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British World Title Hopes Head To Brazil |
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Sunday, 02 July 2006 |
Britain’s world champion racing driver, Andy Priaulx, plans to put some fresh air between himself and his FIA World Touring Car Championship title challengers this weekend as the teams head to Brazil.
The championship fight, which Priaulx currently leads jointly with France’s Yvan Muller, must be one of the closest in world class motorsport’s history, with the top six separated by just two points.
"The anticipation is that Curitiba is a circuit that'll suit the Alfa Romeos,” said Priaulx, from Guernsey. “But none of us really know because we’ve never raced there before, so until the first free practice I won't know who the biggest challengers are going to be.
“The WTCC is always so close, and I'm still convinced this championship won't be decided until the last round, so my objective this weekend is to score as many points as possible and keep out of trouble.”
With 10 points for a win and 12 races left, the points table can radically change in just one weekend’s racing, which is what SEAT’s British entry, James Thompson, is hoping for on Sunday.
“I’m really looking forward to going to Curitiba,” said Thompson, who is currently jointthird, just one point behind Priaulx and Muller. “From the circuit map it looks as though it should be good for us although, to be honest, I don’t think anywhere will be bad for us this year.”
Priaulx has been swapping the series’ lead with Muller since the beginning of the season, bouncing back from a disappointing weekend in front of his home crowd at Brands Hatch to set the pole position and win a race at Oschersleben, Germany earlier this month.
Thompson, from Harrogate, is looking to improve on his current best finish of 2006 - third place once in Italy and twice in Britain.
The two races will be shown live on Eurosport this Sunday starting at 17:05CET.
FIA WTCC Drivers’ Championship:
| Pos. |
Driver |
Nat. |
Manufacturer |
Points |
| 1 |
Andy Priaulx |
GBR |
BMW 320si |
33 |
| 2 |
Yvan Muller |
FRA |
SEAT Léon |
33 |
| 3 |
Dirk Müller |
GER |
BMW 320si |
32 |
| 4 |
James Thompson |
GBR |
SEAT Léon |
32 |
| 5 |
Rickard Rydell |
SWE |
SEAT Léon |
31 |
| 6 |
Gabriele Tarquini |
ITA |
SEAT Léon |
31 |
| 7 |
Jörg Müller |
GER |
BMW 320si |
28 |
| 8 |
Augusto Farfus Jr. |
BRA |
Alfa Romeo 156 |
22 |
| 9 |
Peter Terting |
GER |
SEAT Léon |
21 |
| 10 |
Alain Menu |
SUI |
Chevrolet Lacetti |
18 |
| 11 |
Jordi Gené |
ESP |
SEAT Léon |
14 |
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 07 January 2007 )
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