Following to Alfa Romeo’s double victory in Imola, the FIA European Touring Car Championship is now heading to Oschersleben with the title fight wide open.

Reigning champion Gabriele Tarquini, who had arrived in Imola fourth in the Drivers’ Championship, 20 points behind the leader, left the Italian racetrack in second position, having reduced the gap to just 7 points.

BMW Team Deutschland’s Dirk Müller is still leading the classification, with 93 points, while his team-mate Jörg Müller and BMW Team Great Britain’s Andy Priaulx are joint in third position, one point behind Tarquini.

With four drivers covered by eight points, and 40 points still to be awarded in the two race meetings left, the championship is due to offer a breathtaking final charge, just like last year.

The weight handicaps will be distributed among most of the works drivers. Tarquini is on the maximum (40 kg), while Dirk has 30 and Giovanardi 20; Gené (10), Priaulx and Jörg (5 each) have lighter cars. This leaves very good chances to those who do not carry any ballast, like SEAT’s Rydell and Diefenbacher, BMW Team Italy-Spain’s García and Zanardi, and AutoDelta’s Augusto Farfus and James Thompson.

With the 14th and 15th rounds of the German DMSB Produktionswagen Meisterschaft to be run within the FIA ETCC races, the whole field is due to reach the 30 cars.

The 17th and 18th rounds of the FIA European Touring Car Championship on the twisty German track, are expected to favour the BMW men. The Oschersleben Motopark suits the 320i cars extremely well, as proved by the fact that they have won all four FIA ETCC rounds held there so far: two wins for Dirk Müller in 2002, one apiece for Jörg Müller and Priaulx in 2003. On the other hand, this is traditionally a difficult track for the Alfa Romeo 156.

SEAT is also looking forward to Oschersleben, because last year on this circuit the Toledo Cupra claimed its first podium result: a third place for Frank Diefenbacher. Considering the excellent progress made by the Spanish car, there are concrete possibilites to see a SEAT driver on the winning podium.

With the title battle closer than ever, and four drivers – Dirk Müller, Gabriele Tarquini, Jörg Müller and Andy Priaulx – still with excellent hopes of winning – the end of the season promises to be thrilling.