The Alfa Romeo Racing Team swept to 1-2 finishes in both FIA World Touring Car Championship races in Istanbul this afternoon, a win apiece for Gabriele Tarquini and Fabrizio Giovanardi putting the team's title challenge firmly back on track, although the result could have been much better if dramas had not hit Tarquini and Farfus on the final lap of race one.

Thirteen WTCC points for Giovanardi (now on 70 points) keeps him into third place, but he closes up to just four points behind the BMW-driving championship leader Andy Prilaux (74 points), and three adrift of similar-mounted second placed Dirk Muller (73 points). A maximum of 40 points remain on offer to the drivers before the inaugural WTCC season draws to a close. In the manufacturers' series, a 36 point haul today, sees Alfa Romeo whittle the gap to BMW down to 15 points (BMW and Alfa Romeo now have 215 points and 200 points respectively).

RACE 1

What looked set to be an Alfa 1-2-3-4 from lights to flag was not to be, when on the last lap both Tarquini and Farfus suffered front right tyre failures. The former was lying 2nd behind the eventual race winner Fabrizio Giovanardi, when he went wide and continued at a slow pace to cross the line in 7th. Farfus’ problem was far more evident as parts of his tyres came flying off with the remaining rubber ripping the bodywork. But the Brazilian determinedly finished the race in 8th  to begin Race 2 from pole. With two of the Alfas out, BMW man Andy Priaulx was left to pick up the final podium position behind Thompson. 

At the start Priaulx squeezed between the SEAT cars of Ortelli and Terting to jump up to 5th. Within a matter of seconds Ortelli went wide at a corner and clashed with Terting as he re-joined the track, both retired to the pits later in the race. Dirk Müller’s cars was also involved and damaged. A further incident occurred during the first lap as Hennerici and Larini made contact collecting Jörg Müller on the way. On lap two, García overtook Gené to claim 7th and Zanardi overtook Dirk Müller for 9th. Meanwhile, the four Alfas were pulling away with Giovanardi 2nd until lap 3 when he overtook Tarquini for the lead. After making fantastic progress at the opening stages, Coronel came from the back of the grid to challenge Menu for 11th spot. However the Dutchman retired with an engine failure, just like his Turkish team-mate Kizilirmak. Ahead of them, García mounted another attack on a SEAT, overtaking Rydell for 6th. Over the next two laps García continued his rapid pace and eventually got past Priaulx for 5th. However, Priaulx reclaimed the position after García on the last lap.
 

Lap 9 saw Menu battling with Rosenblad. The Chevrolet man took 11th from the Swede and eventually finished 10th as Gené’s SEAT León was the third car that suffered a tyre failure and dropped from 8th to 17th in the closing seconds. All was not lost for Rosenblad however as 11th was good enough for him to claim the independent win.

RACE 2

This time however it was Gabriele Tarquini who took victory, with Farfus just 0.263 of a second behind. Zanardi made his second podium appearance of the season as he fought off challenges and maintained 3rd position for the entire race. Funke’s Ford and the two GR Asia of Coronel and Kizilirman did not make the grid after their engine failures in the first race. Farfus began from pole but was overtaken by Tarquini on lap 1. Lap 2 saw Giovanardi pass Thompson for 6th and Dirk Müller overtook Menu for 9th. Cirò then challenged for 9th spot but Menu kept his ground.

Rydell and García were racing side by side and it was not long before the SEAT driver lost 4th position. On lap 3, both García and Giovanardi passed him. Shortly afterwards, Giovanardi attempted to overtake Zanardi and García went round the outside of the pair. Contact ensued, sending García spinning off the track where he remained, while Giovanardi managed to continue. Dirk overtook Priaulx on lap 4 with the Briton subsequently loosing positions to Rydell and Menu to finish 9th and just out of the points. At one stage the racing was so close for the final point position, Rydell’s SEAT, Menu’s Chevrolet and Priaulx’s BMW were within one second of each other. It was eventually Menu who finished 8th with Rydell 0.129 of a second ahead.

In lap 5 Giovanardi regained the positions he had lost in the incident with García, but not for long.  Rydell was overtaken by Dirk who continued his fight through the field and followed Thompson as they passed Giovanardi, demoting him back to 6th. Dirk finished the race in 5th while Rydell headed the SEAT Sport drivers with a 7th place finish.

Farfus and Tarquini, who had broken away from the rest of the field had their own battle on the final lap as Farfus took the lead for a matter of second’s before his team-mate pulled back ahead coming into the home straight and secured his second victory of the season. Cirò had lead the independent category for most of the race and was in a brilliant 10th position when he was hit by Terting on the last lap. This caused him to spin and lose four finishing positions while Hennerici went on to claim the Independent win finishing 11th overall.