Paddock Hill bend as soon as the track went green again. From then on it was just a matter of controlling the race."
Rob Huff (21st/10th): "I had a very good start in race 1 and tucked in behind Alain straight away. Then he and Farfus had their little thing in Druids which left the door wide open for me, very much like when I won my very first touring car race here in 2004. I then led comfortably until four laps from the end there was vibration at the front and then two laps from the end the tyre went bang and that was it. The good thing is that I'll lose 10 kilos for Oschersleben, so I'll make sure to use that to my advantage to get suitable revenge in a month's time."
Nicola Larini (23rd/12th): "My first race nearly finished in Turn 1 when I got caught in the incident between Alain and Farfus. Fortunately I barely hit Farfus as he shot across the track and from then on I settled for seventh which would have given me a front row start for race 2, just like my plan had been all weekend. Then the front left tyre delaminated with just three laps to go and I had to pit for a new tyre. Instead of starting from the front row I now started from the last and all I could do was to pass as many cars as possible and hope to maybe pick up a point."
BMW
Jorg Muller celebrates maiden win of the season in Brands Hatch.
Brands Hatch, 27th July 2008. Jorg Muller (DE) claimed victory in the 13th round of the 2008 FIA World Touring Car Championship. At the "Brands Hatch Circuit", the BMW Team Germany driver won ahead of SEAT's Yvan Muller (FR). Andy Priaulx (GB) crossed the line in third for BMW Team UK, scoring his fifth podium finish of the year. The BMW Team Italy-Spain drivers, Alessandro Zanardi (IT) and Felix Porteiro (ES), rounded off the strong result for BMW with fourth and sixth respectively. Muller's team-mate Augusto Farfus (BR), however, retired following an accident on the first lap.
In the second race of the day, Porteiro and Zanardi represented BMW on the podium after finishing second and third behind Chevrolet's Alain Menu (CH). Muller was fourth, while Farfus made up a total of 18 places and finished sixth. Priaulx was forced to retire with a puncture. Nevertheless, the reigning champion moved up to third in the Drivers' Championship. He is the best-placed BMW driver on 49 points. In the manufacturers' classification, BMW gained some ground on SEAT and has 165 points to its tally.
Jorg Muller (BMW Team Germany):
"Normally I don't have to wait until the second half of the season to score my maiden win of the year. Obviously I'm very happy now that I have made it. The team gave me a superb car. Now I will do my best to repeat this performance at the next race weekend in Oschersleben, in front of my home crowd."
Andy Priaulx (BMW Team UK):
"Third in race one is a good result. My car was perfect today. However, it was virtually impossible to pass Yvan Muller. I was set to give the British fans something to cheer about in the second race, too. But there is not much you can do with a puncture."
Felix Porteiro (BMW Team Italy-Spain):
"I never reckoned I would be in the position to score another podium result here. At the beginning of the weekend we were nowhere. But from one session to the next we found improvements. In the early stages of race two Alain Menu was just too quick, but over the course of the race I closed in on him. This proves we have a good pace."
Alessandro Zanardi (BMW Team Italy-Spain):
"This has been a fantastic weekend for us. We have changed our car a lot since Friday - and obviously we absolutely hit the mark with the set-up for the two races. In some situations we were a bit lucky. But in racing you just have to work hard enough and the luck plays into your hands."
Augusto Farfus (BMW Team Germany):
"Once again I was only able to show how good our car really is in the second race. I was pushed out of the first race and was forced to fight my way back up the field in the second race. It is frustrating we just cannot be rewarded for all our work."
Race 1 - Lap by lap.
Start: Pole-sitter Augusto Farfus successfully defends his lead before he is hit by Alain Menu and Nicola Larini. He crashes into the barriers, and the left side of his BMW 320si WTCC is severely damaged. Farfus heads back into the pits. Jorg Muller makes a good start. He holds second place following the retirement of his team-mate. Andy Priaulx improves from fourth to third. Alessandro Zanardi races in sixth. Felix Porteiro also manages to gain several places from 15th on the grid.
Lap 1: Priaulx loses third to Yvan Muller.
Lap 6: Porteiro is running in 11th. Priaulx puts Muller under pressure, but fails to overtake the SEAT diesel car.
Lap 12: Robert Huff suffers a puncture, which enables Muller to take the lead. Priaulx, Zanardi and Porteiro also gain one place each.
Lap 13: Zanardi overtakes Menu for fourth. Porteiro continues his chase, now running in eighth.
Lap 14: On the last lap, Porteiro passes Menu and Jordi Gene.
Finish: Muller claims his maiden win in the 2008 WTCC season. Priaulx finishes third, closely followed by Zanardi in fourth. Porteiro takes chequered flag in sixth. Meanwhile, BMW Team Germany is working hard to repair Farfus' car in time for the second race.
Race 2 - Lap by lap.
Start: Thanks to the good work of the BMW Team Germany crew, Farfus is able to take part in race two. At the start he improves from 24th to 16th. Porteiro also performs a great start from third on the grid. The Spaniard gets past Gabriele Tarquini and Menu to take the lead. Zanardi also starts well and takes third. Priaulx initially successfully defends his fifth place against Muller. But over the course of lap one the two BMW drivers swap places.
Lap 1: Following an accident for Gene the safety-car is deployed.
Lap 6: The race is re-started and the BMW drivers keep their positions.
Lap 7: Porteiro loses ninth to Menu. Farfus is continuing to move his way up.
Lap 8" Muller passes Tarquini for fourth.
Lap 11: Priaulx's front-right tyre is damaged. The 33-year-old heads back to the pits and retires.
Lap 13: After passing Sergio Hernandez and Rickard Rydell, Farfus is now running in the points' positions in seventh.
Lap 14: Farfus overtakes Stefano d'Aste.
Finish: Porteiro finishes second, Zanardi takes third. Muller collects five more championship points by coming fourth. Farfus is rewarded with three points for his courageous drive from the back of the grid.
Seat claimed a podium in an otherwise difficult weekend
Yvan Muller clinches new podium finish for SEAT
SEAT achieved another podium finish today, thanks to the second position of Yvan Muller in the first of two races of the WTCC staged today on the British racetrack of Brands Hatch. Under little favourable conditions, and driving against much lighter cars, the León TDI had a good performance scoring important points that keep SEAT in the lead of the constructors’ championship and Muller and Tarquini, who scored points in both races, in the top two spots of the drivers’ standings.
In the first race Yvan Muller placed his SEAT León TDI in third from the very start and even though he was not able to keep the pace of the leading two drivers, he made a great race defending his position against the BMW drivers, especially against Priaulx, who spent 14 laps at his wheels, finally crossing the finish line 13 thousands of a second behind Muller. Huff’s retirement two laps before the end of the race, allowed him to finish second.
Further in the back, the SEAT Sport drivers made an attacking race, allowing Tarquini to finish second and to score two points in the championship, thanks also to the cooperation and the team spirit of Jordi Gené. With this result, Tarquini was able to start the second race in the leading group, achieving further four points, being the only SEAT driver to finish in top positions.
Yvan Muller: (SEAT León TDI no. 12): “It’s been a very hard weekend for SEAT. The ballast conditioned our cars a lot both in the turns and when braking, and it was just impossible to keep up with the pace of our rivals. We fought as hard as we could and I hope that things change for the next race”.
Gabriele Tarquini (SEAT León TDI no. 11): ““My aim during the first race was finishing among the top eight. Jordi’s help was very important, so big thanks to him. The start of the second race wasn’t good and the race pace of our rivals was much faster today, so I'm happy with my fifth place”.
Jaime Puig, SEAT Sport Director: “The first race was good for SEAT. The good start made by our drivers allowed them to keep positions and get a place on the podium with Yvan. Jordi made excellent teamwork, positioning the cars in good places for the second race. However, it was difficult to keep the pace of the much lighter cars. Not only BMW and Chevrolet, but even private drivers”.
N.Technology claimed a top ten finish this weekend at the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) rounds at Brands Hatch, England. The Italian outfit saw British driver James Thompson less than eight tenths of a second outside of a points finish on home soil.
Thompson started race one in thirteenth position on the grid after setting a fastest lap of 1:33.784 during qualifying on Saturday. The British driver remained consistent throughout the race, claiming a tenth place finish. With under a second between tenth and eighth positions, Thompson narrowly missed out on the top-eight grid reversal for race two.
Round 14 saw the Honda Accord Euro R Super 2000 lined-up on the fifth row of the grid. An incident caused Thompson to slip down to 16th on lap eight; however, his focus and determination allowed him to climb through the field to take fourteenth place.
N.Technology, whose previous successes include 17 touring car championship titles, began its new racing programme at Valencia this year and has continued to improve its performance throughout the season.
James Thompson, car number 15
“We improved our position by three places in race one and were really close to taking some points and pole for race two. It was unlucky that we didn’t get a break to move up those two positions. We had some incidents in the second round, but we will keep on trying and improving.”
Andrea Muller, Team Manager
“James played a really clever second-half of the first race. We were aiming for eighth position to put us on pole for round 14 and missed out by a fraction. Race two was a little disappointing as we missed out on the chance to get points. But we will keep aiming for the top eight and a points finish.”