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Stormy Istanbul Favours Advan Seat Racers |
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Monday, 25 September 2006 |
Yokohama ADVAN was put to the test this afternoon when thunderstorms caused mayhem for the FIA World Touring Car Championship rounds in Istanbul.
Thankfully the tyres coped brilliantly with heavy downpours, which turned the Turkish track into a river and delayed today’s second race by two hours.
When the race did start, it was ADVAN wet weather tyres all round as Yokohama Independents Trophy leader, Tom Coronel, started from pole on the flooded track, courtesy of the reverse-grid rule.
The Dutchman was quickly overtaken by Nicola Larini in the Chevrolet Lacetti and SEAT driver Peter Terting, who then fought for the lead throughout the race. In the end, however, it was SEAT Sport Italia’s Gabriele Tarquini who triumphed in the treacherous conditions.
The Italian is now back into championship contention as Andy Priaulx, James Thompson and Augusto Farfus, who were first, second and third in the points respectively before today’s racing, failed to score in Turkey.
Coronel was beaten by Stefano D’Aste in the Yokohama Independents Trophy class but the GR Asia driver, who won the day's first race, still earned enough points to secure the title with four races still to run.
Race one, although dry, was equally eventful. Alessandro Zanardi capitalised on his ADVAN tyres and led from start to finish after overtaking pole-sitter, Rickard Rydell. It was the first win of the season for the BMW Team Italy-Spain driver.
Gabriele Tarquini, SEAT Sport Italia: “I really felt as though I had the fastest car on track today. The car was great in the wet and so were the tyres.”
Alessandro Zanardi, BMW Team Italy-Spain: “We were really
competitive all through Friday and Saturday so I’m glad we managed to
turn this into a win. The car and the tyres felt perfect, I’m really
happy to have won!”
Kazuyoshi Sekiguchi, Yokohama: “I’m really glad that we were
able to race today. Our wet weather tyre is very good as we saw in the
race but safety is paramount and the weather was treacherous earlier
on. Thankfully it cleared, and we saw two great races in very different
conditions.”
Drivers’ Championship (provisional points):
| Pos. |
Driver |
Team |
Points |
| 1 |
Andy Priaulx |
BMW |
58 |
| 2 |
Gabriele Tarquini |
SEAT |
57 |
| 3 |
Rickard Rydell |
SEAT |
54 |
| 4 |
Dirk Müller |
BMW |
51 |
| 5 |
James Thompson |
SEAT |
49 |
| 6 |
Augusto Farfus Jr |
Alfa Romeo |
46 |
Manufacturers’ Championship (provisional points):
| Pos. |
Manufacturer |
Points |
| 1 |
SEAT |
214 |
| 2 |
BMW |
192 |
| 3 |
Alfa Romeo |
117 |
| 4 |
Chevrolet |
98 |
Yokohama Independents’ Trophy (provisional points):
| Pos. |
Driver |
Points |
| 1 |
Tom Coronel |
124 |
| 2 |
Ryan Sharp |
75 |
| 3 |
Stefan D’Aste |
71 |
| 4 |
Luca Rangoni |
60 |
| 5 |
Diego Romanini |
45 |
| 6 |
Maurizio Ceresoli |
44 |
Yokohama Teams’ Trophy (provisional points):
| Pos. |
Team |
Points |
| 1 |
GR Asia |
168 |
| 2 |
Proteam Motorsport |
130 |
| 3 |
JAS Motorsport |
119 |
| 4 |
Wiechers Sport |
68 |
| 5 |
SEAT Sport Italia |
32 |
| 6 |
DB Motorsport |
25 |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 13 December 2006 )
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