 The 17th and 18th
rounds of the FIA European Touring Car Championship turned into an Alfa Romeo
triumph. The red Autodelta 156 Gta cars dominated both races with evident ease,
and their regular drivers, Gabriele Tarquini, Nicola Larini and Roberto Colciago,
monopolized the podium positions. The three of them finished in the very same
order in both, Race 1 and Race 2.
This results enabled Tarquini to join Jörg
Müller at 96 points in the Drivers’ Championship; however the Italian is the new
leader, having won six rounds compared to the German’s four. Andy Priaulx has
slipped down from second to third, seven points behind, while Larini is in
fourth position a further two points adrift. Which makes the title-fight still
wide open, with four contenders within nine points. Despite the technical
domination, Alfa Romeo’s great day was not totally spotless.
The fight between Autodelta new driver James Thompson and BMW point man Jörg Müller, which started
in the first race and kept on going during the second, created controversies.
The two drivers struggled hard, for the fourth position in Race 1 and for the
fifth in Race 2. On both occasions these fights were ended by collisions, which
resulted in Thompson spinning and losing positions. Jörg Müller accused the
Briton of having deliberately blocked him in order to assist his new team-mates,
while Thompson responded that he drove defensively and was hit by Müller several
times. After the second race, the Stewards heard the drivers and their
team-managers, and after long deliberation decided to take no actions.
In the
Manufacturers’ Championship, Alfa Romeo recovered 18 points to BMW, but the
Bavarian make is still leading with a margin of 35 points. Meaning that it just
needs to score two points in Monza to become champion. On the contrary, the
Independents Trophy has been already awarded to Carly Motors’ driver Duncan
Huisman. The 31-year old Dutchman managed to won both races, also finishing
twice in the overall points (fifth and sixth). Huisman stretched his leading
margin to 43 points over his team-mate Tom Coronel, whose second position is
still threatened by Paolo Ruberti, Alessandro Balzan and Fabio Francia. |
