ON YOKOHAMA ADVAN IN BRAZIL
On the first lap of race one there was mid-field mayhem with Dirk Muller (BMW) and Rob Huff (Chevrolet) being two of the victims after a detour off track. Jordi Gené moved through to the front in his SEAT at the expense of home driver Augusto Farfus (Alfa Romeo) who lost another place to Peter Terting also in a SEAT. Local Alfa Romeo driver Lucas Molo had a problem leaving his car stationary on the track leading to the deployment of a safety car.
SEAT wqs delighted with Gené’s win but perhaps drive of the race was down to Alex Zanardi in his BMW making up 15 places from 25th to 10th.
An engine change lost Tom Coronel his Yokohama Independent Cup pole position and put him to the back of the grid for the start. Ryan Sharp took his top slot and moved up to twelfth overall to claim his second win of the year.
Reverse grid rules put BMW driver Andy Priaulx onto pole position for race two with Gianni Morbidelli alongside. Morbidelli scored his second points finish of the season in race one. The second row was all SEAT with Rickard Rydell and James Thompson, both looking for their first 2006 WTCC win.
By the end of lap one Thompson had squeezed passed Morbidelli but on lap four the Alfa driver took it back. Rydell tangled with Farfus on lap five ending his race and shortly afterwards another SEAT fell after a bout of contact when Gené became the victim although Gené was able to recover.
Through all the confusion Alex Zanardi made it up to fourth place. Farfus himself retired as did Emmet O’Brien after losing control on the final corner of the 10th of 16 laps.
The consequent safety car bunched the traffic and the order at the restart was Priaulx from Morbidelli, Zanardi and then Thompson. With just two laps to the finish it was a sprint. On the penultimate lap Alain Menu made the same mistake as O’Brien and the race was red flagged with the leaders in the same order giving Priaulx his fourth win of the season and Zanardi his first 2006 podium.
Yokohama Independent Cup driver Ryan Sharp lost out in a battle and by mid-point was down to second in the Independent rankings behind Cup leader Tom Coronel. O’Brien’s accident promoted local driver Lucas Molo briefly into third in the Independent points finally finishing fourth behind Diego Romanini in a BMW. Sharp managed to narrowly avoid disaster when Menu’s car spun in front of him and crossed the line to take second place but winner was Coronel.
Andy Priaulx, BMW Team UK: “It was a long long race with so many safety cars. The circuit’s so fast with so little run off that it was bound to be a tough race. All the top 12-15 cars have same speed and having 65 kg makes it difficult to win so I needed the reverse grid.”
Gianni Morbidelli, N-Technology: ““I’m absolutely happy. It’s fantastic for the team. I enjoyed this race and it’s a pleasure to be at the top again. It’s a very fast circuit and we have a good engine. I think that’s why we were so fast here. I look forward to having another track like this!”
Alex Zanardi, BMW Italy-Spain: “I’m very happy of course. To come from last to finish on podium. If someone had told me this would happed yesterday I’d say they had been sniffing something! Of course a great thanks to BMW Italy-Spain and such a pity I threw it in the sand and had to start last. Gianni did an excellent job and I didn’t want to throw it away trying to pass him. I tried to force him to make a mistake but he deserved the win.”
Kazuyoshi Sekiguchi, Yokohama: “As expected we’ve seen some excellent racing and I think the comments from the drivers show how close the competition is out there. This track has been a big challenge that’s helped to create spectacular racing and we hope for more of the same in Mexico in four weeks.”
