BMW HEADS FOR FIRST HOME RACE OF THE SEASON
BMW leads the FIA ETCC Manufacturers' Championship as the series heads to Hockenheim for the first of two rounds to be held in Germany. However, as this is a new circuit to the series the four national teams can only hope the positive results from winter testing there can translate into good race results.
BMW Team Deutschland's Dirk Müller won a championship title there in 1998 so has very happy memories of the 'old' track. However, the circuit has changed considerably since then and not to universal approval from the drivers. "I liked the old Hockenheim much more because of the long, narrow straights where slipstreaming was possible. It is now completely different.," said Dirk. It is the fourth track used this year and the third where Formula 1 Grands Prix are held. Dirk went on to describe its characteristics: "It is a typical Formula 1 track and I don't think it is particularly challenging for us. You have to have a really good car for the kerbs, which you have to use quite a lot. You need good acceleration and good traction. In a touring car you have to use the shortest way and short cut everywhere, and I can't pretend I am looking forward to this aspect. Having said that, it will be great to drive into the Motodrom section and see all the spectators and, as it is a home race for me, I will have lots of friends at the track. I won the Porsche Carrera Cup on the old track so have some special memories."
This will be the first of three races on home ground for Dirk and his BMW Team Deutschland team-mate, Jörg Müller. In the middle of June they will be competing in the Nürburgring 24 Hours in the BMW Motorsport entered BMW M3 GTR and then the second German FIA ETCC race will be in Oschersleben in September. While Jörg and Dirk are racing in Hockenheim, Hans-Joachim Stuck, Boris Said and Duncan Huisman will be continuing with preparations for the Nürburging race. Their task on the Hockenheim weekend will be to take part in a three and a half hour race on the Nordschleife, which acts as an extended test session for the race on the 12/13 June.
Missing from the Magny Cours weekend was the Carly Motors driver, Paulien Zwart, who had an accident while testing for the race and ended up in hospital with a broken pelvis and ankle. Her father, Klaas, took over her BMW 320i in France, but cannot do the same in Hockenheim as he will be driving a 1995 Ferrrari Formula 1 car in the Monaco Historic Grand Prix. The team has, therefore, decided to run just the one car in Germany for Independents' Trophy class leader, Tom Coronel.
The Magny Cours track, which has signed a new contract with SRW for rounds of the series in 2005 and 2006, was very kind to most of the BMW drivers. Jörg took pole for race one while Dirk won it. Andy Priaulx (BMW Team Great Britain) was then on pole for race two, after fighting his way up from the back of the field to eighth for the first race. Andy led race two from the starting lights to the chequered flag, while Dirk had to make a similar recovery and fight back to sixth after being hit on the first lap. Andy's RBM team-mate, Kurt Mollekens, from BMW Team Belgium Luxembourg, was getting used to racing the BMW 320i for the first time. BMW Team Italy-Spain was not so fortunate as Alex Zanardi ran over some debris in race one and Antonio Garcia was involved in an accident at the start of race two.
The results from the two races in France have put BMW back in front of the Manufacturers' Championship with 80 points while Alfa Romeo is second on 78. Gabriele Tarquini still leads the Drivers' Championship with 40 points, but Jörg has now been elevated to second on 35 points, with Dirk third on 34. Tom Coronel had one good and one bad race in Magny Cours, although he still leads the Independents' Trophy on 44 points, but fellow BMW driver Stefano D'Aste (Proteam Motorsport) is much closer on 41 points. However, there is one down side to the good results in Magny Cours and that is the ballast weights - in Hockenheim Jörg will be the only driver to carry the maximum of 40 kilos and Dirk will carry 30 kilos.
The on track action starts on Saturday and the schedule for the FIA ETCC is as follows:
Saturday, 15 May 09.00 - 09.30 - Free Practice 112.45 - 13.15 - Free Practice 215.15 - 15.45 - Qualifying
Sunday, 16 May 09.15 - 09.30 - Warm Up14.45 - Race 1 - 11 laps (50.314km)15.45 - Race 2 - 11 laps (50.314km)
