[WTCC] Race 9 & 10 - Valencia (SPA), 31st May 2009

[werner]

A shame that Farfus felt back at the start. He may have been able to fight the top Seat's if he was on their tail right away. Hopefully he can take revenge at the next race.
The Chevy's were poor. I don't know wat was wrong with them.

For next race, we can really see the pace of the Seat's. They will have to go flat our from the start to pass the BMW's in front of them. It will be interesting how the BMW's are going to threat eachother in the opening stages of the race.

[Hazard]

Rain's threatening at Valencia. The second race may well be wet.

[werner]

Hopefully! Remember Japan last year!

[FIRE]

Missed the first race.

Originally Posted by werner

Maybe, although I don't think Coronel really let himself drop back. I think he would not want to risk his indy-win by fighting of Priaulx to hard.
Nevertheless he might have fought harder if being overtaken meant he might lose a front-end start.

In 2006 he used the same tactic. Don't fight with factory teams and focus 100% on winning the privateers title.

I hope Coronel can win the 2nd race.

Privateer championship is very close.

[Andy77]

Jörg Müller under investigation because of the possibility of teamorders

[helterskelter]

Originally Posted by Andy77

Jörg Müller under investigation because of the possibility of teamorders

If they used team orders they're crazy.
Super race by Priaulx, didn't anybody notice that?

[werner]

Wow, Coronel was really swamped at the start by the BMW's in race 2!

Great racing between Tarquini and Priaulx. That's how touringcarracing should be. One car with high power fighting a car with better braking and better tyres, overtaking eachother several times.
Finally a win for BMW: congratulations to Farfus. He really deserved it imo. The championship is very tight now.
Peter Baert (the dutch commentator) interviewed van Lagen, who retired with his Lada. The problems of the Lada's were that they lost oil all the time.
He mentioned that the reason that most of the Seat's were not as fast as you might expect is that they might have run on newer tyres in the first race. Would it not be interesting if you could see on tv what kind of tyres are on the car. For instance that when the cars are on the grid the telly shows how many laps are already driven with the tyres.

[jab]

Dreadful dreadful directing. Watching a great battle for 3rd and then changing to focus on backmarkers

[Hazard]

In contrast - directing for the BTCC second race was so much better.

Nice win for BMW, finally! Despite that, they're still very close in the points - show's how consistant Farfus is.

Yes, Farfus + Consistant! Who'd have thought we'd be saying that four years ago?

[helterskelter]

It might be because I'm a Priaulx fan, but did you like the fact that Tarquini could brake too late at the last corner, Priaulx would have a better exit and still the Seat was faster when going out of the corner, through the main straight? I didn't...

[Hazard]

Originally Posted by helterskelter

It might be because I'm a Priaulx fan, but did you like the fact that Tarquini could brake too late at the last corner, Priaulx would have a better exit and still the Seat was faster when going out of the corner, through the main straight? I didn't...

Tis a feature of a diesel. The high torque always will work in their favour - and you can't be surprised that the drivers learn to drive in a way that maximises their performance.

[jab]

I thought Gabriele drove a frustratingly very good race

Great as ever to see Alex in the points again

[helterskelter]

Originally Posted by Hazard

Tis a feature of a diesel. The high torque always will work in their favour - and you can't be surprised that the drivers learn to drive in a way that maximises their performance.

No, not surprised nor criticizing Tarquini. But if a driver stays ahead just because of top speed, I find it boring. Personal opinion, though...

[Sodemo]

Perhaps if the FIA had not given SEAT back their 0.2 bar of boost things might have been slightly closer...?

[helterskelter]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

Perhaps if the FIA had not given SEAT back their 0.2 bar of boost things might have been slightly closer...?

Definitely.

[stedevil]

OMG... still nagging on how the SEATs are too good. They where 20kg underweight and still the BMW beat them in race 2 by a huge margin.

You will just not be satisfied until place 1-8 is a BMW and Andy scores 20 points in a weekend.

[helterskelter]

Originally Posted by stedevil

OMG... still nagging on how the SEATs are too good. They where 20kg underweight and still the BMW beat them in race 2 by a huge margin.

You will just not be satisfied until place 1-8 is a BMW and Andy scores 20 points in a weekend.

Not faster, too hard to pass, which makes the races frustrating.

[stedevil]

Originally Posted by helterskelter

Not faster, too hard to pass, which makes the races frustrating.

They were 20kg lighter, on a track know to favour FWD. T should have run away from AP laughing... yet JM & AF leave him in the dust and AP is climbing all over him, still you are complaining...

[helterskelter]

Originally Posted by stedevil

They were 20kg lighter, on a track know to favour FWD. T should have run away from AP laughing... yet JM & AF leave him in the dust and AP is climbing all over him, still you are complaining...

Nooooooo! I didn't complain about how quick they were, we'll have to wait until they have the same ballast as BMW (Remember that during quali only 1 BMW made it to the Q2, against 6 Seats and 3 Chevys).
I'm complaining about the fact that although Tarquini was constantly braking far too late at the last corner he still managed to get out of it faster than AP because of the turbo diesel.
Let's put it this way: which one did you like better, Plato or Tarquini? I liked more Plato, because he didn't have an advantage in a field that is obviously vital when defending, which are top speed and acceleration

[werner]

Duh, the straight is the strongest point of the Seat, it is logical that you should not attack there when you are down in top speed and acceleration. If you are in a BMW, you should try in a more twisty part, or in a brakingzone after a fast corner.
Offcourse that is more difficult. But in a serie with different cars you always have strong and weak points in a car, and as a driver you should take advantage of your strong points, and 'drive around' your weak points. That is the whole point of touringcarracing.

[helterskelter]

Originally Posted by werner

Duh, the straight is the strongest point of the Seat, it is logical that you should not attack there when you are down in top speed and acceleration. If you are in a BMW, you should try in a more twisty part, or in a brakingzone after a fast corner.
Offcourse that is more difficult. But in a serie with different cars you always have strong and weak points in a car, and as a driver you should take advantage of your strong points, and 'drive around' your weak points. That is the whole point of touringcarracing.

Yes, no objections, I'm not questioning that. Still, I find it boring!

[werner]

Really? How can that be boring? It really sets out touringcar- (and GT-) racing apart from singleseater- onemake or sportscarracing, where all the drivers can only overtake at the same points, or when an opponent makes a mistake offcourse.

[helterskelter]

No the difference is that in TC the fights are harder because if you touch your opponent it's pretty much likely that none of you are going to retire, if you do it properly, and therefore can take more chances. It's not the fact that a diesel accelerates and you 'lose sight' of him