Alfa Romeo continued their return to FIA World Touring Car Championship form with a third place for Augusto Farfus in race one in Brazil yesterday and with a second spot for Gianni Morbidelli in race two. Farfus was unable to translate his pole position into a race one victory but the N.technology-run Alfa 156s were able to mix it up with the SEAT and BMW runners, continuing the vein of form that got underway in Oschersleben last month.

Six points for Farfus sees him in 9th place in the series with 28 points, while Morbidelli added 10 points to his 2 point total coming to Brazil to move up to 12th place. Meanwhile defending FIA WTCC champion Andy Priaulx has moved back into the lead of the 2006 championship thanks to victory in race two at Curitiba. The Briton, who finished eighth in the opening race won by SEAT Spain's Jordi Gene, avoided two serious accident to take his fourth win of the season. In the Manufacturers' Championship Alfa Romeo remain in third place with 75 points.

RACE 1

The dream of winning on home soil was not to come true for Farfus in Race 1 but all was not lost as he crossed the line 3rd securing a place on the podium. The victor of the race was Jordi Gené for SEAT Sport and Peter Terting passed the chequered flag in second position. Farfus and Gené both got a great start from the front row. The same could not be said for GR Asia driver, Ceresoli however, as his car ended up along the wall of the start straight. Lucas Molo who was making his WTCC debut also had troubles on the first lap and after spinning, his car was stranded on the track which resulted in the safety car being dispatched for two laps.

At the re-start, Farfus got away brilliantly. Further down the field, Morbidelli made a move on the inside of Priaulx for 7th. They finished in these positions and therefore Priaulx began Race 2 from pole. On lap 6 Gené was clearly closing on the lead man and reduced the gap to just 0.198 of a second over the following three laps. It was on lap 10 that Farfus and Gené came nose to tail. The Spaniard didn't let the opportunity go to waste; squeezing through shortly followed by Terting.

While Farfus made the podium, Morbidelli grabbed two points for 7th place while the third factory Alfa Romeo driver, Salvatore Tavano, finished 15th. Robert Huff got the best result out of the three Chevrolet drivers by finishing 18th overall. Ryan Sharp claimed the win from the independent category and crossed the line 12th beating Tom Coronel and Luca Rangoni by inches. Zanardi from BMW Italy-Spain had a spectacular race. Despite starting from 26th due to an accident in qualifying, he finished 10th after working his way through the pack.

RACE 2

Andy Priaulx achieved his fourth race win of the season after a lights-to-flag lead of a race which was filled with drama. Gianni Morbidelli from Alfa Romeo finished 2nd followed by Alessandro Zanardi.
 

The safety car was required twice during the race, which was eventually red flagged with one lap remaining. On lap 6 Rangoni of Proteam Motorsport spun and ended up in the gravel at turn 4 which meant safety car conditions for one lap. On the restart Yvan Muller and Alain Menu were battling for 9th position.

Lap 9 saw Zanardi overtake Thompson's SEAT for 3rd position. On the same lap the incident which caused the deployment of the safety car for the second time occurred. Emmet O'Brien went wide at the turn at the exit of Curva da Vitória and crashed heavily into the tyre wall before spinning onto the track. The safety car was out for three laps and the field forced to drive through the pit straight before the racing action could begin once again. It was short lived however because in an exact replica of the crash that had just occurred, Alain Menu suffered the same fate. Again, the car was stranded in a dangerous place and this time the race was red flagged.

Due to regulations, when the race finishes under red flag conditions the final results are taken from the penultimate lap before the flag was issued. Therefore in this case the results were taken from lap 14 in which Menu was 10th. His Chevrolet team-mate Robert Huff finished in the final point scoring position of 8th. Nicola Larini did not start the race due to an engine failure. James Thompson was the best SEAT finisher in 4th place while Tarquini and Terting occupied 5th and 6th respectively. Yvan Muller finished a disappointing weekend 13th and Gené 14th after being involved in an incident with a BMW on lap 5 which forced him wide. The sixth SEAT driver, Rickard Rydell, collided with Farfus in lap 4 which resulted in both parties unable to finish the race. Alfa Romeo driver Tavano finished just out of the points in 9th place, 5.585 seconds behind the winner while Molo in the Tekprom Alfa 156 entry was 18th, one lap adrift. The Independents' trophy battle is hotting up and Tom Coronel and Ryan Sharp were fighting for maximum points. It was Coronel who took the win and 11th position overall but Sharp was literally right behind in 12th. Sharp's team-mate Giovanardi was unable to take part in the race after due to engine problems.