WTCC - ROUNDS 11 & 12 - PUEBLA - RACE

2006 FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC)
Rounds 11 and 12 - 29th/30th July 2006 - Race
Dirk Müller most successful BMW driver in difficult Puebla rounds.

Puebla (Mexico), 30th July 2006. During rounds 11 and 12 of the FIA World
Touring Car Championship (WTCC) in Puebla, BMW Team Germany's Dirk Müller (GER)
was the most successful driver of the BMW national teams. The 30-year-old
managed to record sixth place in the first race and fourth position in race
two. Next to Dirk Müller, Andy Priaulx (GBR) of BMW Team UK was also able to
collect points at the "Autodromo Miguel E. Abed". Although he was forced to
carry the maximum handicap weight of 80 kilograms on board, the reigning World
Champion succeeded in fighting his way from last to seventh position in the
second race. All of the entering drivers were, however, required to cope with
track conditions that were in part irregular. As it had already been the case
on Saturday, the freshly laid tarmac caused many problems. The winners of the
weekend were Salvatore Tavano (ITA), who was able to triumph in the first race,
and Augusto Farfus, who claimed victory in race two. The two Alfa Romeo drivers
used the advantage of their front-wheel-drive in these conditions.
Additionally, the minimum weight for Alfa Romeo and Chevrolet had been reduced
by a further ten kilograms before the event.

The first race at the 3.24-kilometre track began with a moment of shock: Before
entering the oval, Chevrolet driver Nicola Larini (ITA) crashed into the side
of Duncan Huisman's (NLD BMW 320si WTCC of. As a consequence, the BMW Team
Italy-Spain driver pushed the car of Robert Huff (GBR), who hit the wall. The
race had to be suspended and several worrying minutes passed before Huff could
be removed from his car. As a cautionary measure, he was immediately
transported to hospital by helicopter. Following a lengthy interruption, the
field finally restarted the race behind the safety car for the second time.
Track conditions, however, continued to deteriorate.

Dirk Müller had already worked his way up to tenth position before the red flag
and continued to improve his position following the restart. On lap three, he
passed Priaulx, and two laps later, he benefited from the misfortune of BMW
Team Italy-Spain driver Alessandro Zanardi (ITA), who had been hit by Yvan
Muller (FRA) and subsequently fell back from sixth position. On lap 14, Dirk
Müller attacked SEAT driver Jordi Gené (ESP) and took over sixth place, which
he managed to defend until the end. In the battle for eighth position and, in
other words, for the pole position in race two, Priaulx was obstructed by
Gabriele Tarquini (ITA), who rammed the BMW driver no less than three times
over the course of the race. The last of these collisions forced Priaulx back
into 18th position. The other drivers of the BMW national teams experienced a
similarly disappointing race: Zanardi finished in 17th position, Huisman came
21st. Jörg Müller (GER) of BMW Team Germany also crossed swords with Muller and
was finally forced to settle for 19th position.

Between the two races, road sweepers came on to the circuit to remove the
countless pieces of asphalt and small stones from the racetrack. However, grip
levels remained extremely low. Nevertheless, Dirk Müller managed to gain second
place at the start of the second round. He was, however, later forced to let
Gianni Morbidelli (ITA) and then Farfus pass him, both of them carrying
considerably less weight. After Tom Coronel (NLD) had even been able to take
fourth place away from him, Dirk Müller reclaimed this position just before the
end of the race.
Further behind in the field Priaulx delivered a remarkable performance with the
maximum ballast of 80 kilograms on board. Having entered from the last place on
the grid, he managed to overtake one opponent after the other and finish in
seventh position. Zanardi's race, on the other hand, took an unpleasant turn
following another encounter with Muller: On lap three, the 39-year-old again
collided with the SEAT driver, causing both to prematurely retire form the
event. Jörg Müller's hopes to collect points were crushed by a damaged right
front tyre, which forced him to do a pit stop. He finally crossed the line in
15th position. Duncan Huisman finished the race four places ahead of him,
improving from 20th to 11th position.

Reactions:
Charly Lamm (Team Manager BMW Team Germany):
"The weekend in Puebla was dominated by the bad track conditions. The new track
surface already started to break open in the practice and qualifying sessions,
which led to extremely difficult race conditions. We are happy about the points
that Dirk Müller managed to win for us despite the bad conditions. Like many
other drivers, Jörg experienced some problems coping with the situation. The
tyre failure finally prevented him from collecting any points."

Drivers' Championship: 1st Thompson (49 points), 2nd Priaulx (46), 3rd Farfus
(46), 4th Tarquini (41), 5th Rydell (41), 6th Dirk Müller (40), 7th Muller
(33), 8th Terting (32).
Manufacturers' Championship: 1st SEAT (148), 2nd BMW (139), 3rd Alfa Romeo
(111), 4th Chevrolet (67).
Race Calendar:
02/04 - Monza (ITA), 30/04 - Magny-Cours (FRA), 21/05 - Brands Hatch (GBR),
04/06 - Oschersleben (GER), 02/07 - Curitiba (BRA), 30/07 - Puebla (MEX), 03/09
- Brno (CZE), 24/09 - Istanbul (TUR), 08/10 - Valencia (ESP), 19/11 - Macau
(CHN).

Press contact:
Heike Bartsch, BMW Corporate Affairs, Motorsport, Office: +49 (0)89 382 33115,
Mobile: +49 (0) 172 8485998, heike.bartsch@bmw.de - Press releases, race
reports and photos are available rights-free for press purposes at:
www.press.bmw.com
).