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Augusto Farfus will line up on
pole this afternoon in Valencia
for the opening race of the penultimate round of the 2006
FIA World Touring Car Championship. The Alfa Romeo driver's
best time of
1:44.534 came in the dying seconds of
the qualifying session yesterday to demote
provisional polesitter and local hero Jordi Gené down to
second place. With Farfus' N.technolgy team mate Salvatore
Tavano posting the third best qualifying time it was a
welcome return to for the venerable Alfa 156 racer. The
third Alfa Romeo of Gianni Morbidelli will start from 21st
place.
PRACTICE 1
In
the
opening
practice
session
independent
driver,
Luca
Rangoni
of
Proteam
Motorsport
was
the
man
to
set
the
quickest
time.
He
and
his
BMW
320si
did
a
lap
of
the
Valencia
track
in
1:44.443
which
was
0.183
of a
second
better
than
Peter
Terting
of
SEAT
Sport.The
second
and
third
best
times
were
separated
by a
mere
0.006
of a
second,
Augusto
Farfus
slotting
in
third
at
the
wheel
of
his
N.technology
Alfa
Romeo
156.
Positions
4 to
8
were
occupied
by
SEAT
León
cars. Yvan
Muller
was
followed
by
Jordi
Gené,
James
Thompson,
Gabriele
Tarquini
and
finally
Tom
Coronel
of
GR
Asia.
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In the build up to the
penultimate WTCC event
in 2006, a day of
promotional activities
took place in the centre
of Valencia on Thursday.
A press conference was
held at the “Ciudad de
los Artes y las Ciencias”
ultramodern complex,
which was attended by
Andy Priaulx, Duncan
Huisman, and Spanish
drivers Maria De Villota,
Oscar Nogués and Jordi
Gené. The press received
speeches from David
Serra, Secretary of
Sport for the Valencia
region, Marcello Lotti
KSO Manager, and Eduardo
Nogés manager of the
Valencia racetrack who
spoke about the
expectation of a good
crowd this weekend. For
the Valencia public, a
static exhibition was
set up in front of the
Hémisferic auditorium in
which an Alfa Romeo 156,
Chevrolet Lacetti and
SEAT León (above) were
displayed together with
GT and Formula 3 cars.
The fans then got to
meet the drivers at an
autograph session which
was also of great
interest to several TV
crews. |
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Augusto Farfus celebrates grabbing
pole position this afternoon's
opening race of the penultimate round of the 2006
FIA World Touring Car Championship in Valencia. |
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Augusto Farfus's pole winning time of
1:44.534 came in the dying seconds of
the qualifying session yesterday to demote
local hero Jordi Gené down to second place. |
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Coronel's
team-mate
Maurizio
Ceresoli
span
off
the
track
after
two
laps
but
after
being
towed
from
his
dangerous
position
he
re-joined
the
session.
Robert
Huff
set
a
time
of
1:45.055
placing
himself
9th
on
the
time-sheet
for
Chervolet.
Dirk
Müller
was
in
the
position
below,
completing
the
top
ten
as
the
best
of
the
BMW
works
drivers.
The
majority
of
the
best
laps
were
set
within
the
first
10
minutes
of
the
session
while
the
top
16
times
are
separated
by
just
one
second.
PRACTICE 2
Race
1
winner
from
last
year
and
local
hero,
Jordi
Gené,
looks
to
be
warming
up
for
an
attempt
at a
repeat
performance
as
he
topped
the
timesheet
for
free
practice
2.He
set
the
best
time
of
1:45.299
in
the
opening
stages
of
the
session
and
nobody
was
able
to
top
it.
Tom
Coronel
posted
a
time
0.041
slower
than
Gené's
for
2nd
position
overall
and
the
best
independent
in
his
SEAT
León.
On
his
penultimate
lap
Rob
Huff
sneaked
into
the
top
three
behind
the
wheel
of
his
Chevrolet
Lacetti.
His
time
of
1:45.800
knocked
SEAT
Sport's
new
driver,
Oscar
Nogués
to
4th.
The
young
Spaniard
posted
an
impressive
1:45.911
which
was
the
second
best
of
the
SEAT
works
drivers.
BMW
man
Dirk
Müller
set
the
5th
quickest
time
followed
by
independent
BMW
driver
Luca
Rangoni.
Rickard
Rydell
managed
only
two
laps
before
going
out
at
turn
12.
He
was
unable
to
re-join
the
session.
QUALIFYING
Gené was the name at the top of
the timesheet for the majority
of the session with a lap in
1:44.808 which he even improved
to 1:44.662 with eight minutes
remaining before Farfus’ last
minute break-through. The
second row will comprise of
Salvatore Tavano's Alfa and
Alain Menu's Chevrolet. They both posted their best
times (1:44.825 and 1:44.863
respectively) towards the end of
the session, Menu peaking with
two minutes remaining on the
clock. Fellow Chevrolet man
Nicola Larini set a solid time
of 1:44.971 which equated to 6th
on the grid.
SEAT team-mates James
Thompson and Peter Terting are
set to line up alongside each
other in 7th and 8th position. Behind them is a quartet of
BMW cars - Jörg Müller followed
by Proteam's Luca Rangoni and
then the BMW Team Italy-Spain
pair Alessandro Zanardi and
Duncan Huisman. Tom Coronel qualified an
outstanding 5th overall and
ahead of the rest of the
independent drivers. His closest
rival for the Independent trophy
is Stefano D'Aste who qualified
19th.
Vincent Radermecker, who is
also competing in the
independent category, did not
take part in the session because
of engine problems to his Maurer
Motorsport Chevrolet Lacetti. SEAT Sport's newcomer Oscar
Nogués qualified 18th – only 8
tenths of a second off the pole. The session was extremely
close, even for WTCC standards,
with a grand total of 22 drivers
qualifying within 0.990 seconds.
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