RACE 1Weather: Warm and sunny 16ºC

Predictions made before the first round of the FIA ETCC, which was held in front of 24,000 spectators, that the BMW 320i would be great at getting off the starting grid came true. However, despite leading the race into the first corner from third on the grid, BMW Team Deutschland's Dirk Müller was the highest placed BMW driver in race one in fourth place.

As the starting lights went out it was Dirk Muller who led his team-mate, Jörg Müller into the first corner. They had stormed by the Alfa Romeo of pole sitter Gabriele Tarquini while Andy Priaulx had also been able to move into fourth overtaking the Alfa Romeo's of Augusto Farfus Jr and Fabrizio Giovanardi. Unfortunately there was chaos behind them as the privateer BMW of Carl Rosenblad collided with the Alfa Romeo of Salvatore Tavano. The collision opposite the pits caused the safety car to be brought out and the debris was not cleared away for racing to resume until the end of lap three. Then the Alfa Romeos started to fight back and by the end of lap 5 Farfus led from Tarquini and Giovanardi with Dirk, Jörg and Andy leading the BMW challenge. Despite some fairly tough competition between the red cars, that looked at times as though they may even take each other off, this was the way the race finished. Farfus must have been a surprising winner even among the Alfa Romeo drivers as the Brazilian is only 21 and this was his first touring car race after winning the European F3000 championship last year.

RACE 2Weather: Warm and sunny 16ºc

Race two was a very different story with Jörg Müller giving the BMW 320i its first win of the year and privateer, Tom Coronel, being the first BMW driver to lead a race in 2004. In fact BMW also had its first one-two of the season as Andy Priaulx followed Jörg home in second.

Jörg Müller: "I didn't expect to be anywhere in the top three after qualifying, as we expected the race to be very difficult. We did a very good strategy for the first race because I was on used tyres and, as the Alfa Romeos were fighting, we could keep up. Then, of course, I had my new tyres for the second race. It was tough overtaking during the first two laps but then the guys behind me started fighting and I was able to open a gap and win. I am quite happy with my position in the championship as it was better than my start last year."

Andy Priaulx: "Everybody was just trying to finish the first race. I made some good moves but finished sixth. In the second race I was a lot more aggressive and managed to finish second. Overall I am happy to have two good finishes in the bag and hopefully I can carry on in the same way."

Alex Zanardi: "I am not happy because I knew I could get some good results here. However, that is motor racing. In the first race I got stuck behind a SEAT and by the time I was able to get by the others were too far ahead for me to gain any more places. In the second race I was involved in the Tarquini/Giovanardi incident and so this cost me a lot of time and places. I am now looking forward to Valencia."

Tom Coronel in his BMW 320i started race two from the front row alongside pole man, Frank Diefenbacher in his SEAT. Tom was first into the first corner and, despite pressure from Jörg Müller and Dirk Müller, managed to hang onto this lead until the end of lap one, but on lap two Jorg got by. The Alfa Romeo challenge disintegrated with Gabriele Tarquini colliding with his team-mate Fabrizio Giovanardi on the first lap and sending them both into retirement. Unfortunately Alex Zanardi was also caught up in this Alfa accident. This dropped him down the order but he was able to continue and finish tenth. Andy Priaulx swapped places with Dirk Müller several times but eventually claimed second, race one winner, Augusto Farfus, was third and so Dirk had to settle for fourth.

Results and Positions

BMW Team Deutschland - Schnitzer Motorsport No 42 - Jörg Müller (GER) Qual 4th - Race 1 - 5th - Race 2 - 1st No 43 - Dirk Müller (GER) Qual 3rd - Race 1 - 4th - Race 2 - 4th

BMW Team Great Britain - RBM No 11 - Andy Priaulx (GBR) Qual 6th - Race 1 - 6th - Race 2 - 2nd

BMW Team Italy-Spain - Ravaglia Motorsport No 4 - Alex Zanardi (ITA) Qual 8th - Race 1 - 9th - Race 2 - 10th No 5 - Antonio Garcia (ESP) Qual 10th - Race 1 - 13th - Race 2 - 7th

BMW Privateer Teams Carly Motors - No 20 - Tom Coronel (NLD) Qual 9th - Race 1 - 7th - Race 2 - 5th Carly Motors - No 21 - Paulien Zwart (NLD) Qual 20th - Race 1 -17 th - Race 2 - 16th Proteam Motorsport - No 25 - Stefano D'Aste (ITA) Qual 17th - Race 1 - 14 th - Race 2 - 9 th Crawford Racing - No 27 - Carl Rosenblad (SWE) Qual 21st - Race 1 - DNF - Race 2 - DNS

Race 11. Augusto Frafus Jr (BRA/Alfa Romeo) 21m 13.214s2. Gabriele Tarquini (ITA/Alfa Romeo) 21m 13.375s3. Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA/Alfa Romeo) 21m 13.511s4. Dirk Müller (GER/BMW 320i) 21m13.897s5. Jörg Müller (GER/BMW 320i) 21m14.334s6. Andy Priaulx (GBR/BMW 320i) 21m 14.553s7. Tom Coronel (NDR/BMW 320i) 21m 18.332s8. Frank Diefenbacher (GER/SEAT) 21m 18.535s

Race 21. Jörg Müller (GER/BMW 320i) 18m 11.840s2. Andry Priaulx (GBR/BMW 320i) 18m 15.073s3. Augusto Farfus Jr (ITA/Alfa Romeo) 18m 16.548s4. Dirk Müller (GER/BMW 320i) 18m16.664s5. Tom Coronel (NDL/BMW 320i) 18m 19.317s6. Frank Diefenbacher (GER/SEAT) 18m 19.764s7. Antonio Garcia (ESP/BMW 320i) 18m 19.924s8. Jordi Gene (ESP/SEAT) 18m 21.158s

Championship PositionsDrivers1. Farfus 16 2. Müller J 143. Priaulx 114. Müller D 105. Tarquini 86. Giovanardi 6 7. Coronel 68. Diefenbacher 49. Garcia 210. Gené 1

Manufacturers1. BMW 272. Alfa Romeo 243. SEAT 5

Michelin Independents Trophy1. Coronel 202. D'Aste 163. Balzan 114. Bartyan 75. Ruokonen 76. Zwart 67. Harrison 58. Asch 39. Grunert 210. Rangoni 1