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05 World Touring Car Championship
Silverstone
2005 World Touring Car Championship - Silverstone - Rounds 5 & 6
and BMWCC Display - 15th May 2005
BMW Team UK driver Andy Priaulx on home ground tries to fly the BMW flag at Silverstone and the BMW Car Club Great Britian were their to support him and the RBM team.
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The WTCC Drivers' Championship battle could become even closer after the top two were awarded penalties following last weekend's race at Silverstone.
BMW's Dirk Muller has a two-point lead over Alfa Romeo's Gabriele Tarquini, but both could drop points after sanctions were handed down to them from stewards.
Tarquini has been docked ten places on the grid for the next race at Imola after colliding with Peter Terting in Silverstone's second race. The accident started a chain reaction that put Tarquini's teammate James Thompson out of the race.
Tarquini has also received a one-race ban - suspended for the two Imola races - after the incident. Should Tarquini cause a similar incident during either of next weekend's races, the Italian will be excluded from that race. His Alfa Romeo Racing Team has time until Sunday to appeal against this decision.
Meanwhile, Muller has been awarded a five-point suspended penalty for rejoining Saturday's qualifying session having received external aid.
Muller has already been given a suspended penalty once this year due to a racing accident in Monza, but the penalty will only be triggered if he incurs any other sanctions before the end of the season.
BMW Race 2 report: Weather: Partly cloudy, 16 degrees Celsius
Start: Priaulx gets off to another perfect start and passes Rydell, Plato and Terting to take the lead. Dirk Müller also gets away nicely and manages to advance from tenth into fourth place. Jörg Müller, however, has problems and has to concede ten positions.
Lap 1: Garcia is touched again, spins and comes to a standstill pointing the wrong way. Chevrolet driver Robert Huff is unable to avoid him and rams Garcia's BMW 320i. The race stewards send a safety car out onto the track.
Lap 4: The safety car returns to the pits and the race is resumed.
Lap 5: Jörg Müller fights his way back to within reach of the points in twelfth place. Dirk Müller launches an attack against Plato, but remains in fourth place.
Lap 7: Jörg Müller is now in ninth place.
Lap 11: Priaulx has to abandon the race from the lead after a flat spot. That opens the way for Dirk Müller to move up into third place, while Jörg Müller is now in eighth.
Lap 12: Dirk Müller gets knocked by Tarquini during a duel, losing him three positions.
Lap13: During an overtaking move, Jörg Müller collides with Terting who spins off. Jörg Müller is now in seventh place.
Finish: The two BMW Team Deutschland drivers finish the race in sixth (Dirk Müller) and seventh (Jörg Müller) places.
BMW Race 1 report: Weather: Sunny, 16 degrees Celsius
Start: All BMW drivers manage to improve their positions at the start. Priaulx passes Giovanardi and Thompson to move into second place. Garcia advances into sixth place, Jörg Müller into ninth. Dirk Müller makes the greatest leap of all from 25th to 17th. Zanardi is 13th.
Lap 1: Priaulx is forced to let the two Alfa drivers pass him again.
Lap 2: Augusto Farfus jr. (Alfa) also passes Priaulx, who is now in fifth place. Jörg Müller loses two positions after a battle with the SEAT drivers.
Lap 3: Dirk Müller passes Zanardi to move into 13th place.
Lap 5: Garcia has SEAT drivers on his tail. In a duel with Peter Terting, the steering of his BMW 320i is damaged. Rickard Rydell and, later, Jason Plato also ram the 24-year-old's car, and he drops back into 16th place. Dirk Müller is now driving behind his team-mate Jörg Müller.
Lap 10: After Jordi Gené (SEAT), the BMW Team Deutschland drivers also get past Garcia. Jörg Müller is in ninth place and Dirk Müller in tenth.
Lap 14: Zanardi's car develops a transmission problem, which sends the Italian into the gravel. He has to abandon the race and is unable to take part in the second.
Finish: Priaulx crosses the line in fifth place. After Zanardi's stroke of bad luck, Garcia moves up into 15th place. Jörg Müller and Dirk Müller take the chequered flag in ninth and tenth place.
When the World Touring Car Championship headed to Silverstone with reigning European Touring Car Champion and BMW Team UK driver Andy Priaulx in attendance the BMWCC (GB) had to be their!
Video stills of Andys Flying start in race 2
Andy leaves the 3 SEAT's standing on start
Silverstone (England), 15th May 2005. After rounds five and six of the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) at the Silverstone Circuit, BMW continues to lead both the Drivers' and the Manufacturers' Championship in this series. However, none of the drivers in the BMW national teams made it onto the podium at the English track. After an unexpected change in regulations by the FIA, some of the BMW 320i cars were 70 kilograms heavier than their direct competitors.
In the first race of the day, the reigning European Champion Andy Priaulx (GBR) of BMW Team UK took fifth place as the best BMW driver. The two BMW Team Deutschland drivers Jörg Müller (GER) and Dirk Müller (GER) followed in ninth and tenth places. Antonio Garcia (ITA/BMW Team Italy-Spain) was 15th to cross the line, while his team-mate Alessandro Zanardi (ITA) retired on the final lap. The race was won by Gabriele Tarquini (ITA) ahead of three other Alfa Romeo drivers.
Local hero Priaulx was unlucky in the second race. The 30-year-old had to retire from the lead on lap 11 after flat-spotting a tyre. That left the coast clear for Rickard Rydell (SWE/SEAT) to take his first win of the season. Dirk Müller came sixth with team-mate Jörg Müller in hot pursuit. Zanardi was unable to compete due to a technical problem sustained in the first race, and Garcia had to retire on the first lap after a collision.
In the Michelin Independents' Trophy, Marc Hennerici (GER) in his BMW 320i was the most successful driver once again. In the second race he secured victory in the private drivers' classification, but just missed out on the points by finishing ninth overall. Hennerici remains in the lead in the privateer rankings.
Reactions: Charly Lamm (BMW Team Deutschland, team manager)
"Considering the weight reduction for the front-wheel-drive cars and the weight handicap our cars were carrying, we didn't come to Silverstone with any high hopes of making it onto the podium. And so we're not surprised at the outcome of the two races. Dirk made the best of the situation and asserted himself well against the competition, some of which were fighting extremely hard. He managed to defend his lead in the World Championship, which is very important for us. Jörg at least managed to pick up another two points. There just wasn't more on the cards today."
Report from BMW Motorsport
