Laden with additional ballast the N.technology Alfa Romeo drivers' came away from the Czech Brno circuit this afternoon without any points, severely setting back their FIA World Touring Car Championship title aspirations. Augusto Farfus went off at the beginning of race one and had to start race two near the back of the field. His Alfa 156-driving team mates Salvatore Tavano and Gianni Morbidelli battled for the midfield positions in both races.

Augusto Farfus is now third in the FIA World Touring Car Championship title race still with the 46 points he had amassed before Brno. Twelve points for reigning champion Andy Prilaux stretches his lead to 58 points, which James Thompson, who didn't score any points is second with 49. Snapping right at Farfus' heels are Dirk and Jörg Müller, both a single point behind. The next round is at Istanbul on 24th September, with just two more meetings (Spain and Macau) remaining once the Turkish event is completed.

RACE 1

Jörg Müller claimed his second victory of the season after promoting himself two positions off the line and taking the lead into the first corner. He then drove solidly to finish ahead of Alessandro Zanardi for BMW and Yvan Muller for SEAT. Pole man Gabriele Tarquini didn't survive the first lap after contact was made with Andy Priaulx entering a corner, sending the Italian wide and into the gravel where he could not resume.

Augusto Farfus too went off on the first lap. At the start his Alfa Romeo 156 and Duncan Huisman's BMW 320si made contact to avoid Rickard Rydell's stalled SEAT. Drama in the first lap continued when Priaulx was overtaken by Yvan Muller and Jordi Gené for 3rd and 4th. The battle between Gené and Priaulx continued throughout the race creating some superb entertainment. The SEAT man defended to the end though and crossed the line 4th and 0.448 seconds ahead of the reigning champion.

Another fight for positions was being contested slightly further down the field. In the opening lap Alain Menu overtook Tom Coronel for 6th. The latter appeared to be closing the gap until lap 4 when Menu edged away. Persistence was a virtue for Coronel however as he eventually re-gained 6th position on the last lap, also winning the independent race. Menu passed the chequered flag 7th with his Chevrolet team-mate Robert Huff in the position behind. Huff impressively worked his way through the pack after starting 24th on the grid. The reward for his efforts: beginning from pole in Race 2. Just missing out on the points was Dirk Müller. On laps 6 and 7 he and independent driver Luca Rangoni from Proteam Motorsport jostled for 8th position.
 

It was top class racing but neither of them secured the position as Rangoni made a mistake and strayed off into the gravel and Dirk was soon overtaken by Huff.

RACE 2

Robert Huff was victorious in the FIA WTCC for the first time. At the wheel of his Chevrolet Lacetti he led the race from start to finish. Fellow countryman Andy Priaulx came home second. Yvan Muller claimed the third podium spot after an action-packed last lap. At the start Jörg Müller jumped from 8th to 5th and then proceeded to overtake Tom Coronel for 4th. Yvan Muller also overtook his fellow SEAT driver to lye 5th.

Jörg appeared to have a second podium appearance in his sights as he was racing side by side with Alain Menu. On lap 4 the pair had a clash and Menu went off and eventually retired. This allowed Zanardi to move up to 3rd (he had previously overtaken Coronel and Yvan Muller) while Jörg slotted back in 5th place behind Yvan Muller. Coronel dropped down the field over the next few laps and eventually came to a halt off the track at turn 5 due to an engine problem. This meant that the independent win went to Stefano D'Aste of Proteam Motorsport who finished 11th overall, with his own team mate Luca Rangoni and Maurer Motorsport's newcomer Vincent Radermecker immediately behind.

The penultimate lap saw Yvan Muller chase Zanardi for 3rd spot. Coming out of the pit straight the pair collided and Zanardi shot across onto the gravel. With this action happening Jörg mounted a final challenge on Yvan Muller out of the last corner but to no avail. He finished 4th ahead of his BMW Team Germany companion Dirk Müller. Jordi Gené and Peter Terting claimed 6th and 8th positions separated by Nicola Larini. Gianni Morbidelli crossed the line 14th which was the best of the Alfa Romeo squad.

The race results remain suspended as investigations are ongoing regarding three different collisions: Y Muller-Zanardi, J. Müller-Menu and Rangoni-Sharp. In the meanwhile results of Race 1 were declared final, as the collision between Priaulx and Tarquini was considered a normal race accident.