WTCC Istanbul Thread

[Hazard]

Looks like it's FWD weekend again!

Practice 1
1 - Gabriele Tarquini - Alfa Romeo 156 - 2:05.963
2 - James Thompson - Alfa Romeo 156 - 2:06.264
3 - Stephane Ortelli - Seat Toledo Cupra - 2:06.397
4 - Fabrizio Giovanardi - Alfa Romeo 156 - 2:06.827
5 - Augusto Farfus Jr. - Alfa Romeo 156 - 2:06.859
6 - Jordi Gene - Seat Leon - 2:07.094
7 - Dirk Muller - BMW 320i - 2:07.114
8 - Jorg Muller - BMW 320i - 2:07.155
9 - Rickard Rydell - Seat Toledo Cupra - 2:07.335
10 - Thomas Klenke - Ford Focus - 2:07.444
11 - Alessandro Zanardi - BMW 320i - 2:07.501
12 - Antonio Garcia - BMW 320i - 2:07.698
13 - Stefano D'Aste - BMW 320i - 2:07.752
14 - Peter Terting - Seat Toledo Cupra - 2:07.955
15 - Andy Priaulx - BMW 320i - 2:07.993
16 - Nicola Larini - Chevrolet Lacetti - 2:08.009
17 - Adriano De Micheli - Honda Accord Euro R - 2:08.071
18 - Michael Funke - Ford Focus - 2:08.408
19 - Tom Coronel - Seat Toledo Cupra - 2:08.409
20 - Robert Huff - Chevrolet Lacetti - 2:08.988
21 - Giuseppe Ciro - BMW 320i - 2:09.001
22 - Marc Hennerici - BMW 320i - 2:09.275
23 - Alain Menu - Chevrolet Lacetti - 2:09.426
24 - Carl Rosenblad - BMW 320i - 2:09.646
25 - Erkut Kizilirmak - Seat Toledo Cupra - 2:10.841

[Hazard]

And practice 2, Ortelli shows the works boys how to drive:

Second Practice
1 - Stephane Ortelli - ORECA - SEAT Toledo Cupra - 2:05.806
2 - Gabriele Tarquini - AutoDelta - Alfa Romeo 156 - 2:05.949
3 - James Thompson - AutoDelta - Alfa Romeo 156 - 2:06.234
4 - Jordi Gene - Seat Sport ES - SEAT Leon - 2:06.482
5 - Fabrizio Giovanardi - AutoDelta - Alfa Romeo 156 - 2:06.599
6 - Augusto Farfus Jr. - AutoDelta - Alfa Romeo 156 - 2:06.629
7 - Jorg Muller - BMW Team Schnitzer - BMW 320i - 2:06.643
8 - Dirk Muller - BMW Team Schnitzer - BMW 320i - 2:06.851
9 - Peter Terting - Seat Sport ES - SEAT Toledo Cupra - 2:06.886
10 - Antonio Garcia - Roal Motorsport - BMW 320i - 2:06.946
11 - Thomas Klenke - Hotfiel - Ford Focus - 2:07.077
12 - Andy Priaulx - BMW Team UK / RBM - BMW 320i - 2:07.085
13 - Nicola Larini - RML - Chevrolet Lacetti - 2:07.097
14 - Rickard Rydell - Seat Sport ES - SEAT Toledo Cupra - 2:07.109
15 - Alessandro Zanardi - Roal Motorsport - BMW 320i - 2:07.273
16 - Adriano De Micheli - JAS Motorsport - Honda Accord Euro R - 2:07.278
17 - Giuseppe Ciro - Proteam - BMW 320i - 2:07.428
18 - Carl Rosenblad - Crawford Racing - BMW 320i - 2:07.520
19 - Stefano D'Aste - Proteam - BMW 320i - 2:07.540
20 - Marc Hennerici - Wichters - BMW 320i - 2:08.001
21 - Michael Funke - Hotfiel - Ford Focus - 2:08.090
22 - Alain Menu - RML - Chevrolet Lacetti - 2:08.389
23 - Robert Huff - RML - Chevrolet Lacetti - 2:08.643
24 - Tom Coronel - GR Asia - SEAT Toledo Cupra - 2:08.935
25 - Erkut Kizilirmak - GR Asia - SEAT Toledo Cupra - 2:10.370

[Dani Filth]

1,2,3,4 Alfa Romeo .. Tarquini, Thompson, Farfus, Giovanardi
5,6,8,9 Seat . Ortelli, Terting, Gene, Rydell
7,10,14 BMW . Priaulx, Muller, Muller .

looking better for Alfa after the disaster in Germany
hopefully 2 wins for Alfa

[FIRE]

Qualifying:
POS NO CL DRIVER NAT CAR TIME LAPS GAP KPH
1 2 Gabriele TARQUINI ITA Alfa Romeo 156 2:04.525 6 154.32
2 3 James THOMPSON GBR Alfa Romeo 156 2:04.584 9 0.059 154.24
3 7 Augusto FARFUS JR. BRA Alfa Romeo 156 2:04.744 8 0.219 154.05
4 6 Fabrizio GIOVANARDI ITA Alfa Romeo 156 2:05.028 10 0.503 153.70
5 29 Stephane ORTELLI MON SEAT Toledo Cupra 2:05.118 9 0.593 153.58
6 10 Peter TERTING GER SEAT Toledo Cupra 2:05.334 9 0.809 153.32
7 1 Andy PRIAULX GBR BMW 320i 2:05.363 10 0.838 153.28
8 9 Jordi GENE ESP SEAT Leon 2:05.378 6 0.853 153.27
9 8 Rickard RYDELL SWE SEAT Toledo Cupra 2:05.574 9 1.049 153.03
10 43 Dirk MULLER GER BMW 320i 2:05.638 11 1.113 152.95
11 27 I Adriano DE MICHELI ITA Honda Accord Euro R 2:05.644 11 1.119 152.94
12 22 Nicola LARINI ITA Chevrolet Lacetti 2:05.670 10 1.145 152.91
13 5 Antonio GARCIA ESP BMW 320i 2:05.684 8 1.159 152.89
14 42 Jorg MULLER GER BMW 320i 2:05.865 10 1.340 152.67
15 23 Alain MENU SUI Chevrolet Lacetti 2:06.114 10 1.589 152.37
16 4 Alessandro ZANARDI ITA BMW 320i 2:06.259 9 1.734 152.20
17 28 I Carl ROSENBLAD SWE BMW 320i 2:06.326 11 1.801 152.12
18 32 I Marc HENNERICI GER BMW 320i 2:06.552 10 2.027 151.84
19 16 Michael FUNKE GER Ford Focus 2:06.665 8 2.140 151.71
20 14 Thomas KLENKE GER Ford Focus 2:06.720 11 2.195 151.64
21 30 I Stefano D'ASTE ITA BMW 320i 2:06.731 11 2.206 151.63
22 20 I Tom CORONEL NED SEAT Toledo Cupra 2:06.743 9 2.218 151.62
23 31 I Giuseppe CIRO ITA BMW 320i 2:06.793 9 2.268 151.56
24 38 I Erkut KIZILIRMAK TUR SEAT Toledo Cupra 2:08.737 10 4.212 149.27

Good performance from Alfa. Also SEAT has beaten BMW.

[Dani Filth]

Ford was looking quite good in Free Practice . but they are way back in qualy

[FIRE]

If Ford doesn't give more support the Focus will never be competative.

The SEAT Leon is again on the same pace as the Toledo. This is very very promising for the future.

[Hazard]

Can Alfa rescue their title hopes?

Why are both GR Asia drivers so slow? When the Oreca & Seat Spain cars are so fast!?

Priaulx just needs to chip points from Dirk, no stopping the Alfa's today...except Seat maybe in race two.

[FIRE]

BTW I am missing Rob Huff in the results of the qualification. Why? He drove in free practice.

[Dani Filth]

it's good.. but Rydell has 30 kilos over Gene . and Terting 5 .. they still have some work to do .

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by Hazard

Can Alfa rescue their title hopes?

I hope this will convince FIAT to have some Alfa factory cars in WTCC next season....

Originally Posted by Hazard

Why are both GR Asia drivers so slow? When the Oreca & Seat Spain cars are so fast!?

I was wondering too. The result of the Turkish driver is not surprising because he's new but Coronel is very dissapointing. Especially because the factory SEATS performed very good. Coronel is some points behind Henerici in the indi championship so he needs some good race results.



After a few races Oreca is already doing a very good job. I think they will be very competative next season.

[Dani Filth]

Originally Posted by Hazard

Can Alfa rescue their title hopes?

Why are both GR Asia drivers so slow? When the Oreca & Seat Spain cars are so fast!?

Priaulx just needs to chip points from Dirk, no stopping the Alfa's today...except Seat maybe in race two.

if anything works well . alfa will try and give the wins to Giovanardi . and protect him . . a +15 points from both races is on the card for Fabrizio
it wil be hard for Dirk to score many points so after Istanbul top 3 could be within 5-6 points .

[Hazard]

They will try and protect Gio, but they'd have to let him through quick before the Seat's get him. Either way, he'll be in danger territory for race two starting about 7th/8th next to the fast starting BMW's.

[Dani Filth]

the beemers will be busy fending off the Seats .. well i'm hoping
and you know Farfus is quite good at keeping the field packed . making it easier for Giovanardi

[FIRE]

Peugeot will not compete in the rest of the WTCC season

[Hazard]

Originally Posted by FIRE

Peugeot will not compete in the rest of the WTCC season

Not a bad decision. It was considerably behind other all new entrants such as Chevrolet & Ford who are also just walking in with all new cars - the 407 clearly needs a bit of work.

Peugeot probably don't want to hang their washing out in public...cos although they've got very pretty undies, those hard to remove stains are an embarrassment

[Hazard]

Just catching the Eurosport programme:

Rob Huff had a clutch problem and didn't run his Chevrolet in qualifying.

Jorg also missed a weight check, and so has had his time deleted and will start last.

[E46]

A difficult day for BMW, surely the things will go in a good way tomorrow.
I am surprised, again, with new Seat Leon and of course Ortelli and Oreca, strong perfomance.

[Go_For_Pole]

Originally Posted by Hazard

Just catching the Eurosport programme:

Rob Huff had a clutch problem and didn't run his Chevrolet in qualifying.

Jorg also missed a weight check, and so has had his time deleted and will start last.

Jorg looked miserable yesterday after he heard from the stewarts. In general BMWs are suffering from the weight handicap, the track has many ups and downs that are killing them. Bad luck for Huff also, the Chevrolets looked reasonable. Warm up time now, I ll try to keep you updated.

[Monkey Head]

valencia is alfa's adventage track too....will they leading point to macau?

[Dani Filth]

and Macau is a BMW track . they raced there before . Alfa didn't .

[Monkey Head]

Originally Posted by Dani Filth

and Macau is a BMW track . they raced there before . Alfa didn't .

that's true......of the downhill striaght would be a benefit of FF and sequential gearbox car?

(oops,i should use 'before' instead of 'to' in my previous post

[Hazard]

Alfa top 4 in the warm up as well.

Looks like Dani's in for a points haul in race one at least in the predictions comp

[FIRE]

The engine in Coronel's car is changed. He has qualified on old tyres.

[Dani Filth]

Originally Posted by Hazard

Alfa top 4 in the warm up as well.

Looks like Dani's in for a points haul in race one at least in the predictions comp

too bad i didn't went for Tarquini on pole ... as i usual do

[E46]

Originally Posted by Dani Filth

and Macau is a BMW track . they raced there before . Alfa didn't .

Alfa Romeo was at Macao in 2002 and 2003. With Alfa Romeo 147 yes, but has been there.