News : Review : 100th World Touring Car Championship race for BMW since 2005. : 01.07.2009


		01.07.2009 100th World Touring Car Championship race for BMW since 2005. The FIA World Touring Car Championship this weekend travels to Porto for the 99th and 100th races since the series made its comeback in 2005. BMW has unquestionably been the most successful manufacturer in the championship. Eighteen years after BMW driver Roberto Ravaglia scored the first WTCC title in 1987, Dirk Müller registered a hat-trick (pole position, fastest lap and overall victory) for BMW on 10th April 2005.

To date the manufacturer has claimed a further 37 wins, with Sergio Hernández adding his name to the winners’ roll by occupying the top step of the podium in Brno for BMW Team Italy-Spain. BMW Team UK’s Andy Priaulx was crowned world champion three times after winning consecutive titles between 2005 and 2007. While the driver from Guernsey in the Channel Islands won his first title with a BMW 320i, it was with the BMW 320si WTCC, introduced in 2006, that he won the others. Priaulx is the only driver who crossed started every race to date. “BMW has an excellent record in the World Touring Car Championship,” says BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen. “Over the past five years 12 drivers have represented the BMW national teams, and celebrated innumerable successes. Naturally our world titles in 2005, 2006 and 2007 were the highlights, and we will do everything in our power to add another chapter to our success story this year. The series provides a good platform for our Customer Sport programme, as BMW privateers are able to race wheel-to-wheel against our national teams. It is surely no coincidence that a BMW driver has won the privateer classification three times since 2005.“ A glance at the statistics proves that BMW has stamped its authority on the WTCC like no other manufacturer. BMW drivers have claimed 16 race one pole positions and set fastest lap times in 45 of the 98 races to date. 1277 racing laps have been completed thus far – of which 527 were led by a BMW driver. No less than 68 races saw at least one BMW driver on the podium, with 115 top-three places falling to BMW teams. 1411 Points have been scored by BMW’s drivers to date. In 14 races, a BMW driver set the fastest lap, claimed pole position and secured the victory. Only four drivers have been able to score ten career victories in the history of the WTCC – three of which were in a BMW. Beside Augusto Farfus and Priaulx, Jörg Müller has crossed the line as the winner ten times. 14 fastest laps mean Müller tops this category, while Farfus’ nine pole positions mean he started the first race of the weekend from the prime spot more often than any other driver. The BMW national teams have not been alone in ensuring WTCC glory. Privateers, too, have been able to celebrate great success thanks to BMW race cars: Marc Hennerici won the 2005 Independents’ Trophy; Stefano d’Aste and Hernández, the current BMW Team Italy-Spain driver, managed the feat in 2007 and 2008. The successes posted by the BMW national teams since 2005. Beside winning three drivers‘ titles via Andy Priaulx, in the 98 FIA World Touring Car Championship races to date, BMW drivers have… …claimed 3 WTCC manufacturers‘ titles. …achieved 38 victories. …celebrated 23 one-two results. …taken 16 pole positions in qualifying. …set the fastest lap 45 times. …been on the podium 115 times. …amassed 1411 points. …covered 11,240 laps and 47,304 kilometres. …led 527 of 1277 laps.