Augusto Farfus claims sixth for BMW in Oschersleben qualifying session.

Oschersleben, 30th August 2008. Augusto Farfus (BR) set the sixth
fastest lap time in qualifying for the 15th round of the FIA World
Touring Car Championship. With a time of 1:36.004 minutes the BMW Team
Germany driver has assured himself of being the highest placed BMW on
the grid for the race in the “Motorsport Arena Oschersleben”.
Chevrolet’s Robert Huff (GB) went 0.329 seconds quicker than Farfus,
taking pole for Sunday’s first race in the “ Magdeburger Börde”
region. Triple world champion Andy Priaulx (GB) was ninth at the
3.696-kilometre circuit for BMW Team UK, while BMW Team Italy-Spain’s
Félix Porteiro (ES) came 12th. Farfus’ team-mate, Jörg
Müller (DE), had to make do with 13th. Alessandro Zanardi (IT) –
also racing for BMW Team Italy-Spain – ended up 17th on the timesheets.
On several occasions the progress of the BMW drivers was hampered by
yellow flags. Many minor incidents forced them to lift off the throttle
on the narrow track. “This heavily influenced my qualifying on the
negative side,” said Farfus after the 30-minute session. “My car was
perfect, and I’m 100 percent sure we could have finished further up the
grid. However, from the third row I have still got every chance to
score a good result in front of our home crowd.” “I’m really
disappointed,” added Priaulx, “as my car was certainly capable of
giving me the chance of a better grid position. But I cannot blame the
team or myself. On my last lap I was blocked, and a little later
another car went off in front of me. What can you do? That’s racing.”
Local hero Müller, who thanks to his win in Brands Hatch (GB) is
carrying the maximum ballast of 70 kilograms, couldn’t exploit the full
potential of his BMW 320si WTCC. He said: “On my last run I lost some
time when overtaking another car. Otherwise I could have made it into
the top eight. In the past, however, I have often managed to fight my
way back from even further down the grid. So I will keep on fighting
and give my very best on Sunday.” Race one will start on Sunday at
12:05hrs (11:05hrs BST), the second race will start at 15:50hrs
(14:50hrs BST). The two rounds will be televised by Eurosport 2 and
Eurosport International respectively. They will also be streamed live on
the internet, at www.bmw-motorsport.com.