FIA European Touring Car Championship, Valencia, Spain, 17/18 April 2004 New Venue in Spain for second round of the FIA ETCC
The national BMW teams taking part in the FIA European Touring Car Championship will have a new venue for round two. For the first time the series will be going to Valencia in Spain.
The Circuit de la Communitat Valenciana Ricardo Tomo is very popular as a testing venue, especially with the Formula 1 teams, but now it will take over from Jarama and Barcelona where Spanish rounds have been held in 2002 and 2003 respectively. For BMW Motorsport the track is also well known. The Formula BMW racing center is locatred at the track, and this is where the licence courses and the scholarship qualifying rounds for all Formula BMW series are held.
One driver happy to be going there is BMW Team Italy-Spain's Antonio Garcia. The Spanish driver has raced at the track about five times since he first went there in 1999. "It is not as fast as Monza, but I think this is good for me and my team. It is a tricky track to drive on as you are working all the time and there is a mixture of medium and slow corners. We do not know how the new Michelin tyres will work there. We tested for two days with the old ones in temperatures between five and ten degrees. When we go for the race we will have the new tyres and I hope it will be a lot warmer - it could be in the twenties. I was happy after that test as I did the same time as Gabriele Tarquini in the Alfa Romeo. It will be interesting when we get there to see how much the teams have improved since then," he explained.
The 4.005 kilometre track has great viewing for the spectators but Antonio explained why it needs a big crowd to look full: "It is like a stadium and when it is full it is a great atmosphere. If you had 10,000 spectators in Jarama the track would look full, but in Valencia it would be the opposite and look empty."
Several of the BMW drivers have been busy since the first round of the series. BMW Team Deutschland's Dirk Müller swapped his BMW 320i for the BMW M3 GTR to do more preparation for June's Nürburgring 24 Hour Race. Schnitzer Motorsport took two of these cars to the famous Nordschleife for a three and a half hour race on the 4th April. Dirk, partnered by Hans Stuck, won the race, and the other car, driven by Duncan Huisman, Pedro Lamy and Boris Said, finished second.
BMW Team Great Britain's Andy Priaulx is Chief Instructor for the Formula BMW UK Championship and in this role went with nine of the competitors on a fitness and nutrition course in Italy, and then attended the first race of the series at Thruxton on Easter Sunday. Also at this race was BMW Motorsport Director, Dr Mario Theissen, and Team Principal of the BMW WilliamsF1 Team, Sir Frank Williams.
The first two races of the championship in Monza ended with honours even - one win to BMW and one win to Alfa Romeo. However, it was BMW that came away from Italy ahead in the Manufacturers' Championship with 27 points and Alfa Romeo second on 24. It was Jörg Müller in the BMW Team Deutschland car who won race two, with Andy Priaulx second. The Drivers' Championship is currently being led by newcomer to the series and Alfa Romeo driver, Augusto Farfus Jr, with 16 points, while Jörg is second on 14 and Andy third on 11. This means in Spain Jörg will be carrying 40 kilos of ballast and Andy 20 kilos.
Alex Zanardi was hoping to start the season in his BMW Team Italy-Spain car the way he finished 2003, with some points. Unfortunately he came away from Monza with none, but is determined to change this situation in Spain.
Monza was a good race for Tom Coronel in the privateer Carly Motors entered BMW 320i. The team is competing for the Independents Trophy and came away from the race with maximum points from two wins in this category, with Stefano D'Aste in the Proteam Motorsports BMW 320i second.
The on track action starts on Saturday and the schedule for the FIA ETCC is as follows:
Saturday, 17 April09.00 - 09.30 - Free Practice 112.45 - 13.15 - Free Practice 215.15 - 15.45 - Qualifying
Sunday, 18 April09.30 - 09.45 - Warm Up14.45 - Race 1 - 13 laps (52.065km)15.45 - Race 2 - 13 laps (52.065km)
