A win and a fifth place for N.technology Alfa Romeo driver Augusto Farfus in Valencia this afternoon have vaulted the Brazilian factory driver into a slender one-point lead in the 2006 FIA World Touring Car Championship with just one round remaining. This was his third outright WTCC win of the year, coming after victories he claimed in Italy and in Mexico.

“I am extremely happy with this weekend and to be in the lead of the championship," said Augusto Farfus. "I had understeer in both races but I did my job so I am content. I drove as cleanly and smoothly as possible in the two races because I was conscious of my tyres. It was not really enough though because the last to laps were tough to drive. Everything went well and I was lucky in the second race because there was a lot of accidents that I managed to keep out of. To be honest I was faster than Menu in Race 2 but Larini was faster than me so when he passed me I tried to catch him but in the end I let him go because he was lapping roughly two hundredths of a second faster than me," added the Brazilian.

The Brazilian thus ends a poor run of four races that saw him fail to claim a single point, and it now moves him up from sixth in the championship standings to first, as he adds 14 championship points to the total of 46 points he had amassed going into this weekend's action in Spain. He now has 50 points. Farfus has a one-point cushion over Andy Prilaux and Jörg Müller (49 pts), and three points over SEAT's Gabriele Tarquini  Jörg Müller had a decent weekend, picking up 13 points, but Andy Prilaux only claimed one point (after failing to collect any last time out) while Tarquini failed to score any points this weekend. The 2006 FIA WTCC title will be decided in Macau in six weeks time, when the team reconvene for the final double-header, on 19th November.

Farfus' team mates had very mixed fortunes: Salvatore Tavano - who started race one from third slot on the grid - finished fourth. In race two he was pushed out of the points during a frenetic midfield battle and eventually finished down in 10th place. After starting 21st on the grid, Gianni Morbidelli - in the third Alfa 156 - worked his way up to claim 13th place in race 1 and then 11th place in race two, finishing one place behind team mate Tavano.

RACE 1

A sign of the Alfa Romeo's drivers form came in the warm-up with Tavano going fastest while Farfus was second and Morbidelli sixth. In a spectacular race it was Farfus though who managed to keep out of trouble and secured his third win of the season. Luca Rangoni, a Proteam Motorsport independent driver, crossed the line second after jumping from 9th to 4th in the first lap. The final podium position was claimed by Nicola Larini of Chevrolet. It was the second consecutive podium for the Italian. At the start Farfus tried to keep Gené at bay but the Spaniard went through at turn one. Disappointment was to follow on lap 4 however because the SEAT Sport driver was imposed a drive through penalty for a jump start. The first lap also saw the end for Andy Priaulx and Rob Huff. Priaulx tried to enter turn one but Tarquini had the line and the BMW was sent spinning. Unfortunately for Huff, he was collected as Priaulx bounced off the barriers and strayed back onto the track.
 

As a consequence of the accident the safety car was deployed for two laps. On lap 5 Rangoni overtook Menu for 3rd while Terting overtook Huisman for 8th and Dirk Müller overtook Yvan Muller for 11th. Over the subsequent laps Menu dropped to 8th and therefore began Race 2 from pole. Lap 8 saw Terting overtake Coronel to promote himself to 7th but his charge didn't end there as on the next lap he passed Menu Jörg Müller on the last lap to finish 5th and the top SEAT driver.

SEAT team-mates Rickard Rydell and Yvan Muller were shuffling for position on lap 9 and contact was made between them. A further SEAT Sport man, James Thompson and Dirk Müller were also involved in the tight-pack battle. Thompson came out the best as he finished 9th overall followed by Yvan and Dirk directly behind. Rydell did not finish because on the penultimate lap he retired. Rydell's team-mate Gabriele Tarquini was also unable to finish. On lap 12 he and Tom Coronel clashed with Tarquini sent flying into the pit wall.

RACE 2

BMW claimed a dominant 1-2-3 in Race 2 at Valencia. Jörg Müller was the victor for BMW Team Germany followed by Duncan Huisman from BMW Team Italy –Spain and independent driver Luca Rangoni.Rangoni is the first independent competitor in WTCC history to finish in the top 3 in both races of an event. Despite starting from pole, Alain Menu had been passed by Huisman and Jörg by the first corner. The man from Chevrolet eventually finished 9th after some tough battles. His team-mate, Nicola Larini, faired better and passed the chequered flag 4th.

Due to an incident with Larini, Peter Terting, who began from 4th, was issued a drive through penalty which he adhered to on lap 3. The best of the SEAT Sport drivers was Yvan Muller who finished 6th overall after mounting an attack on Menu on the last lap. After Yvan passed Menu, Dirk Müller and Andy Priaulx also squeezed through. Priaulx, who was involved in an incident in Race 1, began Race 2 from the back of the grid but spectacularly fought his way through for a valuable single championship point.

On lap 8 Zanardi, Gené and Thompson were side by side entering a corner. Gené appeared to be successful in getting through but soon after had to retire. Zanardi did not profit either and dropped to 17th. Thompson also suffered badly from the action and crossed the line 12th. The only person to gain was Priaulx who was left 10th which he had then turned into 8th by the last lap. Augusto Farfus crossed the line 5th which was the best result for the N.technology Alfa Romeo team and helped to propel him into the WTCC championship lead.