WTCC - VALENCIA - ROUNDS 5 & 6 - RACE

2007 FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC)
Rounds 5 and 6 - 19th/20th May 2007, Valencia - Race
Müller and Priaulx on the podium in Spain - BMW leads the championship.

Valencia (Spain), 20th May 2007. Jörg Müller (GER) and Andy Priaulx (GBR)
secured podium places in the sixth round of the FIA World Touring Car
Championship. At Valencia's "Circuit de la Comunitat" Müller claimed second
place for BMW Team Germany behind race winner James Thompson (GBR/Alfa Romeo).
BMW Team UK's Priaulx finished third at the 4.005-kilometre circuit. In the
morning's race, Priaulx had been the best-placed BMW national team driver,
crossing the line in fifth position.

Müller has regained the lead in the Drivers' Championship from his team-mate
Augusto Farfus (BRA), who lost his chances for points at the very start of the
turbulent first race. Müller now has got 31 points under his belt. Reigning
world champion Priaulx is ranked second and on equal points with his
brand-mate. Farfus follows in third place, still having 28 points to his tally.
In the manufacturers' classification, BMW keep the lead and now hold 81 points.

The first sprint race of the day started with a massive accident, which kicked
six drivers out of the competition, among them both drivers of BMW Team
Italy-Spain. For the third time this season, the drivers performed a "rolling"
start. However, this starting procedure once again made for plenty of
collisions and retirements in the middle of the pack. Félix Porteiro (ESP) was
pushed by SEAT's Gabriele Tarquini (ITA) and lost control of his BMW 320si
WTCC. Of all drivers it was his team-mate Alessandro Zanardi (ITA) who got hit
by the local hero with an impact of 8.7g. Before this incident, Zanardi had
improved from 18th to seventh place. Both drivers were forced to retire as
their cars suffered heavy damage. Only Porteiro's BMW was ready again to race
in the afternoon.

Farfus' plans for another points finish from his seventh grid position did not
work out either. First, he was hit by Michel Jourdain (MEX/SEAT), spun and
dropped back to 18th place. On lap 13, he had to retire from the race, after
colliding with Tom Coronel (NLD/SEAT) while fighting for a top-10 position.
Müller, however, started a successful chase through the field from 14th
position on the grid. On lap 4, at the end of a safety car phase which had been
caused by the first-corner incident, the experienced driver already held 11th
place. Over the course of the race, he gained three more positions and secured
eighth place in the final classification. Priaulx experienced a less
spectacular race. Although he had lost two positions at the start, he was
satisfied with defending fifth place until the end of the race, thus scoring
four valuable world championship points.

Race two kicked off with a little less action than the first race. Müller lost
the lead briefly to BMW private driver Luca Rangoni (ITA) of Proteam
Motorsport, but regained it in turn 2. Priaulx made a good start from P4 and
got by Jourdain. On lap 4, the Guernsey-born driver also overtook Rangoni, now
running in the runner-up position behind Müller.

Farfus and Porteiro relentlessly fought their way up from the back of the field
and between them made many overtaking manoeuvres. From 18th place on the grid,
Farfus took the chequered flag in tenth position. Porteiro remained unlucky
during his home event: He was racing in 15th position, when BMW privateer
Stefano d'Aste (ITA) hit him, causing a spin. After 13 laps Porteiro finished
19th.

At the top of the field, Müller and Priaulx fought an exciting duel. Priaulx
put the leader under pressure, who fended off all attacks in style. Only
Thompson was faster than the two BMW works drivers. With a light car without
any ballast, he passed Priaulx on lap seven and finally stole the lead from
Müller a lap later. The threesome crossed the line in this order.
Rangoni once again won the Independents' Trophy in both rounds and celebrated
two seventh places in the overall classification. In race two, his team-mate
Sergio Hernández (ESP) scored a championship point as well by finishing eighth.

Reactions:

Jörg Müller (BMW Team Germany):
"In the first race, I clearly benefited from avoiding an accident in the first
corner. Later I passed Corthals, Coronel and d'Aste, thus gaining eighth place
and one point. Last year, I was only one point behind in the world
championship, so it can be valuable towards the end of the season. The second
race was tough. It was difficult to keep Andy behind me. However, if you use
all your three mirrors in your car it works. I'm now leading the championship
again. But that doesn't make any difference to me."

Andy Priaulx (BMW Team UK):
"I'm really happy with this race weekend. In race one I was the best-placed
driver with so much handicap weight and managed to score points. That was
exactly what I had planned. In turn 1, I played it safe. And this was the right
decision, as we all have seen what happened behind me. The fight with Jörg was
good fun. I waited for a mistake, but it didn't happen. It was a fair duel.
This weekend, our team has again proved that it is able to turn the tables. We
are on the right track and have responded very well to the difficulties we
experienced at the beginning of the year. I'm picking up momentum in the
championship."

Stats and results Valencia:
Circuit / Date: Circuit de la Comunitat / 20th May 2007
Lap / Race distance: 4.005 km/52.07 km (13 laps)
Pole position 2007: James Thompson (Alfa Romeo, 1:43.954 minutes)
Winners 2007:
Race 1: James Thompson (Alfa Romeo)
Race 2: James Thompson (Alfa Romeo)
Fastest lap 2007:
Race 1: James Thompson (Alfa Romeo, 1:44.260 minutes)
Race 2: Robert Huff (Chevrolet, 1:45.902 minutes)

Drivers' Championship:
1st Müller (31 points), 2nd Priaulx (31), 3rd Farfus (28), 4th Larini (25), 5th
Tarquini (21), 6th Thompson (20), 7th Muller (17), 8th Rangoni (15).

Manufacturers' Championship:
1st BMW (81), 2nd SEAT (62), 3rd Chevrolet (50), 4th Alfa Romeo (34).

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).