ROUNDS 7 & 8 - PAU, FRANCE

RACE 1 REPORT

THE SUN SHINES FOR FARFUS AND BMW
The sun was shining for the first WTCC race in Pau this morning. BMW Team Germany's Augusto Farfus led the drivers out on the first lap and carefully negotiated the first few corners, keeping the SEAT cars behind him. However, as they reached Turn 3, the problems began behind the top six.
After a pile up that involved most of the field at the Virage du Lycée, the race was suspended while the track was cleared up and then resumed behind the safety car.
Pierre-Yves Corthals (who was involved in the Turn 3 pile up) and Oscar Nogués, the Independents' Trophy pole sitter (who had crashed after the start) did not make the grid.
Again Farfus made the best start and led safely, building a big gap of 10 seconds by lap 10 and eventually winning by a margin of nearly 18 seconds. SEAT driver Yvan Muller followed him into second place. His team mate Jordi Gené took third position only two tenths behind Muller by the end. However he had to defend his position from a charging Robert Huff who pushed his Chevrolet up to fourth position, and was chasing the podium. Huff started the race from sixth position but during the race overtook Rickard Rydell and then Gabriele Tarquini who finished sixth and fifth respectively.
Chevrolet's Nicola Larini overtook Andy Priaulx for seventh position, pushing the British driver to eighth place. However the latter will now start on pole for the second race, opening the possibility for a successful BMW weekend.
In the Independents' class the competition was wide open. Laurent Cazenave led them to victory in his home race at the wheel of the Wiechers-Sport BMW 320si, followed by Sergio Hernández who won the fight for second with Stefano D'Aste and Franz Engslter who finished third and fourth respectively.
After today's first race, Yvan Muller reduced his gap to the championship leader Gabriele Tarquini to four points. Rickard Rydell and Jordi Gené complete a SEAT quartet on top of the classification. Robert Huff has matched Andy Priaulx' score and he is now the first non SEAT driver in the championship.

FIRST LAP PILE-UP AT LYCÉE
A domino effect occurred as the field reached Turn 3. Alain Menu was punted by Alessandro Zanardi who had been bumped by Tiago Monteiro who had been pushed by Félix Porteiro.
The cars were so close that it was not possible to determine who had started it all.
This caused a pile up and all the middle and back fielders were forced to stop because the track was blocked.
 
RACE 2 REPORT
 
ANDY PRIAULX REIGNS IN THE RAIN
The heavens opened in Pau so that Race 2 was in complete contrast to the first. The drivers were forced to start the race behind the safety car on an extremely wet track. After the safety car came in at the end of lap 3, Andy Priaulx led the pack into the rain in the BMW Team UK car. Experience seemed essential in this race as the reigning world champion drove faultlessly to claim his first win of the season and making it a double victory for BMW after Augusto Farfus' in Race 1.
Priaulx held off a charge from Chevrolet's Nicola Larini who kept close to the Brit throughout the race, and SEAT drivers Rickard Rydell and Gabriele Tarquini who took third and fourth spots respectively.
Robert Huff rounded off a strong weekend for him in fifth position, ahead of Farfus, who passed Yvan Muller and Jordi Gené earlier in the race to take sixth position.
The final points went to Muller (seventh) and James Thompson (eighth) who scored his first point at the wheel of the N.technology Honda Accord. Thompson fought his way past Jörg Müller to gain the single point.
Further back the race had a few incidents as Sergio Hernández went wide at Turn 2 while leading the Independents' class, allowing Stefano D'Aste to take the lead. Also at Turn 2 Alessandro Zanardi had a perilous moment when he slid down the pit straight into a spin. He was none the worse, but he and Müller (who moved out of his way) lost places to Tom Coronel. For the rest of the race Müller seemed unable to get round the corner without going straight as he went off more than once, and rejoined. He lost places to Coronel and Tiago Monteiro in the SEATs, and finished out of the points.
Alain Menu failed to finish the race when he clipped the barrier at Turn 8 and put his Chevrolet, bonnet first, into the tyre wall. He limped back to the pits but was unable to continue. Gené had to pit and struggled to finish the rest of the race, ending it a lap down on the leader. Race 1 winner of the Independents' class Laurent Cazenave did not finish after a collision with Franz Engstler at Turn 4.
This left the class open for a fight between Hernández, D'Aste and Engstler. D'Aste finally came out on top to take the win and finish the race fourteenth overall ahead of Engstler and Oscar Nogués.
Tarquini increased his lead in the championship table to 45 points and is chased by fellow SEAT Sport drivers Muller (38) and Rydell (37). Priaulx climbed to fourth and reduced his gap to the lead to 12 points.
The championship will resume on 15th June at Brno, Czech Republic, for rounds 9 and 10.
 
Fonte: Media FIA WTCC