5th May 2002: FIA European Touring Car Championship, England ( Silverstone ), Round 3 & 4
- two exciting races see honours even as Nicola Larini and Fabrizio Giovanardi grab a win and a second place apiece, the superior power of the Alfa's fending off the stiff Volvo and BMW opposition at the ultra fast Silverstone circuit
After the hectic battles of race 1, must drama was expected as the top six were reversed for the start of race two and the spectators were not to be disappointed. As they powered away from the grid, the BMW of Jorg Muller was punted in the rear by the AGS Motorsport Alfa of Paolo Ruberti, dropping the BMW driver to tenth place, from which he never became a factor in the race again.
The other wide bodied BMW of Dirk Muller, starting second on the grid, took the lead, closely followed by Rydell, who had capitalised on the incident and Fabrizio Giovanardi. With the field bunched up, Muller was struggling to keep the Volvo at bay, and as Rydell became incresingly frustrated, an attempted move on the BMW man allowed Giovanardi to lunge past the Volvo, for which the Alfa driver received a caution.
With the Alfa's power down the fast straights of Silverstone making them the quickest cars on the track, Giovanardi found his way past Muller with four laps to go, while Larini had squeezed out the Volvo to keep his team mate in view. Larini took Muller for second, but was unable to close the two and a half second gap to his team mate, and the works Alfas finished race 2 in reverse order of race 1, despite Giovanardi suffering gear selection problems in the closing couple of laps. Meanwhile a titanic battle between Muller and Rydell which had the crowd on their feet, was resolved in the Volvo drivers favour after Rydell made a hugely brave run round the outside of the wide bodied BMW into turn one, through the gravel trap, but hung onto the racing line into turn two.
1 | 1 | GTA Racing Team Nordauto | Fabrizio GIOVANARDI | ITA | Alfa Romeo 156GTA | 10 | 20:35.188 | |
2 | 2 | GTA Racing Team Nordauto | Nicola LARINI | ITA | Alfa Romeo 156GTA | 10 | 20:35.606 | 0.418 |
3 | 60 | Volvo S60 Racing Team | Rickard RYDELL | SWE | Volvo S60 | 10 | 20:39.877 | 4.689 |
4 | 43 | BMW Team Deutschland | Dirk MÜLLER | GER | BMW 320i E46 | 10 | 20:40.459 | 5.271 |
5 | 14 | AGS MotorSport | Paolo RUBERTI | ITA | Alfa Romeo 156GTA | 10 | 20:44.909 | 9.721 |
6 | 10 | BMW Team Belgium | Fredrik EKBLOM | SWE | BMW 320i E46 | 10 | 20:45.588 | 10.400 |
7 | 15 | Scuderia Bigazzi | Luis VILLAMIL | ESP | Alfa Romeo 156GTA | 10 | 20:46.418 | 11.230 |
8 | 42 | BMW Team Deutschland | Jörg MÜLLER | GER | BMW 320i E46 | 10 | 20:46.846 | 11.658 |
9 | 6 | BMW Team Spain | Fabrizio DE SIMONE | ITA | BMW 320i E46 | 10 | 20:58.352 | 23.164 |
10 | 18 | CIBIEmme Team | Salvatore TAVANO | ITA | Honda Civic Type-R | 10 | 21:20.571 | 45.383 |
11 | 3 | GTA Racing Team Nordauto | Romana BERNARDONI | ITA | Alfa Romeo 156GTA | 9 | 21:06.971 | |
12 | 16 | Scuderia Bigazzi | Eric CAYROLLE | FRA | Alfa Romeo 156GTA | 8 | 17:04.139 | |
DNS | 20 | DART Racing IP | Tom Ferrier | GBR | Alfa Romeo 156GTA | 0 |
Nicola Larini took a rather fortunate win in the meeting's opening race, when race leader Fabrizio Giovanardi made a mistake on the final lap, to allow the suprised Larini to leapfrog him and second place Jorg Muller into a lead he held to the flag.
After dominating the practice sessions, the Nordauto Alfa Romeo drivers, Nicola Larini and Fabrizio Giovanardi lined up on the front row of the grid. However Rickard Rydell, in the rapidly improving Prodrive-run Volvo S60, with several years of experience around the Silverstone track from his days competing in the British Touring Car Championship, jumped the Alfa drivers down the inside at the lights and lead out of the first bend, followed by Jorg Muller's latest-spec BMW, Giovanardi salvaging third, Dirk Muller in the other BMW fourth and the poor starting Larini being bumped to fifth.
Tom Ferrier in the DART Alfa 156GTA was pushed in the rear going into Club Corner for the first time, as he spun accross the track he was hit by the BMWs of Marc Gene and Peter Kox, resulting in the instant retirement of all three cars. Eric Cayrolle in the Bigazzi 156GTA, meanwhile had leapt up from the rear of the grid, passing Gianni Morbidelli for eigtht place on lap 2.
Rydell opened out an early lead, while fastest man on the track, Fabrizio Giovanardi squeezed out Jorg Muller for second and the recovering Nicola Larini took Dirk Muller's BMW for fourth.
Giovanardi pressurised the race leading Volvo until he forced Rydell into a costly mistake, missing a gear saw Rydell demoted to fifth as the the Alfa's and BMW's dived through.
With the race almost in the bag, Giovanardi made a mistake on lap 8, the tightly following Jorg Muller was unable to capitalise, and Larini dived past them both to claim an unexpected victory. Giovanardi held off Jorg Muller for second, while Rydell who had got past the other BMW took fourth place. Eric Cayrolle, meanwhile had climbed to 6th and was climbing all over the back of Paolo Ruberti in the final laps, but was unable to final a way past the AGS car.
1 | 2 | GTA Racing Team Nordauto | Nicola LARINI | ITA | Alfa Romeo 156GTA | 10 | 20:43.162 | 148.846 | |
2 | 1 | GTA Racing Team Nordauto | Fabrizio GIOVANARDI | ITA | Alfa Romeo 156GTA | 10 | 20:44.421 | 1.259 | 148.695 |
3 | 42 | BMW Team Deutschland | Jörg MÜLLER | GER | BMW 320i E46 | 10 | 20:45.645 | 2.483 | 148.549 |
4 | 60 | Volvo S60 Racing Team | Rickard RYDELL | SWE | Volvo S60 | 10 | 20:45.851 | 2.689 | 148.524 |
5 | 43 | BMW Team Deutschland | Dirk MÜLLER | GER | BMW 320i E46 | 10 | 20:46.497 | 3.335 | 148.448 |
6 | 14 | AGS MotorSport | Paolo RUBERTI | ITA | Alfa Romeo 156GTA | 10 | 20:54.492 | 11.330 | 147.501 |
7 | 16 | Scuderia Bigazzi | Eric CAYROLLE | FRA | Alfa Romeo 156GTA | 10 | 20:54.736 | 11.574 | 147.473 |
8 | 7 | Carly Motors - Team Isert | Tom CORONEL | NED | BMW 320i E46 | 10 | 20:57.576 | 14.414 | 147.140 |
9 | 15 | Scuderia Bigazzi | Luis VILLAMIL | ESP | Alfa Romeo 156GTA | 10 | 20:59.448 | 16.286 | 146.921 |
10 | 10 | BMW Team Belgium | Fredrik EKBLOM | SWE | BMW 320i E46 | 10 | 21:02.213 | 19.051 | 146.599 |
11 | 11 | RJN Motorsport | Tommy RUSTAD | NOR | Nissan Primera | 10 | 21:04.625 | 21.463 | 146.320 |
12 | 6 | BMW Team Spain | Fabrizio DE SIMONE | ITA | BMW 320i E46 | 10 | 21:08.225 | 25.063 | 145.904 |
13 | 18 | CIBIEmme Team | Salvatore TAVANO | ITA | Honda Civic Type-R | 10 | 21:36.146 | 52.984 | 142.761 |
14 | 3 | GTA Racing Team Nordauto | Romana BERNARDONI | ITA | Alfa Romeo 156GTA | 10 | 21:41.455 | 58.293 | 142.179 |
R | 20 | DART Racing IP | Tom FERRIER | GBR | Alfa Romeo 156GTA | 0 Laps |
Practice opened with cold and overcast conditions, twenty one cars taking to the track. Nicola Larini, fastest in the free practice session immediately set the benchmark and it looked that the Alfa's straight line superiority would serve them well at the ultra-fast Silverstone track.
The Alfa drivers pressed hard, Giovanardi and Larini swapping times until a blistering lap of 2:00.153 by the former mid session proved unmatchable and Giovanardi claimed pole with Larini lining up outside him. Behind them Rickard Rydell put the Prodrive Volvo S60 onto the second row of the grid, delighted that he had got the undeveloped car ahead of the BMWs, and optomistic that with his Silverstone experience he could threaten the works Alfa's in the race. Jorg Muller was fastest of the BMW runners, with Peter Kox, Dirk Muller and Fredrick Ekblom in similar wide bodied 320i's lining up behind hime.
Of the other Alfa Romeo runners, Tom Ferrier, newly confirmed as an official Alfa Romeo UK backed driver, lined up his DART run 156GTA on the outside of the second row, Paolo Ruberti squeezed the AGS Motorsport car into the top ten while Romana Bernadoni qualified the third Nordauto works car in 13th place, one ahead of Luis Villamill in the fastest of the Bigazzi Alfa's.
1 | 1 | GTA Racing Team Nordauto | Fabrizio GIOVANARDI | ITA | Alfa Romeo 156GTA | 2:00.153 |
2 | 2 | GTA Racing Team Nordauto | Nicola LARINI | ITA | Alfa Romeo 156GTA | 2:00.349 |
3 | 60 | Volvo S60 Racing Team | Rickard RYDELL | SWE | Volvo S60 | 2:00.693 |
4 | 20 | Dart Racing IP | Tom FERRIER | GBR | Alfa Romeo 156GTA | 2:01.150 |
5 | 42 | BMW Team Deutschland | Jörg MÜLLER | GER | BMW 320i E46 | 2:01.198 |
6 | 9 | Carly Motors - Team Isert | Peter KOX | NED | BMW 320i E46 | 2:01.265 |
7 | 43 | BMW Team Deutschland | Dirk MÜLLER | GER | BMW 320i E46 | 2:01.271 |
8 | 10 | BMW Team Belgium | Fredrik EKBLOM | SWE | BMW 320i E46 | 2:01.424 |
9 | 14 | AGS MotorSport | Paolo RUBERTI | ITA | Alfa Romeo 156GTA | 2:01.708 |
10 | 7 | Carly Motors - Team Isert | Tom CORONEL | NED | BMW 320i E46 | 2:01.829 |
11 | 11 | RJN Motorsport | Tommy RUSTAD | NOR | Nissan Primera | 2:01.958 |
12 | 15 | Scuderia Bigazzi | Luis VILLAMIL | ESP | Alfa Romeo 156GTA | 2:02.249 |
13 | 3 | GTA Racing Team Nordauto | Romana BERNARDONI | ITA | Alfa Romeo 156GTA | 2:02.412 |
14 | 5 | BMW Team Spain | Jordi GENE | ESP | BMW 320i E46 | 2:02.540 |
15 | 61 | Volvo S60 Racing Team | James HANSON | GBR | Volvo S60 | 2:02.574 |
16 | 6 | BMW Team Spain | Fabrizio DE SIMONE | ITA | BMW 320i E46 | 2:02.959 |
17 | 8 | Carly Motors - Team Isert | Gianni MORBIDELLI | ITA | BMW 320i E46 | 2:03.029 |
18 | 16 | Scuderia Bigazzi | Eric CAYROLLE | FRA | Alfa Romeo 156GTA | 2:03.136 |
19 | 18 | CIBIEmme Team | Salvatore TAVANO | ITA | Honda Civic Type-R | 2:05.168 |
drivers:
1st Fabrizio Giovanardi
36pts, 2nd Nicola Larini 28pts, 3rd Rickard Rydell 13pts, 4th Dirk Muller
10pts, 5th Jorg Muller 8pts, 6th= Frederik Ekblom, Paolo Ruberti 3pts
teams:
1st Team Nordauto Alfa Romeo
64pts, 2nd BMW Team Deutchland 18pts, 3rd Volvo S60 Racing 16pts, =4th
AGS Motorsport, BMW Team Belgium 3pts
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