Alfa Romeo test driver Giorgio Francia gives the all new Alfa Romeo 156 GTA its first test run at the Chivasso test track. The 156 GTA, instantly recognisable by its larger flaired wheel arches is the first car built to the new 2002 European Touring Car Championships rules to hit the track 

Giovanardi wraps up the championship, his fifth consecutive title, in controversial circumstances as Larini knocks of Tarquini early in the race, while in the first race Alfa stand in driver, Yvan Muller, scores a debut win, having started from pole position
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race 2:

the title was wrapped up in slightly controversial fashion as Larini closed the door on Tarquini early in the race as the Honda man executed a passing move on him, spinning the Honda into the barriers

this was Giovanardi's fifth consecutive title ( Spanish Touring Car Champion 1997, Italian Touring Car Champion 1998 & 1999, Euro STC series 2000 ) all in Alfa's, while he also became the first European Touring Car Champion for fourteen years

Giovanardi had already made a stunning start and was up to 10th by the end of the first lap before Tarquini's demise, later letting Larini past to allow him to claim second place in the championship

Felipe Massa and Conrero Motorsport Alfa 156 driver Bonaldi were both early race retirees

result:
4th Nicola Larini ( Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 ) 21:30.855
5th Fabrizio Giovanardi ( Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 )  21:34.694
6th Yvan Muller ( Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 ) 21:34.987
15th Angelo Lancellotti ( Conrero Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 )  22.28.583
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race 1:

Yvan Muller drove an excellent race to victory in his first STC race and by holding off Gabrile Tarquini he limited the Honda drivers points as he followed him home in second place, followed in by the three other Nordauto Alfa Romeo's

Tarquini pressurised him for the whole race in his search for point making contact on the last lap as he tried to force his way through

result:
1st Yvan Muller ( Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 )  21:09.671
3rd Fabrizio Giovanardi ( Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 )  21:14.265
4th Nicola Larini ( Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 )  21:14.787
5th Felipe Massa ( Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 )  21:16.018
17th Angelo Lancellotti ( Conrero Alfa Romeo 156 )  22:13.101
18th E Bonaldi ( Conrero Alfa Romeo 156 )  22:22.181
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qualifying:

Nordauto debutant Yvan Muller grabbed pole position with three minutes of the session remaining from Alfa's rival Gabriele Tarquini's Honda, as the Alfa fought back on a drying track. Pole position will gives him an ideal opportunity to assist the championship chasing Giovanardi and Larini, while Felippe Massa, fresh from signing for Sauber for next years Formula 1 series, lined up 5th, after missing the mornings free practice after spinning off early on

Grid:
1st Yvan Muller ( Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 ) 1:43.818
3th Nicola Larini ( Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 )  1:43.941
4th Fabrizio Giovanardi ( Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 )  1:43.946
5th Felipe Massa ( Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 )  1:44.268
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final championship standings:
drivers: 1st Giovanardi  620pts, 2 Larini 604pts, 11th Lancellotti 309pts, 12th Bernadoni 286pts, 13th Toccacelo 282pts
teams: 1st Alfa Romeo team Nordauto  898pts, 2nd JAS Engineering  740pts

British Touring Car front runner Yvan Muller has been recruited by Nordauto to drive a fourth Alfa Romeo 156 alongside F1 bound Felippe Massa, in this weekends European Touring Car Championship final round, his task, along with Massa, is to assist with the title aspirations of Fabrizio Giovanardi and Nicola Larini

- Gavin Pyper takes the production class spoils in the final race of the season while Tom Ferrier avoids carnage to bring his Alfa 147 home to a 4th place overall
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race 2 ( feature ):

a hectic race saw much of the field involved in accidents, allowing Tom Ferrier to bring his Alfa 147 home, last of the front runners, in 4th place. Tim Harvey made a good start, climbing to 7th place, but eventually retired his 147

that left the production runners to scrap over 5th place overall, with leader for much of the race Gareth Howells ( Ford Focus ) being passed by Gavin Pyper  on the penultimate lap after, in Pyper's works he pulled off "a kamikaze move" into Graham Hill Bend, following that up by setting fastest lap on the last lap of the race, despite heavy pressure from Howells.

race 2 result:
4th Tom Ferrier ( JSM Alfa Romeo 147 )  +16.832
10 Gavin Pyper ( GA Janspeed Alfa Romeo 156 )  +25.724 ( 1st in production class )

championship points standing after final round: 8th Harvey 43pts, 10= Ferrier 20pts; production class: 6th Pyper 120pts
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race 1 ( sprint ):

Tim Harvey made a good start to jump ahead of the MG's, however, they are team mate Tom Ferrier were quickly all over him, and as Ferrier dived down his inside, his Alfa expired in a cloud of smoke, leaving Harvey to run a quiet race to 7th place in the rain shortened race

the production class 156's both suffered early retirements

race 1 result:
7 Tim Harvey ( JSM Alfa Romeo 147 )  +23.492
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qualifying:

the Alfas brought up the rear of the grid, Harvey just under a second shy of the fastest time in both sessions

qualifying race 1:
9 Tim Harvey ( JSM Alfa Romeo 147 )   50.496
10 Tom Ferrier  ( JSM Alfa Romeo 147 )   51.154

qualifying race 2:
9 Tim Harvey ( JSM Alfa Romeo 147 )  50.500
10 Tom Ferrier ( JSM Alfa Romeo 147 )  50.607

qualifying production class race 1:
4 Gavin Pyper ( GA Janspeed Alfa Romeo 156 )  52.432

- the title goes down to the wire in the final round as Gabriele Tarquini in the JAS Honda dominates both races to close the championship gap to 16 points going into the final event...
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race 2:

Tarquini drove a superb race from the back of the grid to catch up to and pass Giovanardi with two laps remaining and close the title gap to sixteen points. Larini led home Massa to finiish almost seven seconds adrift of the the winner

result:
2rd Fabrizio Giovanardi ( Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 )  21:39.473
5th Nicola Larini ( Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 ) 21:44.273
6th Felipe Massa ( Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 )  21.45.111
16th Romana Bernadoni ( Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 )  23.01.211
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race 1:

Gabriele Tarquini drove perfectly to win the morning's opening race, new team mate James Kaye did the job asked of him and followed him home to deny the Alfa's important points. Giovanardi led home Larini behind the two JAS Hondas 2 1/2 seconds down on Tarquini

Massa had a mixed debut, he charged up into third place, spun on lap two, to drop down the field to 18th and then pushed his way up through the field to 9th before spinning again and dropping back down the order, where upon he was tactically retired by Nordauto to allow him to start race 2 at the front of the grid

result:
3rd Fabrizio Giovanardi ( Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 )  22.56.016
4th Nicola Larini ( Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 )  22:59.815
11th Romana Bernardoni ( Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 )  23:36.063
15th Felipe Massa ( Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 )  23:15.144
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qualifying:

Nordauto debutant Felipe Massa grabbed fifth place , 3/10ths away from pole to out qualify his new team mates in a poor session for the Alfa Romeo's. Pole was grabbed by championship rival Gabriele Tarquini, with a lap of 1m 36.329secs, and with his JAS Engineering Honda team mates lining up second and third it looked bleak for Sundays races

Grid:
5th Felipe Massa ( Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 )  1:36.691
6th Fabrizio Giovanardi ( Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 )  1:36.729
9th Nicola Larini ( Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 )  1:37.148
20th Romana Bernadoni ( Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 )  1:40.970
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championship standings ( after 18 rounds ):
drivers: 1st Giovanardi  560pts, 2= Larini, Tarquini  544pts
teams: 1st Alfa Romeo team Nordauto  898pts, 2nd JAS Engineering  740pts

- race two sees JSM Alfa driver Tom Ferrier take the lead after a safety car period, but while holding a commanding lead, mechanical failure saw his chances of victory evaporate
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race 2 ( feature ):

an amazing sequence of events in race two saw Tom Ferrier, following an early pitstop, climb into the lead after the safety car which had come out on lap eleven when production class leader Simon Graves spun into the gravel at McLeans went back in followed by all the front runners. With a large lead an consistent lap times Ferrier was looking on course for victory until oil pressure problems slowed his pace. The safety car reappeared after a clash between two backmarkers and at the green Ferrier was swallowed by the field and immediately pulled off, unable to go any further

in the production class Colin Blair lost a podium position when he was slowed by mechanical problems on the last lap, allowing Matt Jackson's Ford Focus to pass him into third place

race 2 ( feature ):

race 2 result:
10 Colin Blair ( GA Janspeed Alfa Romeo 156 ) 1hr8m20.263s ( 4th in production class )

championship points standing after race 2: 8th Harvey 37pts, 10= Blair 15pts; production class: 6th Pyper 114pts
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race 1 ( sprint ):

Tom Ferrier finished sixth after losing out in an early race battle with Warren Hughes, team mate Tim Harvey following him home

in the production class Gavin Pyper missed out on third place when his gearbox stuck in fourth gear two laps from the end, dropping him down to sixth place

race 1 result:
6 Tom Ferrier ( JSM Alfa Romeo 147 )  27m53.042s
7 Tim Harvey ( JSM Alfa Romeo 147 )  28m05.005s

6 ( in class ) Gavin Pyper  (GA Janspeed Alfa Romeo 156 ) 27m38.038s
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qualifying:

the JSM Alfas brought up the rear of the field, split by the Lexus of Tomas Erdos, Tim Harvery suffering more understeer than team mate Tom Ferrier

qualifying race 1:
9 Tom Ferrier  ( JSM Alfa Romeo 147 )   1m43.079s
11 Tim Harvey ( JSM Alfa Romeo 147 )   1m43.903s

qualifying race 2:
9 Tom Ferrier ( JSM Alfa Romeo 147 )  1m43.226s
11 Tim Harvey ( JSM Alfa Romeo 147 )  1m43.663s

qualifying production class race 1:
4 Gavin Pyper ( GA Janspeed Alfa Romeo 156 )  1m47.307s
10th Colin Blair ( GA Janspeed Alfa Romeo 156 ) 1m 48.931s

As the European Touring Car Championship hots up Alfa Romeo 156 team Nordauto plan to run a fourth car at the final two rounds at Jarama and Estoril for new Euro Formula 3000 champion 20 year old Felipe Massa, from Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The link with Massa was formed when he was invited to compete in the 24 hrs of Sicily recently in a works-run Alfa Romeo 147 alongside new team mates Giovanardi, Larini and test driver Giorgio Francia which resulted in an excellent 2nd overall, and first in class. shortly after Massa tested the Nordauto STC 156 at Varano, posting a series of very competitive lap times.

With two rounds of the series remaining Giovanardi leads the championship from team mate Larini, while nearest rival Gabriele Tarquini ( JAS Engineering Honda ) is 22 points further adrift. JAS also announce that they will be running an extra car for BTCC runner James Kaye to help them in their attempts to bridge the gap.

more

In weekend touring car action Franz Engstler ( Alfa Romeo 147 ) takes third place in the Hockenheim round of the German Touring Car Championship.

- a mixed weekend for Alfa Romeo: Nicola Larini won the wet opening race to close up on the championship leader and team mate Fabrizio Giovanardi, but in race 2 the Alfa's stuggled to make any impression

race 2:

the Alfa's struggled in race two championship leader Giovanardi finishing fourth with team mate Larini five seconds further adrift in fifth place

result:
4th Fabrizio Giovanardi ( Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 )  19:52.843
5th Nicola Larini ( Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 )  19:57.879
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race 1:

Larini took a narrow victory over Gabriele Tarquini in the wet morning opening STC race to close the gap in the title race with team mate Giovanardi to 5 points. Giovanardi pitted with engine problems on the first lap of the race for several minutes but continued to finish 17th

result:
1st Nicola Larini ( Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 )  21:56.819
17th Fabrizio Giovanardi ( Team Nordauto 156 )  23:32.824
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qualifying:

Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo driver Nicola Larini lined up on the front row of the grid behind the as expected pole sitter Gabrielle Tarquini in the JAS Honda, Larini's team mate and championship leader Fabrizio Giovanardi was fifth

grid:
2nd Nicola Larini ( Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 )  1:45.140
5th Fabrizio Giovanardi ( Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156 )  1.46.120

championship standings ( after 16 rounds ):
drivers: 1st Giovanardi  493pts, 2nd Larini  486pts,  3rd Tarquini  464pts
teams: 1st Alfa Romeo team Nordauto  898pts, 2nd JAS Engineering  740pts

Race 2 ( Feature ):

both Alfa 147's retired, Mark Blair ran very well until suffering suspension failure, while Tim Harveyran out of fuel on the last lap

in the production class Gavin Pyper, after the first lap scrum lead the pack, but once the saftey car departed Tim Boardman ( Peugeot ) quickly passed and Pyper, with the 156 having proved a handful all weekend, slipped down the order to finish an eventual 4th in the class

results Race 2;:
12th ( 4th in class )  Gavin Pyper ( GA Janspeed Alfa Romeo 156 )  -1 lap

championship points standing after race 2:  9th Harvey 31pts, 10= Blair 15pts; production class: 6th Pyper 109pts
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Race 1 ( Sprint ):

Mark Blair drove a good race to eigth place outpacing team mate Tim Harvey throughout, but punting off Warren Hughes' MG along the way

result Race 1:
8h Mark Blair ( JSM Alfa Romeo 147 )  24:00.525
9th Tim Harvey ( JSM Alfa Romeo 147 )  24:08.639

Results Race 1 Production Class:
5th Gavin Pyper ( GA Janspeed Alfa Romeo 156 )  23:49.767
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qualifying:

a dreadful qualifying session for the Alfa's, in which a decent setup proved elusive to find for either car and Tim Harvey suffered clutch failure, saw them consigned to the back for both races 3 seconds away from the pole time in a session dominated by the Vauxhall Astras

Gavin Pyper in the production class set a time 6/10ths off the pace setting time of Roger Moen's Peugeot 306 in a tight session

Qualifying Race 1:
10th Tim Harvey ( JSM Alfa Romeo 147 )  1:30.669
11th Mark Blair ( JSM Alfa Romeo 147 )  1:31.125

Qualifying Race 2:
10th Tim Harvey ( JSM Alfa Romeo 147 )  1:30.669
11th Mark Blair ( JSM Alfa Romeo 147 )  1:31.310

Qualifying Production Class:
6th Gavin Pyper ( GA Janspeed Alfa romeo 156 )  1:33.316