FIA WTCC Season Review 2005

2 - The 2005 Season Review. 4 - Rundown of the FIA WTCC races. 9 - BMW Touring Car Motorsport - Review. 12 - Profile World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx. 14 - Profile BMW Team UK - RBM.

BMW sweeps the board in the FIA WTCC.

Delighted crowds and thrilling races in three continents: the FIA World Touring
Car Championship (WTCC) celebrated a successful comeback this year. As in 1987,
when Roberto Ravaglia won the only World Championship title previously awarded
in touring car racing, the new edition similarly saw a BMW driver taking the
crown. In a gripping final to the season in Macau, Andy Priaulx (GBR) of BMW
Team UK clinched the World Championship title. But that wasn't all. As in the
last two years of the European Championship, BMW also walked away with the
Manufacturers' title. Marc Hennerici (GER), moreover, claimed the coveted
Independents Trophy as a BMW privateer entrant.

BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen commented: "In the WTCC season just
ended, we have witnessed first-rate touring car racing. The series has fully
lived up to the high expectations placed in it. Right up to the final race, it
was a hotly contested World Championship, so I am absolutely delighted that we
managed to win the Manufacturers' title and that Andy Priaulx took the Drivers'
trophy. The performance of runner-up Dirk Müller also deserves great respect.
Marc Hennerici's win among the private drivers rounds off this fantastic
overall result for BMW."

Three national teams, five drivers, one triumph.

In 2005, BMW once again sent three strong national teams out onto the grid.
This concept of promoting customer sports has borne fruit since the European
Touring Car Championship of 2001, and now it has also proved a success in the
World Championship. For BMW Team Deutschland - Schnitzer Motorsport it was the
fourth year running that Dirk Müller (GER) and his team-mate Jörg Müller (GER)
were behind the wheel of a BMW 320i. While Dirk was in the running for the
title right up to the end, Jörg had more than his share of bad luck over the
season and ultimately finished fifth in the drivers' rankings. Like the other
drivers in the BMW national teams, he regularly raced with a weight handicap on
board his car, which rose to the maximum 60 kilograms on several occasions.

Priaulx was again racing for BMW Team UK. The 31-year-old had won the 2004
European Championship with the RBM team under the management of Bart Mampaey
(BEL) and also ended the new edition of the World Touring Car Championship in
triumph when he claimed the title on the final race weekend. At the season
finale in Macau, the RBM team was fielding a second BMW 320i with Duncan
Huisman (NLD) at the wheel. Sporting the colours
of BMW Team Holland, he went on to win the last race of the year.

For BMW Team Italy-Spain - ROAL Motorsport, team manager Roberto Ravaglia
likewise invested his faith in proven drivers: Antonio Garcia (ESP) collected
51 World Championship points, making a key contribution to winning the
Constructors' title. The same went for Alessandro Zanardi (ITA), who was
contending his second complete racing season since the serious accident in 2001
in which he lost both legs. The 39-year-old provided some stirring performances
out on the track.