FIA World Touring Car Championship – 2008 season review
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Printed Date: 17-May-2024 at 13:09
Topic: FIA World Touring Car Championship – 2008 season review
Posted By: kbannon
Subject: FIA World Touring Car Championship – 2008 season review
Date Posted: 16-November-2008 at 18:42
FIA World Touring Car Championship – 2008 season review
16-11-2008 Press Release
The
FIA World Touring Car Championship came to an end with a thrilling
finale in Macau (MO). However the drivers of the BMW national teams
were out of the running for championship titles two rounds before the
end of the series. SEAT driver Yvan Muller (FR) succeeds Andy Priaulx
(GB), who won a hat-trick of world championship titles for BMW Team UK,
as touring car world champion.
Once again Priaulx was the best-placed BMW driver in the overall
classification. He ended the season in fourth, having scored 81 points.
BMW Team Germany driver Augusto Farfus (BR) picked up 63 points to
finish sixth in the Drivers’ Championship. His team-mate, Jörg Müller
(DE), ended three points further back, in seventh. BMW Team
Italy-Spain’s two drivers, Félix Porteiro (ES) and Alessandro Zanardi
(IT), followed in 10th and 13th respectively. A fourth title, too,
evaded BMW in the Manufacturers’ Championship, where the German
company, with 274 points, was classified second behind SEAT.
“Our heartiest congratulations to Yvan Muller and SEAT,” says BMW
Motorsport Director, Mario Theissen. “With their turbo diesel engine
our opponents dominated proceedings this year. Naturally we are
disappointed not to have successfully defended either title.
Nevertheless we are proud of our results during the season. To have
scored six victories in a tightly-contested series is still a
respectable achievement. All the same, things must change for next
year. The basis is a set of regulations which offer all the
manufacturers the opportunity of competing in a balanced and fair
competition. This basic principle is absolutely crucial to the future
of the World Touring Car Championship.”
Driver quintet more equal than ever.
Early in the season it became clear that renewed title defences by
BMW during 2008 would be no easy task. BMW’s victory drought lasted
until the event in Pau (FR), where for the first time this year one of
the five drivers of the BMW 320si WTCC was able to score victory, with
Farfus claiming the first win of the season. Shortly thereafter Priaulx
followed up with the marque’s second victory on the “Circuit de Pau
Ville”.
At the next race in Brno (CZ), Zanardi scored his third WTCC career
victory amid much celebration. In Brands Hatch (GB) Müller managed the
leap to the top of the podium, while BMW was able to celebrate its
second double victory of the year on home soil at Oschersleben (DE)
courtesy of Farfus and Porteiro.
Thus for the first time all five BMW national team drivers were
able to score victories in the same year, while they ended the season
more tightly placed than ever before. BMW celebrated a total of 24
podium places in 24 races.
Winner from the word go: the BMW 320si WTCC.
When the BMW 320si WTCC made its debut in the FIA World Touring Car
Championship on 2nd April 2006, this impressive racing car immediately
proved its outstanding performance abilities: not only did Priaulx
claim pole position, but powered the car to its first win. Ten further
victories followed during its maiden season; nine fell to the BMW
national team drivers in 2007. With a total of 26 victories at world
championship level to date, the BMW 320si WTCC has proven itself across
the globe as a worthy representative of the sporty BMW 3 Series, and
has successfully followed in the footsteps of its illustrious
predecessors. To date BMW has 24 European and seven World touring car
Championships to its name, and only the use of turbo diesel engines by
the opposition in 2008 has interrupted the BMW 320si WTCC’s run of
successes.
Successful across the world.
The BMW 320si WTCC was developed by BMW Motorsport using the
production car of the same name as its basis. Following its successful
debut in 2006, the Munich-based engineers were able to continuously
improve the vehicle. The demand for racing kits of the BMW 320si WTCC,
which can be used by race teams across the world to compete in series
using Super2000 regulations, is substantial. By the end of 2008 over 60
examples had been delivered by the BMW Racing Parts division.
The BMW 320si WTCC has won numerous national championships. Among
others, this year Richard Göransson (SE) and Jan Magnussen (DK) claimed
victory in the Swedish and Danish Touring Car Championships
respectively, while in Bulgaria George Tanev (BG) took overall honours,
as did Mikko Eskelinen (FI) in Finland. The Independents’ Trophy
division of the WTCC, too, was won by a BMW driver: Sergio Hernández
(ES) secured the privateers category in a Proteam Motorsport BMW 320si
WTCC.
------------- Current: 2009 E60 520d "Sport" tractor Previous: 1989 E30 320i SE 1997 E39 523i 2003 E39 525i Sport Individual
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Replies:
Posted By: thepits
Date Posted: 16-November-2008 at 18:52
so, onto 2009....
- diary note - July 19th at Brands Hatch
------------- Cats know your every thought.
But don't care.
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