19.09.2004 Gabriele Tarquini's bid to retain his crown evaporated on the fourth lap of race one when his Alfa Romeo suffered transmission failure: FIA ETCC race report from Oschersleben

RACE 1

At the start, Priaulx took the lead from Farfus, Tarquini and D. Müller. Thompson was leading the rest of the field, chased by Diefenbacher, Giovanardi, J. Müller, Gené, while Coronel and Tavano were fighting for the lead in the Independents Trophy. Engstler was making the pace in the DPM race ahead of Klenke and Funke.

On lap two, Giovanardi overtook Diefenbacher for sixth, while on lap four, Tarquini slowed down and stopped along the track due to a transmission failure, losing the third position and his chances to win the title again. The next lap, Diefenbacher tried to steal fourth position from Thompson; they collided and the SEAT driver retired with a broken suspension. Giovanardi and J. Müller moved up to fourth and fifth. In the DPM race, Funke overtook Klenke for second.

Priaulx pulled away, while Farfus was closely chased by D. Müller. Thompson was defending his sixth position from Gené, Coronel, Huisman and Rydell. In the German Championship, the first five drivers – Engstler, Funke, Klenke, Hürtgen, Winkelhock and Hennerici – were covered by only five seconds, but differential problems forced Klenke to slow down. 

J. Müller was chasing Giovanardi for fourth; they closed in to the Farfus-D. Müller duo. On lap twelve, Giovanardi hit D. Müller, who slipped down to fifth; but he recovered one position on the last lap.

Priaulx crossed the line in first, with a comfortable margin of seven seconds ahead of Farfus and Giovanardi, who was later penalized by thirty seconds for his incident with D. Müller.  The Müllers scored enough points to secure the Manufacturers’ Championship for BMW. Coronel was classified eighth, and mathematically claimed the Independents Trophy. Engstler won the DPM race from Funke and Hürtgen.

RACE 2

Tarquini, Balzan and Bernhardt did not start. From the pole, Coronel took the lead, chased by Rydell, J. Müller and Thompson. Rydell stole the first position from Coronel, who lost two other places to J. Müller and Thompson . In the DPM race, Engstler was leading again, from Hürtgen, Winkelhock and Hennerici.

The second lap saw D. Müller move up to fourth, jumping Coronel. Engstler retired after a collision with Tavano, while the next lap saw Farfus attack Priaulx’s sixth position, they collided and the latter retired. Thompson overtook J. Müller for second. On lap four, Farfus overtook Coronel for fifth.

Hürtgen was leading in the DPM, closely chased by Funke, Hennerici and Klenke. One lap later the Müllers were on Thompson’s tail, the Englishman and Jörg colliding twice, with the German getting the worst of it and retiring. D. Müller moved up to second, behind Rydell.

On lap eight, a collision involved Giovanardi, Diefenbacher and García; only the former managing to continue. D. Müller was closing the gap from Rydell, while Rosenblad broke into the points, and Hürtgen into the top-ten. On lap ten, Klenke retired from fourth in the German championship, while Huisman overtook Hürtgen for 10th.

Thompson was closely chased by Coronel and Gené; while Rosenblad and Giovanardi were in tough fight for the seventh position. On lap thirteen Coronel overtook Thompson and grabbed the fourth position.

Rydell increased his pace, stretching his leading margin again and going on to score SEAT’s first win in the Championship. D. Müller and Farfus completed the podium, ahead of a brilliant Coronel. Rosenblad won his duel versus Giovanardi and scored his first ETCC points. Hürtgen claimed the DPM race from Hennerici and Funke.