It was a bad weekend for Menu but his teammates scored points
Honda
Seat
Chevrolet
BMW
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Honda
N.Technology raced to its first win of the season today in round 18 of the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC), held at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy. The Italian outfit scored two podium finishes with driver James Thompson claiming third place in race one before taking the victory in race two.
The team was strong all weekend with the Honda Euro R Super 2000 setting the fifth fastest lap time during Saturday´s qualifying session. Despite an eventful start to race one, N.Technology´s James Thompson drove through the field to claim a third place finish and his third points-scoring round of the 2008 WTCC season.
The WTCC reverse grid regulations meant the N.Technology driver started on the third row of the grid for round 18. After avoiding an incident at the start, Thompson climbed to third place on the first lap prior to the safety car being deployed. When the race was restarted, the Brit moved into second place before taking the lead on lap seven, which he kept for the remainder of the 13-lap race. The Honda Euro R Super 2000´s win is the first for a Japanese manufacturer in the WTCC.
It is the first year of the team´s WTCC Honda project, and today´s success is the most recent in a long history of victories for N.Technology, who has claimed a win in every car that it has built or run. After a strong weekend, N.Technology will be hoping for a repeat performance at rounds 19 and 20, held at the Autodromo di Monza, Italy, on 5 October 2008.
James Thompson, car number 15
"I want to thank everyone concerned with the whole programme. To be here today after having such a strong weekend is testament to having a fantastic team with such a strong belief in the project. The car was so fast this weekend; I always had it in the back of my mind that we could be on the podium. We had a really clean race and I was beaming like a Cheshire cat as I crossed the line!
"We have achieved so much and we now need to concentrate on the last third of the season. Monza plays well into the strengths of our car, so we will be aiming to get on the podium once or twice more in the remainder of the season."
Andrea Muller, Team manager
"It has been a fantastic weekend! We were very fast and competitive; it shows how good the Honda really is. I hope for another good result in Monza, as it is another fast track. The team did a really good job, and James drove a perfect race. I´m very happy!"
Seat
Victory for SEAT at Imola
The ninth meeting of the FIA World Touring Car Championship saw the Spanish make achieving their eighth victory of the season, strengthening Yvan Muller's leadership in the drivers' championship and increasing their advantage in the manufacturers' championship by ten points.
The aim of the SEAT Sport team was keeping and increasing the leadership in both standings, and both aims have been achieved in a brilliant manner, as the work of the weekend started taking shape yesterday (Saturday) with Rickard Rydell clinching the pole position after an excellent teamwork of all of the drivers during the qualifying session.
In the first race Rydell and Muller, who went into the race from the front row, took the control of the race from the moment the lights went green and they did not leave the leadership until the finish, achieving a new victory for SEAT, the second for Muller and further one-two finish. The both set a strong pace and were able to drive rather calmly. Gabriele Tarquini finished fifth and further in the back, Monteiro was thirteenth and Gene seventeenth after having trouble with several incidents with other drivers that hindered them from improving positions.
Gabriele Tarquini started the second race from the second row of the grid, but a problem during the start made his car stall. Porteiro crashed against him, forcing the safety car to be deployed to neutralise the race during four laps. Gabriele left the car by himself but was taken to the medical centre of the circuit as a precautionary measure, where they stated that he had not sustained any injury.
After the safety car intervention, with Muller 6th and Rydell 8th, the aim of the SEAT drivers was recovering positions, and they did, after overtaking Farfus. Further in the front, Thompson was leading the race ahead of Jorg Muller, Robert Huff and Nicola Larini. The positions remained unchanged until the finish, and although Muller has been very close to the second Chevrolet some times, it was too risky to overtake. He finished fifth ahead of Rydell, while Monteiro and Gene were out of the points.
Yvan Muller: "Very good weekend. I arrived with an advantage of two points in the championship and I'm leaving with twelve. It could have been even better, but we must be happy, since after losing points against BMW in the latest races, we now managed to increase the difference. The team has made a magnificent job".
Rickard Rydell: "I'm very happy because I scored eleven points and clinched the pole position after a magnificent teamwork. Everybody has been brilliant, and the one-two of the first race was excellent. Then we've defended our options and I think that it's been a great weekend for all of us".
The next meeting of the championship will be held in Monza on October 5.
Chevrolet
ROB HUFF MOVES UP TO FOURTH IN CHAMPIONSHIP
Finishes On Podium Again; Larini Twice In Points; Dark Horse Menu Stumbles
IMOLA, 21st September 2008 Chevrolet played the strategy game this weekend with one clear mission: ensure that Rob Huff could take home the maximum possible amount of points. Huff could thus take home a third and a fourth place, more than he could have hoped for considering he was running with the maximum success ballast of 70kgs. Larini sacrificed his own chances of scoring a maiden WTCC win at home by helping out the other two Chevrolet drivers in qualifying. Alain Menu, driving the fashionable art car, was pushed out of the first race, however recovered to 12th in the second.
* QUOTES
Rob Huff (4th/3rd): "I had a good start in race 1, running in third through the chicane. I tried to pass Rydell for second but didn't make it so I decided to save third place for the points. I couldn't keep up with the SEATs as they were so much faster on the straights. In the twistier part of the track I could close up, but coming on to the straights they just pulled away on acceleration. Then on the penultimate lap Thompson pushed me wide to overtake me so I ended up fourth. In the second race I had a good start, but then the safety car intervened because of the start line accident. After that I again had to give way to Thompson, who was clearly on a mission in a very light car this weekend, so I dropped to fourth. Nicola then had some brake issues and I could pass him for third near the end of the race. Our goal in any case was to try and overtake Priaulx for fourth in the championship, which we managed. It has been a very good weekend for us, especially since it was the first time we ran the Chevrolet Lacetti with 70kgs of ballast. I was pleasantly surprised of how well the car handled with all that extra weight, so I'm really looking forward to Monza in two weeks."
Nicola Larini (6th/4th): "I had a dream start and was right there with the other Chevrolets entering the chicanes. I ran in sixth on the first lap and stayed there until Tarquini passed me, which was not too bad for me in view of the reversed grid for the second race. I then moved up to sixth again when Alain retired. In the second race I ran in second position when Thompson flew past me; I kept third, but then my brakes started fading so I let Rob go rather than put up a fight I would have lost anyway."
Alain Menu (DNF/12th): "I said before the start I was going to try something at the chicane, but it was too risky, so I settled for fourth behind Rob. Then on the seventh lap Thompson came flying across the grass and took me straight off. Hardly a fair manoeuvre I think. So with nothing to gain from the second race, we decided to detune the engine a bit and save it for Monza. I still finished in 12th, so I'm glad the art car finished at least one race."
BMW
BMW Team Germany's Jörg Müller claims podium finish in Imola.
Imola, 21st September 2008. Jörg Müller (DE) finished second in the 18th round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship. The BMW Team Germany driver crossed the finish line in Imola (IT) behind Honda's James Thompson (GB) and relegated Robert Huff (Chevrolet, GB) to third. BMW Team UK's Andy Priaulx (GB) scored two points by coming seventh, while Müller's team-mate, Augusto Farfus (BR), took the chequered flag in eighth. In the first race of the day, Farfus and Müller were the only BMW drivers to collect points by finishing seventh and eighth, with SEAT's Yvan Muller (FR) securing victory.
BMW Team Italy-Spain's Alessandro Zanardi (IT) missed out on championship points in both races. Following finishing tenth in race one, Zanardi's team-mate, Félix Porteiro (ES), was involved in a heavy accident at the start of race two. While accelerating, he crashed into the SEAT of Gabriele Tarquini (GB) who hadn't moved when the red lights went off. Fortunately both drivers walked away from this incident. With 55 points to his tally, Priaulx remains the best-placed BMW driver in the overall classification. However, the gap to the championship leader Muller increased to 25 points. In the manufacturers' standings, BMW still holds second with 207 points.
Jörg Müller (BMW Team Germany): "I must say I'm really happy with finishing second as I knew it would be nearly impossible to keep James Thompson behind me for long. Therefore I tried to avoid any mistakes and to secure another podium result. It was no big surprise for us to see the competition in such an impressive shape here."
Andy Priaulx (BMW Team UK): "When I look back at the weekend, and especially race one, I feel this was a missed opportunity and I am taking the blame. I could have braked half a second later into the first corner and could have been more aggressive."
Augusto Farfus (BMW Team Germany): "Over the course of the weekend Jörg and I were always the quickest BMW drivers. In the first race we used this to achieve the best possible result. However, at the start of race two I just lost too many positions."
Félix Porteiro (BMW Team Italy-Spain): "This was quite a heavy crash. My neck is still painful, but overall I'm okay. I had a good start and tried to overtake Yvan Muller on the right-hand side. Then I switched to the left - and suddenly there was this car. I didn't have a chance to avoid it."
Alessandro Zanardi (BMW Team Italy-Spain): "My poor grid position had a major impact on the outcome of my two races. Today we were faster in the corners than the opposition, but slower on the straights. That's why it was extremely hard to overtake. In the first race I tried to pass Tiago Monteiro and unfortunately made a mistake."