Last weekend the FIA World Touring Car Championship visited Brazilian shores for the first time, and for Alfa Romeo and in particular their 'local' driver Augusto Farfus, it was deemed a great success, with the N.technology team building on the return to form they showed last time out at Oschersleben.

Augusto Farfus, who counts the Curitiba circuit as his 'local' track, set his marker down by posting fastest time during Saturday's second free practice session, before going on to place the Alfa 156 onto outright pole in final qualifying. The first race on Sunday was enlivened by the fight at the front between Farfus and SEAT Sport factory drivers' Jordi Gené and Peter Terting. Farfus maintained his pole advantage from the start to lead for half of the distance in front of his home crowd, but finally Gené and Terting succeeded in overtaking him, giving SEAT a 1-2 finish. He climbed onto the podium having finished just 2.986 seconds behind the winner. Unfortunately this was the high point of his afternoon as irreparable accident damage put him out of race two on just the seventh lap. “I'm very happy because to race at home is a pleasure and to finish 3rd and score points is great," said Farfus after the two races. "The second race was frantic and I had an accident which put an end to my race. I think the event and track here could be improved but we must remember it was the first visit from the WTCC and people have learned a lot. For me and Alfa Romeo it was a good weekend.”

While Farfus has already won one race earlier this year (at Monza) and taken a hard-fought second place during the previous round of the series, held in Oschersleben last month, team mate Gianni Morbidelli has struggled to acclimatise himself to the Alfa 156 and the demands of the FIA World Touring Car Championship, which is now in its second season. The hugely experienced Italian former F1 - and more recently sportscar - pilot had only managed to amass just two championship points going into the Brazilian double-header last weekend, gained for the seventh place he managed at Brands Hatch when the Alfa 156 racer was very much out of sorts.
 

However ten points at Curitiba (2 pts for 7th place in race 1 and 8 pts for 2nd place in race 2) and a trip to the podium left Morbidelli delighted: “Am I happy? Absolutely," he said after race two. "It has been a fantastic weekend for me and I have to thank Alfa Romeo. It is pleasure to be here and at the top again after some years. I hope to stay in podium positions for the rest of the season.” Morbidelli claimed second place in race two after beating fellow countryman Alessandro Zanardi's BMW by a matter of inches.

With 12 points now to his name Morbidelli now moves up to 12th position in the drivers' championship, three places behind his team mate Farfus, who has 28 points. The series is now led by reigning champion Andy Prilaux (BMW) who jumped straight into the series lead after the Curitiba races, thanks to his victory in race two. The Briton now has 44 points, three ahead of fellow countryman (and last year an Alfa Romeo factory driver) James Thompson. In third place is another former Alfa Romeo factory pilot Gabriele Tarquini who has 40 pts and is comfortably ahead of Rickard Rydell (34 pts), Yvan Muller (33 pts), Dirk Müller and Peter Terting (32 pts) and Jörg Müller (30 pts).

Next up is Farfus, who with his 28 pts haul is only six short of Rydell in fourth place, offering the Brazilian driver ample chance to move up the order as the second half of the WTCC season gets underway later this month in Mexico. In the manufacturers' cup SEAT have 127 pts, BMW 126 pts, Alfa Romeo 75 pts and Chevrolet 62 pts.