News August 22 2006

Alfa gets the double in Mexico round of WTCC

Here is the race report on the Mexico round of the WTCC from Alfa Romeo Australia ...

Alfa Romeo got its 2006 World Touring Car Championship title chase off to a belated start in the Mexican round at the weekend (30 July 2006) with the Italian car maker scoring an emphatic 1-2 win in both races in the Mexican round that stopped the Spanish and German teams that have steamrollered this season.

Alfa Romeo got an unexpected helping hand in race one when Seat driver Rickard Rydell blew up his engine during warm up. The subsequent engine change dropped the Seat from down to tenth place, giving the front seat at the start to Alfa’s Savatore Tavano.

“We could say that I had some luck in Rydell being stripped of the pole,” said Tavano at the finish. “However, I was close to him in qualifying and today I was competitive so in that sense it wasn’t only luck. In Race 1 it was difficult to keep Augusto Farfus behind me and for the second part of the first race my front tyres were deteriorating. My second race was very short because I had an accident with a SEAT in the first corner and could not continue.”

Farfus finished race one in second place, which meant that, with the reverse grid for race two, he started in seven place. Not that this held him back, storming through the field to lead fellow Alfa driver Morbidelli over the line.

“After Brazil we saw that our car was competitive and we also knew that the car was strong here last year,” said Farfus. “In the first race we managed to control it throughout. Sometimes we start well and deteriorate towards the end of a race but here it was not the case. Now I am just 3 points off the championship lead and the team is going to work hard over the summer to be better and reduce the gap further!”

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Race One

Salvatore Tavano leading

Alfa Romeo get a 1-2 victory in Race 1 with Salvatore Tavano leading all the way. Augusto Farfus came from 4th on the grid to finish second.

The podium was completed by Ryan Sharp of JAS Honda who had to defend hard to keep fourth placed and fellow independent driver Tom Coronel at bay. Rickard Rydell crossed the finish line 8th and started Race 2 from pole.

The opening lap saw a severe accident involving Rob Huff and Duncan Huisman. Huff crashed hard into the wall of the new banking, Huisman then hit the rear left side of the Chevrolet. With the car stranded on the track and Huff unable to get out, the race was suspended after two laps. After Huff was put in an air-ambulance and his car was towed away, the rolling re-start took place behind the safety car.

On the re-start Farfus and Sharp fought for 2nd position and Tom Coronel and Yvan Muller fought for 4th. Lap 5 saw Alessandro Zanardi and Yvan Muller make contact which resulted in the Italian drop down to 21st. Despite escaping the incident, Yvan was soon to drop down the field as on lap 8 he had to observe a drive through penalty for a jump start; this left him to finish 14th. It was also on lap 8 that Farfus overtook Sharp for 2nd on the banking of the new section of the track.

Jordi Gené, who was lying 5th, was clearly losing grip and his team-mate James Thompson was able pass him on the inside of the banking on lap 11. With the Spaniard struggling in his SEAT, Dirk Müller also went through, for 6th.

Over the final four laps, Tarquini and Morbidelli were fighting. After some shuffling of position, Tarquini went wide on lap 15th and eventually finished 10th. Morbidelli faired better, finishing 7th.

Alain Menu achieved the best result from the Chevrolet team, he passed the chequered flag 12th overall.

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Race Two

Double success again

It was double success again for the N.technology Alfa Romeo team as Race 2 saw another 1-2 finish.

Augusto Farfus was the man who claimed victory after starting 7th on the grid. He was followed across the line by Gianni Morbidelli while Rickard Rydell came home 3rd for SEAT Sport.

Rydell and Morbidelli got good starts and did not let the BMW of Dirk Müller squeeze through off the line. By lap 2 Farfus was already 3rd. On lap 5 he overtook Rydell for 2nd and it was on the next lap that he secured the lead.

Just as in the first race, Alessandro Zanardi and Yvan Muller were involved in an incident. It happened on lap 3 and both cars spun off the track, unable to continue. Similarly, neither of Chevrolet drivers were able to finish; Alain Menu retired on lap 4 and Nicola Larini on lap 7.

In amongst the action was a battle to be the victorious independent. Tom Coronel was leading Ryan Sharp in 6th position but the Scotsman was hot on his tail until lap 5 when the JAS Honda went out at turn 1. The race was to provide even more challenges for Coronel because on lap 13, when he was lying 4th after some competent overtaking, he suffered suspension problems. The GR Asia man drifted down to 6th but still claimed the independent victory.

Dirk Müller crossed the finish line 4th and secured the best result out of the BMW drivers. Despite starting at the back of the grid due to neutralisation of parc fermé in-between the races, Andy Priaulx worked through the pack to salvage 7th position and 2 championship points.

James Thompson now leads the championship with 49 points. Priaulx and Farfus are joint 2nd with 46 points and Rydell and Tarquini are joint 4th with 41 points apiece.