WTCC - VALENCIA - ROUNDS 5 & 6 - QUALIFYING

2007 FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC)
Rounds 5 and 6 - 19th/20th May 2007, Valencia - Qualifying
BMW driver Andy Priaulx starts from second row of the grid in Valencia.

Valencia (Spain), 19th May 2007. The reigning World Champion, Andy Priaulx
(GBR), claimed third place on the grid for the fifth round of the World Touring
Car Championship in Valencia. In qualifying at the "Circuit de Comunitat", the
BMW Team UK driver set a personal best time of 1:44.114 minutes. He was just
0.160 seconds slower than pole-sitter James Thompson (GBR/Alfa Romeo). Yvan
Muller (FRA/SEAT) finished second in what was the most thrilling qualifying
session of the season to date. The top 19 drivers were separated by one second.

"This was an extremely close affair," commented Priaulx, who races this weekend
in Valencia carrying a handicap weight of 45 kilograms. "Every small mistake
would have meant a loss of many positions. Therefore, I'm exceptionally
delighted with my third place. I pushed hard on every lap and gave 100 percent
- which increases the risk of committing mistakes. However, all went well, and
I managed to improve in the closing stages of the session."

Current championship leader, Augusto Farfus (BRA) of BMW Team Germany, also
secured a promising grid position for the first of two sprint races at the
4.005-kilometre track. On the birthday of Schnitzer Team Manager Charly Lamm
and his brother Dieter, the 23-year-old recorded a lap time of 1:44.265
minutes, which earned him seventh place on the timesheets. Farfus, like
Priaulx, succeeded in scoring points in all four WTCC races of the season so
far.

BMW Team Italy-Spain's Félix Porteiro (ESP) suffered a dose of bad luck. The
local hero was on his way to posting a good lap time, which could have meant a
top-three position for the rookie. Due to a gearbox problem, however, the
racing driver from Castellón near Valencia had to abort his final assault. Next
to Porteiro, Jörg Müller (GER) will start from row seven tomorrow. While his
team-mate Farfus carries 50 kilograms of handicap weight, Müller had to take an
extra 45 kilograms on board his car. Alessandro Zanardi (ITA), who is also
competing for BMW Team Italy-Spain, had to make do with 18th place.

Conditions for the qualifying session were ideal. With 26 degrees Celsius and
bright sunshine, a total of 27 drivers started their hunt fur quick lap times
and good grid positions. All five BMW national team drivers launched a final
assault in the closing minutes of the session. At the end of the day, it was
Priaulx who made the biggest improvement just in time. "I have lost some
fractions of a second in the final corner", added the 32-year-old. "Maybe I
could have gone a bit faster. Now I'm looking forward to tomorrow's races. My
goal is obvious: I want to have two good races and take home lots of points."

The fifth round of the World Touring Car Championship starts on Sunday at
10:20hrs. Eurosport 2 will broadcast live. Eurosport will show highlights of
race one directly before the start of the second round at 15:35hrs.

Stats and results Valencia:
Circuit / Date: Circuit de la Comunitat / 20th May 2007
Lap / total distance: 4.005 km/52.07 km (13 laps)
Pole position 2007: James Thompson (Alfa Romeo, 1:43.954 minutes)
Winner 2006:
Race 1: Augusto Farfus (Alfa Romeo)
Race 2: Jörg Müller (BMW)
Fastest laps 2006:
Race 1: Jordi Gené (SEAT, 1:45.024 minutes)
Race 2: Jörg Müller (BMW, 1:45,.819 minutes)

Race Calendar:
11th March - Curitiba (BRA), 6th May - Zandvoort (NLD), 20th May - Valencia
(ESP), 3rd June - Pau (FRA), 17th June - Brno (CZE), 8th July - Porto (POR),
29th July - Anderstorp (SWE), 26th August - Oschersleben (GER), 23rd September
- Brands Hatch (GBR),
7th October - Monza (ITA), 18th November - Macau (CHN).