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The all-new FIA
World Touring Car Championship is heading to France for the
second race meeting of the season which will take place at
the Magny-Cours circuit on Sunday, May 1st.
After the first two
rounds in Monza, where BMW and Alfa Romeo took one win
apiece, Dirk Müller (BMW Team Deutschland) arrives in France
as the championship leader, with 20 points and a margin of 8
ahead of his closest competitor James Thompson (Alfa Romeo
Racing Team). Third in the classification is Antonio García
(BMW Team Italy- Spain) only one further point adrift. In
the Manufacturers' Championship BMW is leading Alfa Romeo by
only one point.
A number of drivers
are eager to make up for the premiere that, in some ways,
disappointed them: 2004 FIA ETCC champion Andy Priaulx
(twice in the points but never at the top), Gabriele
Tarquini (eliminated in the second race after a collision
with Dirk), Jörg Müller (whose hopes were jeopardized by a
mistake in the first race).
Traditionally the French track suits BMW more than Alfa
Romeo -- four consecutive race wins for the German cars in
the latest two seasons -- but the fight seems extremely
even. Chevrolet and Ford are also looking forward to the new
event for continuing to develop their cars and closing the
gap from the top. And much is expected by SEAT Sport.
Magny-Cours is a
track that really suits the Toledo Cupra, as was proved by
the lap times set by Rickard Rydell, Jordi Gené and Peter
Terting during the winter tests. As in Monza, 33 cars will
take part in the event, with the two RS-Line IPZ Racing Ford
Focus machines of Sascha Plöderl and Frank Diefenbacher
stepping in place of the Honda Dealer Team Sweden cars of
Tomas Engström and Jens Hellström.
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Antonio Garcia and
Augusto Farfus fight for position at Monza a
fortnight ago (top), while former FIA ETCC Champion
Gabriele Tarquini splashes through the opening free
practice session during the first
round of the WTCC |
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James Thomson (Alfa
Romeo) and Dirk Muller (BMW) dispute the lead of
WTCC race two at Monza (top), while young Czech
pilot Adam Lacko, who drove a Team Oregon-run Alfa
Romeo 156 GTA during the opening round (above), will
switch to BMW power for
Magny-Cours next weekend |
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NEW HANDICAP WEIGHTS COME INTO FORCE
The FIA WTCC revised handicap weight system comes into force
for the first time in Magny-Cours. Two different criteria
are combined to determine ballasts: Firstly, drivers who
scored the highest number of points in the previous weekends
are imposed the following handicap weights: 1st/40 kg,
2nd/30 kg, 3rd/20 kg, 4th/10 kg, 5th/0 kg, 6th/- 5 kg, 7th/-
10 kg, 8th/-15 kg, from 9th onwards/- 20 kg. Secondly,
drivers who scored championship points are imposed a 5-kg
handicap per each 10 points scored. The two handicaps are
cumulable up to a maximum of 60 kg.
THE ITALIAN
CHAMPIONSHIP BACK IN ACTION
As in Monza,
competitors from the Italian Superturismo Championship will
join the FIA WTCC drivers again on the track, to compete in
the third and fourth rounds of their own national series.
During the previous
meeting, Alessandro Zanardi -- who competes in both the
World and the Italian championships -- claimed two wins at
the wheel of his BMW Team Italy-Spain car; his first
victories since the accident that cost him his legs in 2001.
Zanardi leads the classification with 20 points, trailed by
Alessandro Balzan (SEAT Toledo Cupra) 13 and Salvatore
Tavano (Alfa Romeo 156) 11. Nine drivers are eligible to
score for the Italian Championship; besides the top three
the others are Andrea Larini, De Micheli, D'Aste, Cirò, De
Lorenzi and Valli.
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