WTCC - ROUNDS 15 AND 16 - ISTANBUL - QUALIFYING

Priaulx best-placed BMW driver in WTCC qualifying at Istanbul.

Istanbul (Turkey), 17th September 2005. In qualifying for the 15th round of the
FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) at Istanbul, BMW Team UK's Andy
Priaulx (GBR) finished seventh, after setting a personal best time of 2:05.363
minutes. Thus, he was the quickest of all BMW drivers. Despite carrying the
maximum handicap weight of 60 kilograms, Priaulx is now in a promising position
to add further championship points to his tally in tomorrow's races.

Dirk Müller (GER), who is competing for BMW Team Deutschland and currently
leads the Drivers' Championship, will start from tenth place. The German lines
up one row behind Priaulx, his closest rival in the title fight, on Sunday's
grid. Ahead of the two races at the Istanbul Speed Park, the Guernsey-born
driver is trailing Dirk Müller, who is also carrying 60 kilograms on board of
his BMW 320i, by just one point.

None of the three other BMW national team drivers succeeded in matching the
pace of pole-sitter Gabriele Tarquini (ITA), who posted a best time of 2:04.525
minutes. The Alfa Romeo driver is carrying 20 kilograms of ballast. Antonio
Garcia (ESP) of BMW Team Italy-Spain finished 13th, directly ahead of Jörg
Müller (GER), the second BMW Team Deutschland driver.

Following a mistake in the weighing procedure after qualifying, Jörg Müller's
time was cancelled. Garcia's team-mate, Alessandro Zanardi, benefited and will
start the race from 15th position. Jörg Müller, however, has to start from the
tail end of the grid.

Despite the difficult qualifying, the drivers were impressed with the 5.340
kilometre circuit, situated in the Asian part of the Turkish metropolis. "The
circuit is just great," commented Dirk Müller, "Apart from turn 11, which can
be taken flat-out, you can lose valuable time in each turn - and gain split
seconds, too. Therefore, it is essential to remain fully concentrated for the
whole lap. There are loads of overtaking opportunities, which will make for a
lot of action in the races. Even from tenth position on the grid, a satisfying
result is possible."

Like his brand-mate and championship rival, Priaulx also praised the undulating
track that was designed by German architect, Hermann Tilke. "This circuit is
indeed very challenging, and it's difficult to find a good set-up," said the
reigning European Touring Car Champion, adding: "My car is not yet as well
balanced as it was at Oschersleben, however, we are working hard to get on top
of this. It's easy to make mistakes here. Tyres will be a crucial factor
tomorrow."
The 15th round of the 2005 season will start on Sunday at 16.15hrs local time
(15.15hrs CEST). Race two is scheduled to start at 17.20hrs (16.20hrs).

Results

BMW Team Deutschland - Schnitzer Motorsport
No. 42 - Jörg Müller (GER) 14th - 2:05.865 minutes (lap time cancelled)
No. 43 - Dirk Müller (GER) 10th - 2:05.638 minutes

BMW Team UK - RBM
No. 1 - Andy Priaulx (GBR) 7th - 2:05.363 minutes

BMW Team Italy-Spain - ROAL Motorsport
No. 4 - Alex Zanardi (ITA) 16th - 2:06.259 minutes
No. 5 - Antonio Garcia (ESP) 13th - 2:05.684 minutes

BMW private teams

Crawford Racing
- No. 28 - Carl Rosenblad (SWE) 17th - 2:06.326 minutes

Proteam Motorsport
- No. 30 - Stefano d'Aste (ITA) 21st - 2:06.731 minutes
- No. 31 - Giuseppe Ciro (ITA) 23rd - 2:06.793 minutes

Wiechers-Sport
- No. 32 - Marc Hennerici (GER) 18th - 2:06.552 minutes

Results:
1st Gabriele Tarquini (ITA/Alfa Romeo) 2:04.525 minutes, 2nd James Thompson
(GBR, Alfa Romeo) +0.059 seconds, 3rd Augusto Farfus jr. (BRA/Alfa Romeo)
+0.219, 4th Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA/Alfa Romeo) +0.503, 5th Stéphane Ortelli
(MON/SEAT) +0.593, 6th Peter Terting (GER/SEAT) +0.809, 7th Andy Priaulx
(GBR/BMW 320i) +0.838, 8th Jordi Gene (ESP/SEAT) +0.853, 9th Rickard Rydell
(SWE/SEAT) +1.049, 10th Dirk Müller (GER, BMW 320i) +1.113, ...13th Antonio
Garcia (ESP/BMW 320i) +1.159, 14th Jörg Müller (GER/BMW 320i) +1.340, ...16th
Alessandro Zanardi (ITA/BMW 320i) +1.734 - Jörg Müller's lap time cancelled