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YOKOHAMA – Vital ingredient at Macau |
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Monday, 20 November 2006 |
 Racing in the FIA World Touring Car Championship stayed true to its thrilling form during today’s final rounds in China, and Yokohama ADVAN kept the fearless title contenders glued to the road in the face of tremendous rates of acceleration.
Reigning champion, Andy Priaulx, proved once more that he is the master at Macau, qualifying on pole and then winning today’s first race. The result secured his second Drivers Championship title in a row, by the narrowest margin from BMW team-mate Jörg Müller.
“Lots of factors have come into play this season,” said the
32-year-old, who also won the European Touring Car Championship in
2004. “It has been a long year as we started racing in March, but even
before that we were testing in January. I don't think I need tell
anyone what I am going to do tonight and for the next few days!"
Macau is a challenging street circuit, lined with buildings so there is
no room for error. Drivers must trust their tyres completely to achieve
the best line around the high-speed bends and tight hairpins.
“The ADVAN tyres really have proved to be extremely versatile this
year,” said SEAT Sport driver, James Thompson, who finished eighth in
the Drivers Championship. “I had expected a bit of a learning curve at
the beginning of the season, with it being their first, but they’ve
been right on the money since Monza.
“Here at Macau, the weather was pretty rubbish for qualifying so it’s
testament to Yokohama that the times were only marginally slower than
last year, despite it being sunny and dry then.”
Fabrizio Giovanardi, who came third in the WTCC last year before
switching to the British Touring Car Championship, guest drove for JAS
Honda and finished fourth and sixth.
“The grip was fantastic,” said the Italian. “I was able to really push
Andy Priaulx in the second race; I was practically glued to his bumper!
At a circuit like Macau you need to know the tyres will not let you
slide even an inch too far or you’ll be in the wall and in my opinion
they did a great job.”
Yokohama is already confirmed as the official tyre supplier for the
WTCC in 2007. “We feel this championship is the perfect place for us to
demonstrate our abilities,” said Yokohama European Marketing Manager,
Kazuyoshi Sekiguchi. “The range of cars, set-ups and circuits presents
us with a major challenge and means we’re always having to progress our
technology which benefits all our customers, not just the WTCC teams.
"It was a great honor for us to finish Yokohama’s first WTCC season without major tyre problems."
Yokohama wishes to extend its congratulations to Andy Priaulx and BMW on securing their second WTCC title.
Drivers’ Championship:
1 Andy Priaulx BMW 73
2 Jörg Muller BMW 72
3 Augusto Farfus Jr Alfa Romeo 64
4 Yvan Muller SEAT 62
5 Gabriele Tarquini SEAT 57
6 Dirk Müller BMW 54
Manufacturers’ Championship:
1 BMW 254
2 SEAT 235
3 Alfa Romeo 154
4 Chevrolet 128
Yokohama Independents’ Trophy:
1 Tom Coronel 178
2 Luca Rangoni 100
3 Stefan D’Aste 93
4 Ryan Sharp 75
5 Maurizio Ceresoli 69
6 D. Romanini 67
Yokohama Teams’ Trophy:
1 GR Asia 247
2 Proteam Motorsport 192
3 JAS Motorsport 132
4 Wiechers Sport 90
5 DB Motorsport 25
6 Maurer Motorsport 25
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