N.technology Alfa Romeo driver Augusto Farfus scored a double figures helping of points in the FIA World Touring Car Championship races held at Oschersleben in Germany this afternoon, the fourth round of the 2006 series, brilliantly finishing race two on the podium in second place after having spent much of the race challenging the BMW of Jörg Müller for the overall lead and fending off the attentions of Jörg's Dirk Müller on his tail. This superb result came after race one had seen Farfus come home in sixth place after narrowly avoiding a late race incident.

Oschersleben - the BMW marque's home circuit - has always been something of a bogey track for the Alfa Romeo factory team and a stunning return to form was partially helped by a 20 kg weight advantage recently handed to the Alfa 156, but also as a result of recent hard work which has seen significant improvements being made to the venerable racer by the N.technology team. Farfus was easily able to hold his own in race two snapping at Jörg Müller's heels as he challenged for the lead. The clear message as the teams departed from the German track this evening was that Alfa Romeo is back.

"After some disappointing results in Magny-Cours and Brands Hatch we worked on the car a lot," said Brazilian Augusto Farfus during the post-event press conference. "Here I had a brilliant start in the second race and at the beginning I was fast enough to attack Jörg. I was not able to overtake him because the tyres deteriorated. I'm happy and second place is very important to the team. The next race is at my home track but I have actually never raced there before. I hope to have success there as I had here," the Brazilian concluded.

RACE 1

Andy Priaulx capitalised on his pole start by shooting off the line and not allowing anyone to get close to him. He passed the chequered flag first with fellow BMW driver Dirk Müller 0.469 seconds behind and Rickard Rydell following at the wheel of his SEAT León. Dirk weaved his way from 6th to 4th before the first corner and despite some contact with Rydell he managed to keep position. Farfus and Tarquini were involved in a scuffle in the first lap with a couple of overtaking moves happening before the SEAT man went through for 5th, followed by his SEAT team-mate Yvan Muller.

The next three laps saw Priaulx, Thompson, Rydell and Dirk pull away. The pack behind was the source of action on lap 5 when Farfus promoted himself back up to 6th. On the same lap Zanardi passed Morbidelli for 10th. The nose-to-tail tension continued with Dirk overtaking Rydell for 3rd on the first corner of lap 6 and then looked set to close the gap between himself and Thompson. Dirk's BMW Team Germany companion, Jörg, also gained a place by passing Yvan Muller for 7th.
 

Thompson conceded second place to Dirk on lap 8 and was also passed by Tarquini and Rydell a few laps later to eventually finish 5th. The fight was on for the 8th position that means pole position for Race 2. Yvan Muller was being put under great pressure from Zanardi. The Italian mounted an attack on lap 12 but hit Muller entering a corner. The former spun off while the latter continued further down the rankings in 11th. This handed pole for race two to local lad Peter Terting.

Farfus finished 6th overall after spectacularly keeping control of his Alfa Romeo 156 as he sped across the Oschersleben grass following contact with James Thompson's SEAT. The Brazilian then narrowly avoided being overtaken by Jörg Müller. The three Chevrolet drivers finished in a row with Huff, Menu and Larini taking 12th, 13th and 14th place respectively. Tom Coronel was 10th overall and won the Independents' category.

RACE 2

Jörg Müller secured his first win of the season to the delight of his home crowd. He took the lead after a good start from second on the grid. Augusto Farfus had a solid race to finish 2nd ahead of Dirk Muller who took his second podium of the day. From the pole Peter Terting but had a poor start, which resulted in him entering the first corner in 4th place. This is where he remained and eventually finished; the best of the SEAT drivers. Rydell, Thompson, Tarquini and Yvan Muller crossed the line in succession occupying 5th through to 8th place.

Winner of Race 1, Andy Priaulx, was overtaken by Huff and Yvan Muller on the second lap before Yvan then immediately passed Huff for 8th place, and importantly after a poor weekend, the final point. Huff's team-mate Menu went off on lap 3 and did not re-join. Farfus, who was lying second and sandwiched between the two BMW Team Germany cars, was applying the pressure on Jörg but the lead man was un-fazed. There was no margin for error however as, at the end of lap 6, the top three crossed the line within 0.438 of each other. Jörg pulled away slightly over the remainder of the race leaving Farfus to successfully fight off Dirk's attempted challenges. Tom Coronel completed a very positive weekend by securing his second independent win behind the wheel of his new GR Asia SEAT León. He finished the race 12th overall.