04-06-2008
Puebla,
6th April 2008. In two difficult FIA World Touring Car Championship
rounds in Puebla (MX), the BMW national team drivers had to make do
with scoring just one point. It was BMW Team UK’s Andy Priaulx (GB),
who managed to walk away from Mexico with a point in the bag by
finishing eighth in the afternoon race at the “Autódromo Miguel E.
Abed“. SEAT’s Jordi Gené (ES) and Tiago Monteiro (PT) secured the race
wins at the 3.240-kilometre track.
Thus Mexico remains an unloved territory for BMW. In the six WTCC
rounds held to date in Puebla, the manufacturer has only managed to
celebrate one podium finish, back in 2005. In the Drivers’
Championship, Priaulx remains the best-placed BMW driver, having 14
points under his belt. The reigning champion ranks fifth, 12 points
behind new championship leader Rickard Rydell (SE/SEAT). In the
Manufacturers’ Championship, BMW holds second place behind SEAT, with a
points’ tally of 40.
Andy Priaulx (BMW Team UK):
“I’m glad I tried out ice racing a couple of weeks ago as the track
was as slippery as ever today. Off the racing line you were simply left
without a chance. The point I scored in race two was definitely the
best ever, if you take the SEAT dominance into consideration.”
Jörg Müller (BMW Team Germany):
“After a spin, which was caused by a collision at the start of race
one, I had to start from zero again, and I was forced to fight with
blunt weapons: The steering was damaged, and it was far from easy to
gain some ground again. At the end of the day, I finished 14th.
However, from this position I couldn’t challenge for the top positions
in race two. Puebla still doesn’t work well for us.”
Augusto Farfus (BMW Team Germany):
“Despite my relatively good grid position for race one, today’s
rounds were as tough for us as we had expected them to be. The
beginning of the end was lap one in the first race, when I was hit hard
by a SEAT driver. This cost me the chance to make it into the top
eight. A lot of work waits for us between now and the next event.”
Félix Porteiro (BMW Team Italy-Spain):
“In comparison to my fellow BMW drivers I’m quite happy with my
performance. In qualifying I was the second-fastest BMW. However, the
gap to the top is obviously far too big. I’m happy that these two races
lie behind us and I can hardly wait to go to Valencia for my home
races.”
Alessandro Zanardi (BMW Team Italy-Spain):
“I’m very disappointed about the first race. At the start I tried
to keep out of all the trouble – but then another driver decided to
drag me directly into it by hitting me. The second race went quite
smoothly, although I would have wished for a little bit more
performance. Sometimes it goes well for you, sometimes against you. But
I think that recently I have been unlucky too often.”