Macao, gara 1: Andy Priaulx avvicina il titolo

Nella prima corsa di Macao del WTCC, Andy Priaulx ha tradotto la pole in vittoria. Al via l'inglese ha tenuto il comando mentre Duncan Huisman da quarto si è portato al secondo posto. Alla prima staccata, subito un contatto tra Augusto Farfus e Dirk Muller, entrambi hanno proseguito. Nel corso del primo giro, hanno danneggiato le loro BMW Stefano D'Aste e Jan Magnussen. Priaulx, Huisman e Yvan Muller tirano il gruppo con Fabrizio Giovanardi che al 4° giro ha superato Farfus ed ha concluso la prova in un brillante quarto posto. Un incidente alla curva San Francisco ha messo fine alla corsa di Nicola Larini, stessa sorte per Alain Menu e Gianni Morbidelli. Al traguardo Maurizio Ceresoli e Diego Romanini. Tre i piloti che rimangono in lizza per il titolo: Priaulx con 69 punti, Farfus 64 e J.Muller 62.


English version
Andy Priaulx turned pole into a win in Race 1, leading all the way and getting closer to a second consecutive World Championship. Second place went to Duncan Huisman while Yvan Muller crossed the chequered flag third. At the start Priaulx got off well while fellow BMW man Huisman had impressively promoted himself from fourth to second by the first corner. It was at this corner on lap 1 that the first incident of the race happened. Augusto Farfus and Dirk Müller came into the Lisboa bend close; Farfus was on the inside and Dirk spun. The German’s car then blocked most of the track which caused the rest of the field to bunch up behind.
In the first lap Stefano D’Aste and Jan Magnussen had obtained damage to their cars so had very slow journeys back to the pits. The leading pack was held up severely by D’Aste at the Melco hairpin as overtaking on this part of the circuit is forbidden. This resulted in Coronel making ground on the front drivers. Seconds later at Melco, Thompson hit Menu but both kept position – 8th and 9th respectively. On lap 4 Giovanardi overtook Augusto Farfus for 4th at the Lisboa bend. The attack on Farfus was resumed on lap 5 by Jörg Müller and continued for the rest of the race. The Brazilian managed to keep Jörg at bay and came home 5th. Meanwhile Jörg had to do some defending of his own as Coronel was hot on his tail. Despite some nail-biting action Jörg finished 6th followed directly by the independent man from GR Asia.
Thompson was again involved in an incident on lap 7. The Briton went straight on at the Lisboa bend and rejoined 11th. Soon after, in a separate turn of events Nicola Larini crashed at the exit of San Francisco bend which meant the end of the race for him. Fellow Chevrolet driver Alain Menu also suffered a premature ending as he crashed on lap 8. With Menu out Peter Terting claimed 8th position
and the pole for Race 2. Only three drivers remained in the title fight before the second race: Priaulx (69 pts), Farfus (64) and Jörg Müller (62).

Max Kolles

Nella foto, Andy Priaulx (Photo Pellegrini).

L'ordine di arrivo di gara 1, domenica 19 novembre 2006

1 - Andy Priaulx (BMW 320si) - Schnitzer - 9 giri in 23'44"490
2 - Duncan Huisman (BMW 320si) - Ravaglia - 1"020
3 - Yvan Muller (Seat Leon) - Oreca - 1"385
4 - Fabrizio Giovanardi (Honda Accord) - JAS - 2"661
5 - Augusto Farfus (Alfa 156) - N Technology - 9"596
6 - Jorg Muller (BMW 320si) - Schnitzer - 10"495
7 - Tom Coronel (Seat Leon) - GR Asia - 11"089
8 - Peter Terting (Seat Leon) - Seat - 19"777
9 - Robert Huff (Chevrolet Lacetti) - Chevrolet - 26"631
10 - James Thompson (Seat Leon) - Seat - 30"059
11 - Gabriele Tarquini (Seat Leon) - Seat - 32"834
12 - Jordi Gené (Seat Leon) - Seat - 33"761
13 - Andre Couto (Seat Leon) - Seat - 34"358
14 - Dirk Muller (BMW 320si) - Schnitzer - 35"515
15 - Salvatore Tavano (Alfa 156) - N Technology - 1'03"559
16 - Rickard Rydell (Seat Leon) - Seat - 1'12"213
17 - Maurizio Ceresoli (Seat Leon) - GR Asia - 2'00"092
18 - Diego Romanini (BMW 320i) - Wiechers - 2'10"168
19 - Ao Chi Hong (BMW 320i) - Ao Motorsport - 1 giro
20 - Luca Rangoni (BMW 320si) - Proteam - 1 giro

Giro più veloce: Alain Menu in 2'34"249

Ritirati
1° giro - Jan Magnussen
1° giro - Stefano D'Aste
1° giro - Gianni Morbidelli
6° giro - Alex Zanardi
6° giro - Nicola Larini
7° giro - Alain Menu