[WTCC] Round 17 & 18 at Valencia (2 October)

[FIRE]

SEAT entering 3 Leons and young Spanish driver will make his debut:

SEAT Sport team is stepping up again to a four-car line-up for their home race in Valencia. While the team’s three regular drivers Jordi Gené, Rickard Rydell and Peter Terting will all be at the wheel of the new León (it will be the first time for Rydell and Terting), Marc Carol will make his debut in a Toledo Cupra.

Full article


STCC driver Tomas Engstrom will drive the 2nd JAS Honda Accord.
Full article

[Valker]

Estonian Aivis Ohtla won't drive his Accord at Valencia nor Vallelunga etccup because his race car was stolen in Lithuania before Baltic championship (FIA NEZ) round.

http://www.lx-motorsport.ee/?pageid=2&newsid=143

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by Valker

Estonian Aivis Ohtla won't drive his Accord at Valencia nor Vallelunga etccup because his race car was stolen in Lithuania before Baltic championship (FIA NEZ) round.

http://www.lx-motorsport.ee/?pageid=2&newsid=143

That's

[kmchow]

Just his racecar or even the trailer is normally stored in? What's the point of stealing a racecar? It's not easy to resell a racecar? OTOH, are their conspiracy theories??? Is he leading or fighting for the championship?

[Alfa Fan]

Steal the car, break it up and sell it on the black market as spares. There's many teams running on marginal budgets that wouldn't think twice about purchasing parts from the black market.

[E46]

1st practice session
1 Jorg MULLER BMW 320i 1:43.274
2 Gabriele TARQUINI Alfa Romeo 156 1:43.422
3 Jordi GENE SEAT Leon 1:43.435
4 Peter TERTING SEAT Leon 1:43.543
5 Augusto FARFUS JR. Alfa Romeo 156 1:43.575
6 Dirk MULLER BMW 320i 1:43.642
7 Antonio GARCIA BMW 320i 1:43.706
8 Fabrizio GIOVANARDI ITA Alfa Romeo 156 1:43.733
9 Tom CORONEL SEAT Toledo Cupra 1:43.818
10 James THOMPSON Alfa Romeo 156 1:43.874
11 Thomas KLENKE Ford Focus 1:43.940
12 Alessandro ZANARDI BMW 320i 1:44.052
13 Alain MENU Chevrolet Lacetti 1:44.052
14 Marc CAROL SEAT Toledo Cupra 1:44.286
15 Nicola LARINI Chevrolet Lacetti 1:44.349
16 Stephane ORTELLI SEAT Toledo Cupra 1:44.420
17 Rickard RYDELL SEAT Leon 1:44.438
18 Michael FUNKE Ford Focus 1:44.501
19 Tomas ENGSTROM Honda Accord Euro R 1:44.512
20 Andy PRIAULX BMW 320i 1:44.524
21 Robert HUFF Chevrolet Lacetti 1:44.551
22 Giuseppe CIRO BMW 320i 1:44.838
23 Carl ROSENBLAD BMW 320i 1:45.104
24 Stefano D'ASTE BMW 320i 1:45.224
25 Marc HENNERICI BMW 320i 1:45.480
26 Adriano DE MICHELI Honda Accord Euro R 1:45.653
27 Polo VILLAAMIL SEAT Toledo Cupra 1:45.923

[BSchneiderFan]

Interesting, given that BMW were saying that Valencia favoured front-wheel drive cars. The Leon is looking ever-more promising too. What price a debut win on home soil?

[alfan]

2nd practice session results are very intresting...Ford 2nd, Chevy 5th, first BMW 10th...I like it a lot
Funke did only three laps ( engine failure) - and still he was second best !

1 Fabrizio GIOVANARDI ITA Alfa Romeo 156 1:44.306
2 Michael FUNKE GER Ford Focus 1:44.690 0.384
3 Jordi GENE ESP SEAT Leon 1:44.769 0.463
4 Rickard RYDELL SWE SEAT Leon 1:44.776 0.470
5 Nicola LARINI ITA Chevrolet Lacetti 1:44.813 0.507
6 Peter TERTING GER SEAT Leon 1:44.989 0.683
7 Augusto FARFUS JR. BRA Alfa Romeo 156 1:45.004 0.698
8 Alain MENU SUI Chevrolet Lacetti 1:45.065 0.759
9 Tom CORONEL NED SEAT Toledo Cupra 1:45.249 0.943
10 Jorg MULLER GER BMW 320i 1:45.294 0.988
11 Gabriele TARQUINI ITA Alfa Romeo 156 1:45.439 1.133
12 Dirk MULLER GER BMW 320i 1:45.474 1.168
13 Stephane ORTELLI MON SEAT Toledo Cupra 1:45.480 1.174
14 Alessandro ZANARDI ITA BMW 320i 1:45.485 1.179
15 Thomas KLENKE GER Ford Focus 1:45.538 1.232
16 Robert HUFF GBR Chevrolet Lacetti 1:45.578 1.272
17 James THOMPSON GBR Alfa Romeo 156 1:45.692 1.386
18 Antonio GARCIA ESP BMW 320i 1:45.736 1.430
19 Adriano DE MICHELI ITA Honda Accord Euro R 1:45.774 1.468
20 Andy PRIAULX GBR BMW 320i 1:45.829 1.523
21 Marc CAROL ESP SEAT Toledo Cupra 1:46.039 1.733
22 Giuseppe CIRO ITA BMW 320i 1:46.074 1.768
23 Tomas ENGSTROM SWE Honda Accord Euro R 1:46.095 1.789
24 Stefano D'ASTE ITA BMW 320i 1:46.211 1.905
25 Carl ROSENBLAD SWE BMW 320i 1:46.321 2.015
26 Polo VILLAAMIL ESP SEAT Toledo Cupra 1:46.754 2.448
27 Marc HENNERICI GER BMW 320i 1:46.781 2.475

[FIRE]

Maybe Ford knew the engine was almost ready for a rebuild so they gave it some extra rpm's to do a few laps?

It's clear Coronel is the best privateer on this circuit, probably because it's in SEAT-country.

[FIRE]

Qualifying:
POS NO CL DRIVER NAT CAR TIME LAPS GAP KPH
1 9 Jordi GENE ESP SEAT Leon 1:42.778 5 140.28
2 10 Peter TERTING GER SEAT Leon 1:43.093 8 0.315 139.85
3 43 Dirk MULLER GER BMW 320i 1:43.277 10 0.499 139.60
4 21 Robert HUFF GBR Chevrolet Lacetti 1:43.295 11 0.517 139.58
5 8 Rickard RYDELL SWE SEAT Leon 1:43.326 7 0.548 139.53
6 7 Augusto FARFUS JR. BRA Alfa Romeo 156 1:43.361 11 0.583 139.49
7 42 Jorg MULLER GER BMW 320i 1:43.487 11 0.709 139.32
8 2 Gabriele TARQUINI ITA Alfa Romeo 156 1:43.598 11 0.820 139.17
9 5 Antonio GARCIA ESP BMW 320i 1:43.599 13 0.821 139.17
10 22 Nicola LARINI ITA Chevrolet Lacetti 1:43.695 9 0.917 139.04
11 20 I Tom CORONEL NED SEAT Toledo Cupra 1:43.716 10 0.938 139.01
12 23 Alain MENU SUI Chevrolet Lacetti 1:43.749 10 0.971 138.97
13 6 Fabrizio GIOVANARDI ITA Alfa Romeo 156 1:43.777 11 0.999 138.93
14 29 Stephane ORTELLI MON SEAT Toledo Cupra 1:43.853 10 1.075 138.83
15 1 Andy PRIAULX GBR BMW 320i 1:43.880 12 1.102 138.79
16 27 I Adriano DE MICHELI ITA Honda Accord Euro R 1:43.969 9 1.191 138.67
17 28 I Carl ROSENBLAD SWE BMW 320i 1:44.145 11 1.367 138.44
18 14 Thomas KLENKE GER Ford Focus 1:44.211 11 1.433 138.35
19 12 Marc CAROL ESP SEAT Toledo Cupra 1:44.245 12 1.467 138.30
20 16 Michael FUNKE GER Ford Focus 1:44.287 12 1.509 138.25
21 4 Alessandro ZANARDI ITA BMW 320i 1:44.394 12 1.616 138.11
22 34 I Tomas ENGSTROM SWE Honda Accord Euro R 1:44.454 14 1.676 138.03
23 3 James THOMPSON GBR Alfa Romeo 156 1:44.925 11 2.147 137.41
24 30 I Stefano D'ASTE ITA BMW 320i 1:44.946 12 2.168 137.38
25 32 I Marc HENNERICI GER BMW 320i 1:45.007 9 2.229 137.30
26 31 I Giuseppe CIRO ITA BMW 320i 1:45.072 11 2.294 137.22
27 40 I Polo VILLAAMIL ESP SEAT Toledo Cupra 1:45.499 10 2.721 136.66

1-2 For SEAT Leon. Is this the first polepostion for SEAT?
Great result from Rob Huff/Chevrolet

[Hazard]

Well, at what point did Alfa FORGET how to set up their cars!

It's a Seat walkover then is it! Dammit.

[Hazard]

Erm, yeah...Huff 4th?

Tell you what, I reckon the Spanish equivilent of April fools day must be October 1st! Surely this isn't right? Can't wait to get back from Brands to see this tomorrow -VCR don't let me down!

[E46]

Originally Posted by FIRE

1-2 For SEAT Leon. Is this the first polepostion for SEAT?

No, at least in 2004 Gené got a pole.

Originally Posted by Hazard

Tell you what, I reckon the Spanish equivilent of April fools day must be October 1st! Surely this isn't right?

It´s December 28th.

[alfan]

It reminds me bit about Mexico...I bet, that Dirk Muller will be 1st in turn 1.

[Hazard]

Originally Posted by alfan

It reminds me bit about Mexico...I bet, that Dirk Muller will be 1st in turn 1.

Agreed, but I doubt the BMW has the pace to stay there...we'll see.

It would be nice, no, excellent for Seat to win at their home track with the new Léon already.

I'm completely shocked by Alfa's lack of pace, looks like those budget cuts for 2006 are already kicking in.

[alfan]

Great race 1...but this view of Chevrolet passing Alfa Romeo...

I'm suprised, that someone at Eurosport realised, that fight for P10 (Rydell, Zanardi & rest) can be more interesting, than three cars driving separatly in front.

Did anybody see, who spun Huff after start ?

[E46]

Very good races. I have to say Giovanardi did a superb second race, however title chances are more difficult for him now in my opinion. Macau is a BMW track usually, and Müller and Priaulx have a good advantage.
Good weekend for SEAT, with Gené winning his first race in WTCC. And an impressive Marc Carol, first race in WTCC and scores 1 point and has been the best SEAT in second race. And he is 20 years old.

[FIRE]

Great races.

At the end of race 2 Charly Lamm (Schitzer team) and ??? had a discussion. Why?

One race weekend to go (Macau, 20 November) and 3 title candidates.

[alfan]

Giovanardi was incredible in Race 2, he didn't make any single mistake under pressure for 12 laps. Unbelievable.

Praiulx also did great job, and they must have very intresting conversation with Dirk right now

[Blackadder]

I see Bart was having a head to head with Charly Lamm!

[E46]

At least BMW drivers fight between them, others manufacturers can´t say the same, no?

[alfan]

Errrrr....I think I can remember some DNFs of Alfas after fight beetwen teammates

[Bernard Bram]

Yes, but that was probably due to them missing a BMW and hitting a teammate instead :P.

[Sodemo]

Are the WTCC races going to be repeated at all?

I missed my plane, and got back after they had run

[Hazard]

Just watched these, smashing races (literally!). With Honda & Chevrolet now looking like they're on the tails of Seat, Alfa & BMW now, 2006 is probably going to be amazing...perhaps (pushing it) heading towards the multi-manufacturer extravaganza of the late 90's era BTCC?

Giovanardi fantastic job to hold that second, and so cleanly. All the other Alfa's nowhere to be seen.

Do want to know what the Charlie vs Bart fight was about too, I reckon it might be about Dirk's driving at the beginning of the race specifically, he did hit Priaulx a bit.