Priaulx and BMW Claim Third WTCC Title

18 November 2007

For the third consecutive year Andy Priaulx and BMW emerged as the winners of the ultimate fight for the FIA World Touring Car Championship in Macau.

After two races full of drama in front of fully packed grandstands, Yvan Muller’s and SEAT’s hopes disappeared on the penultimate lap of the first race, when the diesel pump of the Frenchman’s León TDI broke while he was leading. From that moment on, everything turned in favour of Priaulx, who finished eighth gaining a one-point edge in the classification and the right to start the second race from pole position.

With Muller sidelined for good, only James Thompson was in a position to threaten the Guernseyman’s attempt to retain the title. Thompson tried hard and with a fantastic start jumped Nicola Larini and chased Priaulx closely in the first laps. But as the race went on, Priaulx created a gap and eventually Thompson lost second place to Larini.

Priaulx’s triumph and Muller’s dismay meant that BMW also won the Manufacturers’ Championship with only a 6-point margin ahead of SEAT. A close call which is testament to how competitive the championship season was, with BMW, SEAT, Chevrolet and Alfa Romeo all fighting on an equal level.

Alain Menu won the first race for Chevrolet, claiming his fifth victory of the season and the seventh for the GM Group’s brand.
To complete BMW’s lucky day, Stefano D’Aste claimed the Independents’ Trophy – the second in three years for the team Wiechers-Sport, while his fellow competitor Luca Rangoni won both races in Macau, finishing runner up and giving Proteam Motorsport the Teams’ Trophy.

The FIA WTCC faces a short break now, before the start of the 2008 season, on March 2 in Curitiba, Brazil.

RACE 1 – MENU WINS, PRIAULX LEADS
Alain Menu was the victor of race one for Chevrolet. Yvan Muller led the race after the first straight but on lap eight the SEAT Sport title contender suffered a technical problem – his engine died without warning – and had to stop on the track. With Andy Priaulx crossing the line eighth, he took the championship lead and invaluable pole position for Race 2.

Gabriele Tarquini came home second. He lost third position to Augusto Farfus on the first lap but persistently forced the BMW Team Germany driver to defend. On the last lap Tarquini seized his opportunity at the exit of Lisboa and went through. Farfus spun, hit the barriers and did not finish.

Rob Huff got a good start and promoted himself from seventh to fifth on the first lap. He eventually took third place. Behind the Briton finished Jordi Gené for SEAT Sport. James Thompson claimed a solid fifth place, which equated to third in the title fight. Thompson’s team-mate André Couto withdrew from the meeting after damage to his Alfa Romeo obtained during yesterday’s qualifying could not be repaired by the N.technology team.

Tiago Monteiro and Nicola Larini crossed the chequered flag in sixth and seventh positions and Priaulx claimed eighth spot on the final lap. The championship fight was then restricted to Priaulx (82 pts), Yvan Muller (81) and Thompson (73). Pierre-Yves Corthals suffered damage to his car at the start, when he hit the wall at the first corner and therefore was out of contention for the independent fight. Luca Rangoni was the best independent finisher in 17th position. Stefano D’Aste ended the race in second, just ahead of Franz Engstler.

RACE 2 - PRIAULX WINS RACE AND CHAMPIONSHIP
Andy Priaulx remains world champion. The BMW Team UK driver led the final race of the season from lights to flag to claim his third consecutive world title. BMW have double reason to celebrate as they also took the Manufacturers’ Championship for the third year.

Yvan Muller and Augusto Farfus did not took the start because their cars were not repairable after the problems (fuel pump failure for Muller and a collision with Tarquini for Farfus) they had in the first race.

Off the line James Thompson got a fantastic start to jump from fourth to second. He continued his rapid speed and overtook Nicola Larini for second at the Lisboa corner. As the pack took the same corner Gabriele Tarquini, Rob Huff and Alessandro Zanardi were casualties. Zanardi and Huff did not rejoin while Tarquini finished 14th.

Over the next couple of laps Thompson was closely chasing Priaulx and Larini was also keeping tabs on the pair. Lap four saw Priaulx edge away while Larini and Thompson were nose to tail. On lap seven Larini made a stunning move at the exit of the Mandarin corner to demote Thompson to third.

In the latest laps Larini closed the gap on Priaulx, but not enough to try an overtaking manoeuvre, while Thompson had to fight hard to defend his third position – that also meant third place in the championship – from the assaults of Tiago Monteiro.

The battle for the points in the final laps saw Jörg Müller and Jordi Gené dropping down and handing the 5th place to Tom Coronel who finished ahead of Rickard Rydell, Félix Porteiro, Colin Turkington and Fredrik Ekblom who scored the last point as Turkington was not eligible to do so.

The independent race was won by Luca Rangoni after a tough battle with Stefano D’Aste and Carl Rosenblad. His victory was not enough however as D’Aste emerged as the Independents’ Trophy winner by two points.

FIA WTCC

See series calendar for World Touring Car Championship 2007

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