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Close Competition On Yokohama Advan Tyres In Brazil Wtcc Debut |
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Sunday, 02 July 2006 |
Today saw qualifying for the Brazilian rounds of the FIA World Touring Car Championship with less that one second separating the top 17 drivers meaning that prospects for two charged battles tomorrow are high.
Of the four rounds to date Andy Priaulx has taken two pole positions for BMW with SEAT taking two – one apiece for Gabriele Tarquini and Rickard Rydell. Priaulx is at
the top of the table but, with only two points between the top six
drivers, today was bound to be key to all six for prospects of good
results tomorrow and leaving Brazil in the points lead. The weight
handicaps came into play with the BMWs taking the hardest hits with
Dirk Muller, Andy Priaulx and Jörg Muller having 70, 65 and 60kgs of
ballast respectively.
An early incident saw Alex Zanardi into the gravel and brought out a
red flag slowing progress but Peter Terting (SEAT) was on form from the
start putting in a time of 1:25.025 to set an early pole position and
shaving another tenth of a second off that time. Augusto Farfus (Alfa
Romeo) on home ground put in a blinding time with 12 minutes to go. The
BMWs were struggling with Andy Priaulx their highest ranked driver in
ninth position at the midway point in the thirty minute session. He
managed to gain another two places in the second half to take a slot on
the fourth row of the grid.
In the Yokohama Independents’ Trophy Tom Coronel topped the times with
Ryan Sharp just one tenth of a second behind. Perhaps the surprise of
the day was Yvan Muller, joint on points with Championship leader Andy
Priaulx, who only managed to secure 17th place for the grid tomorrow.
Augusto Farfus – N.technonogy, pole position
“This is my home track but it is the first time I have raced here so I
did my best because it is important to me to race in front of my family
and friends. I did a great lap in qualifying and it is Alfa Romeo’s
first pole of the season. Here in Brazil Alfa Romeo has a lot of fans;
it is a highly respected marque. I expect tomorrow to be a tough race
when you look at how close the qualifying was. The first corner will be
important and I hope to manage it from there. The track is tough on the
tyres so it is important to keep some for the second race as well.”
Andy Priaulx – BMW Team UK, 7th fastest
“The track is quite challenging and it is a lot better than I expected.
It’s got a combination of massively fast and then medium speed corners.
For me, qualifying 7th is like qualifying on pole when you look at how
tight the times are, consider that I am one of the heaviest car and
take into account it is not a favourable track for BMW.”
Kazuyoshi Sekiguchi, Yokohama
“We are used to racing in Brazil, as we have done with the Equipe
TekProm team and used to transporting tyres around the world but the
logistics for the FIA WTCC has been fantastic with everyone arriving
for this first WTCC round in this country. We’ve brought 800 Yokohama
ADVAN tyres as our contribution to what is looking to be another epic
battle out there.”
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 07 January 2007 )
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