Asian Motor Sports

Nine drivers head for the streets of Macau, China with a chance of winning the 2006 FIA World Touring Car Championship. The race for the title is led by Alfa Romeo’s Augusto Farfus, but with 20 points up for grabs, the Brazilian can be beaten by three BMW drivers and no fewer than five men from SEAT’s line-up.

Farfus jumped to the top of the FIA WTCC points with a victory and a fifth place last time out at Valencia in Spain. BMW Team Germany driver Jörg Müller won the second of the two races, which added to three points for sixth in race one, leapfrogged him to share second in the championship standings. He is now tied with fellow BMW driver and reigning FIA WTCC champion Andy Priaulx on 59 points, just one behind Farfus.

The final member of the BMW contingent with a shot of the title is Dirk Müller, Jörg Müller’s unrelated team mate. He now lies in sixth place, just seven points off the championship lead, after fighting through the field to seventh place in race two at Valencia.

The first of the SEAT drivers, in fourth place, is Gabriele Tarquini, a former British and European Touring Car champion. The 44-year-old Italian has 57 points after failing to score in Valencia. He is three points ahead of SEAT Sport team mate Rickard Rydell, another driver who was unable to add to his tally in Spain. James Thompson is on 49 points, while Yvan Muller and Peter Terting each have 48 points.

That means the nine title hopefuls are separated by just 12 points.

Farfus, who scored his first FIA WTCC victory in race one at Macau last year, said: “This championship is amazing; everything has turned around in one weekend. The same can happen in Macau, but we know from last year that the Alfa likes that track.”

BMW Team UK driver Andy Priaulx, who came from behind to win the title at Macau last November, was overjoyed to fight his way from the back of the grid in race two at Valencia to score a solitary point for eighth place. “I drove my heart out and I’m now really buoyed for Macau,” he said. “That point could be a crucial one, because this championship is so tight. I’m lucky that for the first time this year I won’t have much success ballast, which could also be crucial.”

Partnering Priaulx at BMW Team UK for the Macau races will be former Formula 1 driver Jan Magnussen of Denmark. In 1994, Magnussen dominated the British Formula 3 series, finishing 3rd in the Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix, and making his impressive Formula 1 debut at the end of the following year, standing in for Mika Hakkinen at the Pacific Grand Prix.

Jörg Müller will race in Macau with 75kg of success ballast, but he still believes he has a good chance of taking the title. “We were really struggling with the weight earlier in the season, but we have worked hard and are now competitive even when we are carrying a lot of kilos,” he said. “I’m looking forward to it, but it is hard to make a prediction ahead of Macau because there are so many cars in the championship fight.”

Dirk Müller, who headed into last year’s finale leading the points, believes the pressure is off him this time around. ”I’m really happy because for the first time in two years I am not going into the final race leading the championship,” he explained. “Someone will win the championship with 70 points and I’m more than capable of achieving that total.”

Yvan Müller believes he, and all of his eight rivals, are in with a shot as the series heads to the challenging 3.8-mile Guia Circuit at Macau. “We all know that anything can happen on that track,” everything is open. We are all still in with a chance.”

Although not in contention for the championship title, four-time Macau winner Dutchman Duncan Huisman, and local hero and 2000 Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix winner Andre Couto, are sure to be as popular as ever with the fans. Huisman is racing with the BMW Team Italy-Spain outfit this season, while Couto, a regular Japan GT racer, will be at the wheel of a SEAT Sport León for the Macau races.

Macau regular Tom Coronel will arrive in Southeast Asia as the new Independents’ champion. The Dutchman sealed the title in Valencia with his Hong Kong-owned GR Asia team, and is looking forward to going all out for a good overall result on a circuit he knows well. With double points on offer, four Independents entered for the big race can mathematically claim the runner-up spot in the privateers’ rankings.

Luca Rangoni narrowly leads the chase for second place from fellow Proteam BMW driver Stefano D’Aste, while Pierre-Yves Corthals and Diego Romanini remain in range.

Cross Posted @ Full Throttle