WTCC - ROUNDS 17 AND 18 - BRANDS HATCH (GBR) - RACE

2007 FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC)
Rounds 17 and 18 - 22nd/23rd September 2007, Brands Hatch (GBR) - Race
Priaulx wins for BMW in WTCC home event at Brands Hatch.

Brands Hatch (Great Britain), 23rd September 2007. Andy Priaulx (GBR) of BMW
Team UK has regained the lead in the FIA World Touring Car Championship by
claiming victory in the 18th round of the season at the "Brands Hatch Circuit".
In the afternoon race at the 3.703-kilometre track, the 33-year-old took his
second race win of the year ahead of BMW Team Italy-Spain's Félix Porteiro
(ESP) and Robert Huff (Chevrolet/GBR). This was Priaulx's maiden Brands Hatch
victory in a touring car. In the first race of the day, guest driver Colin
Turkington (GBR) scored third place at the wheel of a Team RAC BMW 320si WTCC
behind Alain Menu (Chevrolet/SUI) and James Thompson (Alfa Romeo/GBR).
Turkington is taking part in the British Touring Car Championship this year.
The penultimate WTCC round on European soil did not go according to plan for
the BMW Team Germany drivers. Augusto Farfus (BRA), who travelled to Brands
Hatch as championship leader, failed to score any points. Jörg Müller (GER) had
to make do with three points. Priaulx is now ranked first in the drivers'
classification, having 81 points under his belt. Farfus (69) follows in second
position, while Müller holds fourth place with 66 points. In the Manufacturers'
Championship, BMW consolidated its lead, now having 227 points to its tally.
The first race took a negative turn for Müller shortly after the start. He was
hit by SEAT's Gabriele Tarquini (ITA) in turn 1, spun, dropped down the field
and finally crossed the line 14th. Unlike Müller, the other BMW national team
drivers were not involved in any accidents. Priaulx improved from tenth to
eighth at the start, while Porteiro improved from 12th to ninth. Alessandro
Zanardi (ITA) of BMW Team Italy-Spain gained five places, having started from
23rd spot on the grid. Following a safety-car phase which was caused by the
first corner incident, only a few positions changes happened at the front of
the pack. Priaulx took seventh place from Pierre-Yves Corthals (SEAT/BEL) in
the final lap. Farfus, however, got stuck behind Tarquini and took the
chequered flag in 11th place.
Zanardi overtook a couple of competitors to finish15th. On the penultimate lap,
Turkington passed Jordi Gené (SEAT-ESP), thus securing third. Porteiro, on the
other hand, experienced a rather uneventful race. The 24-year-old defended his
ninth place until the very end - securing a championship point and pole for
race two. As guest driver Turkington was not eligible for points in his WTCC
debut, the top nine instead of the usual top eight drivers in race one were
reversed for race two's grid.
In race two, Priaulx and Porteiro claimed the eighth BMW one-two finish of the
season. Porteiro succeeded in holding the lead at the start. But on lap one
Priaulx - who had already passed Corthals - also overtook the young gun. The
delighted British crowds saw Priaulx holding first place until the end, while
Porteiro celebrated his third podium finish of the year.
Further back in the field there was a lot of action. On lap one Zanardi retired
after a fight with Roberto Colciago (SEAT/ITA). Following another collision
involving several cars the safety-car was deployed again. At the re-start on
lap 3 Farfus was the second BMW national team driver to retire: Running in
eighth, the 24-year-old was hit by Menu before the start-finish line, lost
control of his car and crashed into the pit wall. Menu was black-flagged, and
later visited the BMW Team Germany pit to personally apologise for the
incident. Müller fought his way up from 13th to seventh place, thus securing
three points for the Schnitzer Motorsport crew. Turkington rounded off his
strong performance by finishing fourth.

Reactions:
Andy Priaulx (BMW Team UK):
"In the first race, we did exactly what we had to do. It was crucial to survive
the start. I managed to keep out of all trouble. I kept the pressure on the
guys ahead of me and hoped to pick up some places if possible. This worked out
fine as well. The win in race two was pretty special. It has been a tough
weekend but we have worked together as a team and this is the result. The
second race was perfect and I was able to control things. It is great to have a
12 point lead in the championship, but this will not make any difference to how
I prepare for the next races as I know only too well how things can change in
this series. However, while I reckon this could be my greatest win to date, it
has been a sad weekend for me and I want to dedicate this to the family of
Colin McRae, who died so tragically last weekend."
Augusto Farfus (BMW Team Germany):
"To leave Brands Hatch empty-handed is a set-back on my quest to win the title.
Alain Menu came to see the team and me to apologise. I accept this, he is a
professional driver. However, this doesn't bring back the points which I might
have scored without the accident."
Jörg Müller (BMW Team Germany):
"Quite obviously I'm disappointed. At the start of race one I got hit, which
put an early end to my hopes for a good result. At least I managed to score
three points in race two. It's a blow for my chances to win the championship.
But there are still four more races to come - and you never know what might
happen in the WTCC."
Colin Turkington (Team RAC):
"I did not expect this at all. As a guest driver I had the advantage of
carrying only a relatively low handicap weight. I was very pleased with
qualifying yesterday but I knew the races were going to be a lot tougher. My
BMW was very strong over the race, as we have seen in the BTCC, I was able to
keep the pressure on and I am just delighted to be on the podium."

For stats and results Brands Hatch please see the attached document.

Drivers' Championship: 1st Priaulx (81 points), 2nd Farfus (69), 3rd Muller
(67), 4th Müller (66), 5th Thompson (57), 6th Menu (55), 7th Tarquini (51), 8th
Larini (48).
Manufacturers' Championship: 1st BMW (227), 2nd SEAT (195), 3rd Chevrolet
(172), 4th Alfa Romeo (97).

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 (PRT),
29th July - Anderstorp (SWE),
26th August - Oschersleben (GER), 23rd September - Brands Hatch (GBR), 7th
October - Monza (ITA), 18th November - Macau (MAC).

Press Contact:
Ingo Lehbrink, Tel.: +49 (0) 176 20340224, ingo.lehbrink@bmw.de
Heike Bartsch, Tel.: +49 (0) 172 8485998, heike.bartsch@bmw.de;
Florian Haasper, Tel.: +49 (0) 177 5637923, f.haasper@sport-media-service.de

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