BMW dominates French round of World Touring Car Championship
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Image Gallery ( 9 images )May 1, 2005 The prediction that BMW would dominate at French round of the World Touring Car Championship at the weekend (1 May 2005) at Magny Cours was born out by a total German domination in both races. In race one Jorg Muller lead the BMWs home after a spectacular start that saw Andy Priaulx overtaking Alfa Romeo's Augusto Farfus and Rickard Rydell before entering the first corner. The 2004 FIA ETCC title holder did not surrender this advantage and crossed the line in second place 2.882 seconds behind the winner. Rydell represented SEAT Sport on the podium by finishing third in his SEAT Toledo Cupra after an exciting duel with Gabriele Tarquini's Alfa Romeo. Antonio Garcia, Dirk Muller, Jordi Gené and Farfus filled the other point positions, while Peter Terting made a daring move on the very last corner of the race to overtake Fabrizio Giovanardi, enabling the German rookie to claim ninth place.
Early in the race Chevrolet's Alain Menu was involved in an incident with Stefano D'Aste which resulted in a premature finish for both; almost at the same time Adam Lacko went off into the gravel trap. Menu's team-mates, Nicola Larini and Robert Huff however, kept team spirits high by finishing 17th and 19th.
Ford Hotfiel Sport are still suffering with difficulties as Thomas Klenke only completed 8 laps of the race due to a contact with another car. His team-mate Thomas Jäger managed all 12 laps and finished 24th. The third Ford in the race, Sascha Plöderl old Focus, retired with a broken driveshaft.
Marc Hennerici continued his success as an independent driver and obtained maximum points by overtaking rival Carl Rosenblad on the penultimate lap. He crossed the line 13th overall. Alessandro Zanardi overcame a gearbox problem that occurred during qualifying to secure his third consecutive win of the Italian Superturismo Championship, finishing 15th overall.
In race two the BMWs were even more dominant; the first four to finish were BMW 320i cars, despite Alfa's Farfus leading the race in the early stages. Jörg Müller was first, making it two consecutive wins. The 35 year old German started from 8th on the grid and drove a superb race. After gradually overtaking the seven drivers ahead of him, he edged away and finished just over 5 seconds ahead of the rest. The battle behind provided great entertainment for spectators, with non stop action.
In the early stages Augusto Farfus, who had started on pole, took the lead. On lap 4, under pressure from BMW drivers, the young Brazilian made a mistake and went wide dropping to fifth. Dirk Müller inherited the lead, chased by Antonio García, but on lap 5 Jörg Müller managed to overtake both.
Behind the three leaders Andy Priaulx made some impressive manoeuvres to overtake Farfus and García. Finally he had Dirk Müller in his sights but despite many efforts was unable to capture second spot. Dirk finished just 0.168 seconds ahead of Priaulx and caused some drama on the start/finish grid as he spun. Farfus, who was the best placed of the Alfa Romeo drivers with fifth position, could not swerve in time and hit him. SEAT Sport had two drivers in the top 10 with Gene sixth and Terting tenth.
Positive steps have been made by Ford Hotfiel Sport this weekend as round 4 saw both Ford Focus cars crossing the chequered flag for the first time. Thomas Jäger and Thomas Klenke finished 22nd and 23rd respectively. Chevrolet too had an improvement with Nicola Larini moving closer obtaining a top 10 finish. He finished 13th, whilst team-mate Robert Huff was 16th .
Tom Coronel emerged as the winner of the Independents' race in his GR Asia SEAT Toledo Cupra. The Dutchman took 14th place overall just ahead of Carl Rosenblad, while his team-mate Valle Mäkelä's pursuit for points was put to an end after contact was made with Alessandro Zanardi's BMW during a fight for the leadership of the Italian Championship. Proteam Motorsport's Giuseppe Cirò finished the race 18th overall and inherited win in the Italian Supertursimo Championship.
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