More excellent driving from N.Technology Alfa Romeo’s James Thompson saw the FIA World Touring Car Championship driver finishing fourth in today's second race in Oschersleben. After finishing on the podium in the first race Thompson almost repeated the day’s earlier feat in the day's final race, round 16, gaining a place off the starting grid to face the rear bumper of Jordi Gené’s SEAT diesel. Try as he might, the N.Technology driver could not find a way past the Spaniard but says he was happy with a third and fourth-place finish after qualifying ninth yesterday.

Thompson’s team-mate Olivier Tielemans made an equally good start to the day in race one, launching himself from 17th on the grid to 11th by the end of the first lap. He then made a great passing move on the SEAT of Monteiro and finished just one place off his first WTCC point after 16 laps. The second race though did not go so well for the Dutchman. He appeared to take a knock going into turn one that spun him into the gravel. He rejoined but later retired after struggling with the car.

Meanwhile Augusto Farfus and Andy Priaulx gave BMW a dominant 1-2 finish in the second race. Jordi Gené claimed the third podium position adding another excellent result to the brand new SEAT León TDI’s tally, just ahead of Thompson. With former championship leader Jörg Müller forced to retire after being involved in a first corner collision, Farfus inherited the lead, only one point ahead of Priaulx.

As usual the BMW cars sprinted at the start: Farfus took the lead chased by Priaulx, while Jörg Müller tried to squeeze between the SEATs of pole man Roberto Colciago and Jordi Gené. The three clashed at the first corner and only Gené managed to went through unscathed. Colciago drove wide and dropped down at the back of the field, while Müller rejoined but retired soon afterwards due to a broken suspension.

The fight between Farfus and Priaulx was breathtaking; they tangled at the end of lap 4, nearly allowing Gené and Thompson to benefit from the situation and jump ahead. For the whole distance Priaulx put a nearly unbearable pressure on Farfus, but the Brazilian pilot managed to drive all the assaults on him back and went to grab his third victory of the season.

With Gené and Thompson closely chasing the leaders, Yvan Muller, Robert Huff, Gabriele, Tarquini and Tiago Monteiro delivered an exciting battle for the remaining points positions. Monteiro lost few places after clashing with Tarquini and then found himself involved in another tough duel with Alessandro Zanardi for the eighth position, with the Italian driver getting the worst of it.
 

In the early stages Zanardi's team-mate Félix Porteiro was also fighting for the points, but then had to observe a drive-through penalty due to a jump start.

Massimiliano Pedalà won the Independents' race, giving SEAT Sport Italia their second success of the day. Pedalà, who started from the back of the grid after being caught in the pile up at the start of the first race, took the lead on lap 10 after Sergio Hernández spun and dropped down.

James Thompson: “In race one I think I was probably in the worst place, in between the SEATs in front and the BMWs behind, but to be fair we were probably quicker than them. We didn’t test here before and we just made progress throughout the weekend. Today’s racing was really enjoyable. The car was strong and I know I was faster than Gené in race two but the diesel was pretty late on the brakes and he didn’t make any mistakes. The Alfa Romeo will give us some great chances to win more races towards the end of the Championship and I’m really looking forward to racing in front of my home crowd at Brands Hatch.”

Olivier Tielemans: “In race one had a good view of the first lap: I saw a spinning Chevrolet and Peter Terting’s car up in the air. I don’t think Tom Coronel could avoid him. I went into first gear, very slow and lost one place to Jordi Gené.

“I just kept on racing and pushing after the restart, then I had Monteiro in front of me. I saw that Colciago hit Monteiro a bit and the wreckage was touching his rear wheel. I knew he had lost grip so I thought I’ll pass him on the straight. I took his slip stream and the first corner is very good for out-braking. He came back but I consolidated. I’m really disappointed not to score a point in the second race. I’ve shown that I’ve got the speed but some things just need to come together to get those points. I think I deserve them!”

Marco Calovolo, Race Engineer for James Thompson: “We didn’t expect such a good result because our starting position was poor after the bad luck we had yesterday. This is a special track. There is only one line and not so many points where you can overtake. Even if a car is half a second faster there is no way so I feel like for us a podium and p4 is very good; JT was very good! Yesterday was bad and today is much, much better! We are very happy.”