BMW CAR CLUB (GB)
SOUTH EAST REGION
Website design by Melvyn Pettit
Top
World Touring Car Championship
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS
2005 World Touring Car Championship- SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS
Rounds 11 & 12 - 30th JULY 2005
Andy Priaulx (BMW Team UK)
Andy's Spa Proves a Mixed Bag of Fortunes
The Highs and Lows of Spa Yesterday - "I had some luck but today it abandoned me. What a couple of races we had in Spa. I know the spectators would have been entertained, but being in the middle of the action was pretty hard going. Obviously in race one I had the perfect start. I got off the grid and was able to pull away from the rest of the field by a few tenths. However, I always knew that if fellow BMW drivers Dirk or Jörg Müller got behind me then I would be in trouble. My car felt quite good in the warm-up, but I knew how strong both of them would be. My worst fears were confirmed on lap five when Dirk got by. I could match his speed into the corner, but I felt his engine had more power pulling out of the corners. I wanted to keep in front, but it would have been too dangerous to fight back there. I was able to keep within a few tenths of him and make sure he knew I was there. I was hoping for a mistake on his part, but it didn’t come so I had to settle for second. Race two was always going to be difficult from seventh on the grid with four Alfas and two BMWs in front of me. I was also starting on wet tyres, a decision that was proved to be the wrong one. The start was action packed, I got squeezed between Dirk and Augusto Farfus in the Alfa and that was that. The car was damaged with a front right steering arm broken and all I could do was drive slowly back to the pits. Dirk was the lucky sod and I told him so. He survived this coming together, and despite being last was able to climb back through the field. The Safety Car obviously helped him, but he still had to make his way through the field. As I was standing in the RBM garage I was able to see what happened on tv, and the last lap debacle was something else. I suppose they had to give Stefano D’Aste a penalty for cutting out the corner, but I would have preferred him winning as this gives Fabrizio Giovanardi two extra points. However, I am still in touch as Dirk is on 61 points, Fabrizio 56 and I have 50. It is a long way to go until the season finale in Macau and I shall fight all the way".
Jörg Müller (BMW Team Deutschland)
“It was certainly a good weekend for the fans. I’m not happy with my performance. My car was good enough to compete for a win in both races, but nothing came of it. The duel with Farfus at the end of the first race was fun. He was hustling me, but in the end my front wheels clearly had more grip than his.”
Reactions and Quotes:
Start: The race kicks off in wet conditions, although the rain has stopped and many parts of the circuit are drying. It leaves Priaulx as the only driver in the BMW national teams to start with wet tyres. The first few moments of the second race are turbulent. Dirk Müller is touched by Farfus and spins in Eau Rouge. Priaulx is also involved and leaves the track, sustaining damage to his car. Jörg Müller benefits from the situation and moves up from sixth to third place. Garcia loses a place to Tarquini.
Lap 1: Priaulx limps back to the pits and abandons the race shortly afterwards. A slow puncture also puts Jörg Müller to the back of the field. He returns to the pits for a tyre replacement.
Lap 2: Garcia passes Tarquini and is back in second place. Dirk Müller launches into a fast and furious catching-up exercise.
Lap 4: Dirk Müller improves his position bit by bit and is now already in fourth place. Jörg Müller is also carving his way through the field and is 16th.
Lap 5: After a collision involving Thomas Klenke and Jordi Gené, the safety car is brought on as in the first race. It takes a long time to clear the track of the debris from both cars.
Lap 8: The race restarts, but only for one lap. In the Bus Stop chicane just metres before the finish, Garcia, Tarquini and Dirk Müller are involved in a collision. Race leader Giovanardi is also affected. Private driver Stefano d’Aste avoids the melee by going across the grass.
Finish: D’Aste crosses the finish line ahead of Giovanardi and Tom Coronel. After spinning, Dirk Müller manages to get across the line to salvage fifth place. Garcia takes away a World Championship point as eighth-placed finisher, while Jörg Müller is 16th to cross the line. Later d’Aste is given a time penalty and Giovanardi is declared the winner.
Race 2: Spa-Francorchamps Round 12. Weather Rain at the start, later dry – 18 degrees Celsius
Start: Andy Priaulx gets off to a textbook start, leaving Augusto Farfus jr. in his wake to take the lead. The two BMW Team Deutschland drivers swap places: Dirk Müller is now in third place and Jörg Müller in fourth. 25-year-old Antonio Garcia makes a big leap forward, advancing from 13th to ninth place.
Lap 1: Jörg Müller sacrifices a place to Gabriele Tarquini. After a collision Michael Funke rolls his car, but fortunately emerges from it unhurt. The safety car is brought on while Funke’s car is taken away.
Lap 3: The safety car leaves the track and the race opens up again. Dirk Müller and Jörg Müller simultaneously launch an attack on the Alfa drivers in front of them – and both succeed in getting past. But Tarquini counterattacks and wrests fourth place back from Jörg Müller.
Lap 4: Garcia. meanwhile, has fought his way up into seventh place.
Lap 5: Dirk Müller attacks Priaulx and manages to pass his fellow BMW driver. That puts the World Championship leader at the head of the field. Jörg Müller turns the heat up on Tarquini once more and sweeps past the Italian to slot into fourth place.
Lap 6: Tarquini nudges Jörg Müller during a passing manoeuvre, but the BMW driver shows great skill in keeping his car under control and defending his fourth place. Garcia fends off the significantly lighter SEAT of Jason Plato behind him.
Lap 8: Priaulx is snapping at Dirk Müller’s heels but fails to get past the 29-year-old. Jörg Müller, on the other hand, risks a final attack on Farfus on the finishing straight and secures third place with a lead of 22 thousandths of a second.
Finish: Dirk Müller wins the eleventh WTCC race of the year. Behind him, Priaulx and Jörg Müller secure a clean sweep for BMW. Garcia finishes seventh. No sooner has the race ended than the first drops of rain start to fall.
During the interval between the two races, a rain shower suddenly altered the track conditions. The 6.946-kilometre circuit was drying off during the second race and in these difficult circumstances numerous collisions and skids occurred. BMW Independents Trophy driver Stefano d’Aste (ITA) crossed the finish line to take what looked like a sensational win. After the race, however, he received a three-second penalty for taking a short-cut in a chicane. That meant Fabrizio Giovanardi (Alfa Romeo) was retrospectively declared the winner. The best driver among the BMW national teams was again Dirk Müller, who finished in fifth place.
Alessandro Zanardi (ITA) of BMW Team Italy-Spain was not competing following an accident on Thursday in which his BMW 320i was badly damaged. His team-mate Antonio Garcia (ESP) came seventh in the first race. On the last lap of the second race he dropped back from third to eighth position due to a multi-car collision.
In the Drivers’ Championship, Dirk Müller maintains his lead with a tally of 61 points. A gap of four points separates him from his rival Giovanardi. Behind them Priaulx is in third place with 50 points. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, these results enabled BMW to further expand its lead slightly over Alfa Romeo. It tops the rankings with 159 points. Second-placed Alfa (155) is followed by SEAT (113) in third place. BMW privateer Marc Hennerici (Mayen) continues to lead the Independents Trophy after the Belgian event. Tom Coronel (SEAT) is in second place with eight points.
Report from BMW Motorsport
Race 1: Spa-Francorchamps Round 11 - Weather Cloudy, 19 degrees Celsius
Spa (Belgium), 30th July 2005. BMW has claimed a one-two-three victory in the eleventh race of the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC). Dirk Müller (GER) of BMW Team Deutschland celebrated his third win of the season at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, while BMW Team UK driver Andy Priaulx (GBR) finished as runner-up. On the start/finish straight Jörg Müller (GER), also competing for BMW Team Deutschland, drew level with Alfa-Romeo driver Augusto Farfus jr. and pipped him to the post as he crossed the line in third place with a lead of just 22 thousandths of a second. All three podium places thus went to BMW drivers.
Dirk Müller (BMW Team Deutschland)
“Today was a very happy day for me. In the first race I had a fantastic start and fought an exciting duel with Andy. But ultimately I had the edge on him. You could right a book about the second race. Suddenly, on the very first lap, I was facing the oncoming traffic in Eau Rouge. It was a miracle nobody hit me. After that I wouldn’t have expected to finish so far up. I’m glad I was able to increase my World Championship lead.”
Andy Priaulx (BMW Team UK)
"“After yesterday’s qualifying I was fairly optimistic about today’s races, but unfortunately there weren’t as many points in it as I had hoped for. I felt in the first race that I was faster than Dirk at the end, but I couldn’t get past him. In the second race I was unlucky. In 2004 things mostly went well for me, now I’m in trouble more often. But the race for the title is still completely open.”