CAZENAVE REPLACES TIELEMANS IN
PAU
Laurent
Cazenave will replace Olivier Tielemans at the wheel of the Wiechers-Sport BMW
320si car for the WTCC meeting in Pau.
A 33-year old from Pau, Cazenave makes his WTCC maiden
appearance on his home circuit. Since 1995 he has emerged as one of the fastest
amateur drivers in French car racing. Further to a couple of single-seater
seasons (he classified third in the 1997 Formula Ford B championship) Cazenave
switched to covered wheels: touring cars first and GT later. He achieved
brilliant results in the French Super Production Championship (third in 2000)
before moving to the FFSA GT Championship in 2001. In this latter series he has
shared Porsche, Chrysler and Corvette cars with his fellow citizen (and former
ETCC driver) Eric Cayrolle achieving race wins and
podiums.
"Tielemans cannot race in
Pau because he is recovering from a minor health problem. Luckily we had the
opportunity to make an agreement with Cazenave in such a short time. We are
happy with this, because we believe that the team will benefit a lot from his
experience of the track,"
Wiechers-Sport team manager Dominik Greiner said.
DRIVERS PARADED THROUGH THE CITY
CENTRE
The WTCC Race of France
got underway in Pau, with two successful promotional
days.
Activities began on Thursday
afternoon at the Quartier Libre shopping malll, where some of the drivers
competed against fans using the Race simulators, the official WTCC
videogame.
Later the drivers paraded
along the city's central streets, eventually arriving at the City Hall in Place
Royale, where they were received by the Mayor, Madame Martine Lignères-Cassou,
who officially opened the 68th Grand Prix de
Pau.
On
Friday afternoon, after attending the briefing, the drivers reached the Maître
Kanter restaurant in rue Alfred de Lassence to meet the fans in a crowded
autograph session.
EXTENDED QUALIFYING SESSION IN
PAU
Like in 2007, the WTCC
competitors will benefit from extended qualifying sessions on the street
circuits.
Tomorrow in Pau, Saturday's
usual 30-minute qualifying session will last 45 minutes: from 15.00 to 15.45
local time.
The same will apply at
Macau, on the occasion of the season's final race meeting.
BUREAU'S MAKE BMW AND HONDA
LIGHTER
In their effort to make
performances on the track as equal as possible, the FIA Touring Car Bureau have
issued two decisions that will have effect from the event in Pau and until
further notice.
Both decisions concern a reduction of the cars'
minimum weight:
These reductions will be applied to the
cars' total weight including the success ballast.
PRIAULX AND ENGSTLER UNDER
OBSERVATION
From this week's
event in Pau, the WTCC Stewards will pay special attention to Andy Priaulx and
Franz Engstler's behaviour on the track.
In fact both drivers received a suspended ten-grid-position drop
after they were involved in different collisions during the championship's
previous race meeting at Valencia.
Priaulx had a clash with BMW fellow driver Augusto Farfus at the
start of the first race; his penalty will remain suspended for the next two
events: Pau and Brno.
Engstler collided
with fellow Independent competitor Olivier Tielemans during the second race; his
penalty will remain suspended for the next three events: Pau, Brno and
Estoril.
WTCC MAGAZINE TO FOCUS ON
INDEPENDENTS
From the next
issue, that will be published on Tuesday, June 3rd, the WTCC Magazine
will dedicate a three/four minute feature to the competitors of the
Independents' Trophy.
In each issue of
the magazine, dedicated footage, reports, interviews and stories will be
focusing on privateer drivers and their teams.
The WTCC Magazine is aired by Eurosport on the Tuesday evening after
each race meeting and is distributed to thirty TV channels worldwide.
EUROSPORT LIVE COVERAGE FROM PAU
Saturday,
31st: Qualifying -
LIVE Eurosport 2,
15.00/15.45
Sunday,
1st: Warm up -
LIVE Eurosport International,
08.30/09.30
Race 1 - LIVE Eurosport 2,
11.45/12.45
Race 2 -
LIVE Eurosport International, 15.00/16.30
Times are CET
(Central European Time)
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