.... at Silverstone

After its domination of the French round of the World Touring Car Championship, BMW could have been forgiven for hoping for a repeat in the UK round of the world series at the weekend (Sunday 15 May 2005), but it was not to be, with first Alfa Romeo delivering a BMW-crushing 1-2-3-4 blow in race one, and in race two, with the traffic from the reverse grid stopping an Alfa repeat, SEAT taking a 1-2, with Alfa making up the podium.

"We have done a really good job this weekend," said Gabriele Tarquini, who won race one for Alfa Romeo and finished third in race two. "Our performance in qualifying was great, meaning we had no problem in making it an all Alfa Romeo podium. For the second it was completely different. I had two BMWs behind me on the grid, and in the first few laps, as usual, there was a lot of contact. The points situation may indicate that the championship is very much alive, but the BMWs were still competitive despite the 70 kg difference. SEAT are also close to us so the next race will be a real challenge."

In Race One Gabriele Tarquini got a good start from pole and despite efforts from James Thompson, did not give away his lead. Thompson and Fabrizio Giovanardi battled for second position. After a poor start, Thompson, who had the heaviest of the

Alfa cars, lost a place to Giovanardi but on lap 4 he reclaimed it. Augusto Farfus completed the Alfa Romeo quartet, finishing fourth.In Race Two, Alfa Romeo driver Gabriele Tarquini had his second visit to the podium with a third place.

The Championship now moves to Imola in Italy, with BMW's lead cut to just six points in the Manufacturers' standings. In the Drivers' championship, Dirk Muller (BMW) now leads Tarquini by the slender margin of two points.

Manufacturers1. BMW 812. Alfa Romeo 753. SEAT 60 

Drivers1. D. Muller (BMW) 322. G.Tarquini (Alfa Romeo) 30