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13.07.2008
The Portuguese WTCC rounds as they happened...Andy Priaulx scored a total of nine points at the "Circuito do Estoril". Here, you find a lap by lap analysis of WTCC’s rounds 11 and 12. |
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| Race 1.
Start - In the first few corners there are many contacts and collisions down the entire field, resulting in several spins and offs. Andy Priaulx stays in fifth, while Félix Porteiro improves from 11th to eighth. Alessandro Zanardi makes it from 14th to tenth, but is hit by another driver. He then races with a damaged steering. Jörg Müller makes a great start. However, in a hard fight with several drivers running side by side, he is on the outside. As Augusto Farfus is hit from the right he cannot avoid contact with his team-mate. Müller runs wide onto the grass and loses the places he has just gained. Moments later Farfus is also hit by several competitors, causing heavy damage to the front of his car. He is forced to retire, but makes it back to the pits, where the BMW Team Germany crew immediately start repair work for race two. Lap 2 - Müller passes Pierre-Yves Corthals for 12th. Lap 3 - Zanardi overtakes Sergio Hernandez and is now ninth. Lap 4 - Müller, too, succeeds in passing Hernandez. Lap 6 - Zanardi is passed by Alain Menu, Tom Coronel and Müller. Lap 10 - Priaulx loses fifth to Robert Huff. Müller overtakes Coronel for ninth. Lap 11 - Zanardi pits to have his right rear tyre checked by the BMW Team Italy-Spain engineers to rule out a tyre failure. Zanardi rejoins. Finish - Priaulx crosses the line in sixth. Porteiro secures eighth and pole position for the second race. He is followed by Müller, who finishes in a thankless ninth. Zanardi comes 20th. Race 2. Start - Félix Porteiro defends his lead at the start, but is under pressure from Tiago Monteiro in his SEAT diesel from the very first lap. Andy Priaulx keeps his third place, and Jörg Müller ninth. Alessandro Zanardi and Augusto Farfus make excellent starts: Zanardi lies in 11th at the end of lap one, Farfus is 15th. Lap 2 - Monteiro overtakes Porteiro. Müller passes Rickard Rydell. Lap 4 - Priaulx loses third to Yvan Muller. Lap 7 - Müller takes seventh from Jord Gené. Lap 11 - Porteiro suffers brake problems which enables Muller and Priaulx to pass him. Farfus has improved to tenth, Zanardi runs in 12th. Finish - Priaulx finishes third, followed by Porteiro in fourth. Müller scores two points by coming seventh. Farfus’ progress ends in tenth. Zanardi takes chequered flag in 13th. |
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