The Race of France was the second round of the 2005 World Touring Car Championship season. It was held at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours at Magny-Cours in France on May 1, 2005. Jörg Müller won both races, the first from pole, and the second from eighth on the reversed grid.
Report
Qualifying Jörg Müller took his first pole position of the season by topping the timesheets in the qualifying session with a time of 1:49.846 in his BMW. Rickard Rydell's SEAT qualified second with a time 0.3 seconds slower than Jörg. Young Brazilian Augusto Farfus was third on the grid in the first Alfa Romeo ahead of reigning world champion Andy Priaulx in his BMW and Gabriele Tarquini in another Alfa Romeo.http://www.fiawtcc.com/archives/2005/reports/R03_04_Qualifying.pdf Qualifying report
Race 1 Jörg Müller raced into the lead from pole, and Andy Priaulx was able to jump into second demoting front-row starter Rickard Rydell down to third. Augusto Farfus, who started third had a poor start and dropped down to sixth. Jörg Müller took a god lead from Priaulx, who also had a good gap to third-placed Rydell, who had to worry about Gabriele Tarquini who was only a second behind. Antonio García battled for fifth with Augusto Farfus until Jordi Gené's SEAT overtook the Brazilian. Farfus lost momentum, allowing Dirk Müller also through, and the latter also proceeded to pass Gené, and this battle allowed García to get a comfortable gap. Jörg Müller won very comfortably, nearly three seconds ahead of Priaulx. Rydell completed the podium ahead of Tarquini, who despite staying close was unable to attack the SEAT car. García, Dirk Müller, Gené and Farfus completed the points, with the Brazilian starting on pole in the next race. Marc Hennerici won the Independent's Trophy with a 13th-place finish.http://www.fiawtcc.com/archives/2005/reports/R03_04_Races.pdf Race report
Race 2 The reverse grid saw Farfus on pole, and he converted it into an early race lead, but however Gené who had started second was swamped by the BMW's and Tarquini's Alfa. At the end on lap 1, Farfus led from Dirk Müller, García, Tarquini, Jörg Müller, Gené, Priaulx who had not gained any spots from 7th, and James Thompson in another factory Alfa. Farfus continued to lead but Jörg Müller was starting to fight his way up, passing Tarquini on lap 2 and García a lap later. The pressure from Dirk Müller to Farfus increased lap after lap, and Farfus made a mistake dropping him from the lead to fifth. Jörg Müller then passed teammate Dirk to take the lead and then pulled away at a rate of knots. Dirk ran second, with García close behind, but Tarquini dropped away. Soon Farfus and Priaulx were past, and the reigning champion then passed Farfus as well to make it a BMW 1-2-3-4. He was not finished yet, and after closing up on Dirk Müller and García, took third from the Spaniard and then attacked Dirk. Well ahead of them now, Jörg Müller won again to make it a double with Dirk holding off Priaulx and García to finish second, as BMW finished 1-2-3-4. Farfus had to settle to fifth, and Gené took sixth from a fading Tarquini, who was also passed by countryman and Alfa teammate Fabrizio Giovanardi near the end. Tom Coronel won the Independent's Trophy after finishing 14th, but he was disqualified for his car not complying with ride height regulations, and the Independent's Trophy went to Carl Rosenblad.
Classification
Race 1 Pos No Driver Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 42 Jörg Müller BMW Team Deutschland BMW 320i 12 22:19.545 1 10 2 1 Andy Priaulx BMW Team UK BMW 320i 12 +2.882 4 8 3 8 Rickard Rydell SEAT Sport SEAT Toledo Cupra 12 +7.253 2 6 4 2 Gabriele Tarquini Alfa Romeo Racing Team Alfa Romeo 156 12 +8.334 5 5 5 5 Antonio García BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320i 12 +9.899 6 4 6 43 Dirk Müller BMW Team Deutschland BMW 320i 12 +12.912 9 3 7 9 Jordi Gené SEAT Sport SEAT Toledo Cupra 12 +14.115 8 2 8 7 Augusto Farfus Alfa Romeo Racing Team Alfa Romeo 156 12 +15.667 3 1 9 10 Peter Terting SEAT Sport SEAT Toledo Cupra 12 +19.453 7 10 6 Fabrizio Giovanardi Alfa Romeo Racing Team Alfa Romeo 156 12 +19.587 11 11 3 James Thompson Alfa Romeo Racing Team Alfa Romeo 156 12 +23.991 10 12 26 Roberto Colciago JAS Motorsport Honda Accord Euro R 12 +24.812 13 13 32 IT Marc Hennerici Wiechers-Sport BMW 320i 12 +26.543 20 14 28 IT Carl Rosenblad Crawford Racing BMW 320i 12 +28.060 16 15 4 Alessandro Zanardi BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320i 12 +35.192 14 16 19 IT Valle Mäkelä GR Asia SEAT Toledo Cupra 12 +35.755 12 17 22 Nicola Larini Chevrolet Chevrolet Lacetti 12 +38.495 18 18 51 IT Salvatore Tavano DB Motorsport Alfa Romeo 156 12 +41.644 19 19 21 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Lacetti 12 +44.208 27 20 53 IT Gianluca de Lorenzi GDL Racing BMW 320i 12 +47.620 32 21 31 IT Giuseppe Cirò Proteam Motorsport BMW 320i 12 +47.792 24 22 27 IT Adriano de Micheli JAS Motorsport Honda Accord Euro R 12 +48.627 26 23 20 IT Tom Coronel GR Asia SEAT Toledo Cupra 12 +52.701 23 24 15 Thomas Jäger Ford Hotfiel Sport Ford Focus 12 +59.186 33 25 54 IT Stefano Valli Zerocinque Motorsport BMW 320i 12 +1:08.383 29 Ret 14 Thomas Klenke Ford Hotfiel Sport Ford Focus 8 Accident 31 Ret 55 IT Alessandro Balzan Scuderia del Girasole SEAT Toledo Cupra 4 Collision 17 Ret 52 IT Andrea Larini DB Motorsport Alfa Romeo 156 4 Collision 21 NC 36 IT Sascha Plöderl RS-Line IPZ Racing Ford Focus ST170 3 Driveshaft 30 Ret 23 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Lacetti 0 Collision 15 Ret 33 IT Adam Lacko IEP Team BMW 320i 0 Spun off 22 Ret 30 IT Stefano D'Aste Proteam Motorsport BMW 320i 0 Collision 25 DNS 37 IT Frank Diefenbacher RS-Line IPZ Racing Ford Focus ST170 28
Race 2 Pos No Driver Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 42 Jörg Müller BMW Team Deutschland BMW 320i 12 22:23.707 8 10 2 43 Dirk Müller BMW Team Deutschland BMW 320i 12 +5.003 3 8 3 1 Andy Priaulx BMW Team UK BMW 320i 12 +5.171 7 6 4 5 Antonio García BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320i 12 +5.480 4 5 5 7 Augusto Farfus Alfa Romeo Racing Team Alfa Romeo 156 12 +6.034 1 4 6 9 Jordi Gené SEAT Sport SEAT Toledo Cupra 12 +8.879 2 3 7 6 Fabrizio Giovanardi Alfa Romeo Racing Team Alfa Romeo 156 12 +10.538 10 2 8 2 Gabriele Tarquini Alfa Romeo Racing Team Alfa Romeo 156 12 +10.828 5 1 9 3 James Thompson Alfa Romeo Racing Team Alfa Romeo 156 12 +17.135 11 10 10 Peter Terting SEAT Sport SEAT Toledo Cupra 12 +19.057 9 11 8 Rickard Rydell SEAT Sport SEAT Toledo Cupra 12 +21.256 6 12 26 Roberto Colciago JAS Motorsport Honda Accord Euro R 12 +22.527 12 13 22 Nicola Larini Chevrolet Chevrolet Lacetti 12 +23.794 17 15 28 IT Carl Rosenblad Crawford Racing BMW 320i 12 +26.152 14 16 21 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Lacetti 12 +27.392 19 17 32 IT Marc Hennerici Wiechers-Sport BMW 320i 12 +28.849 13 18 31 IT Giuseppe Cirò Proteam Motorsport BMW 320i 12 +29.162 21 19 51 IT Salvatore Tavano DB Motorsport Alfa Romeo 156 12 +31.718 18 20 53 IT Gianluca de Lorenzi GDL Racing BMW 320i 12 +32.314 20 21 27 IT Adriano de Micheli JAS Motorsport Honda Accord Euro R 12 +32.902 22 22 15 Thomas Jäger Ford Hotfiel Sport Ford Focus 12 +38.381 24 23 14 Thomas Klenke Ford Hotfiel Sport Ford Focus 12 +39.227 30 24 54 IT Stefano Valli Zerocinque Motorsport BMW 320i 12 +52.259 25 25 4 Alessandro Zanardi BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320i 12 +53.862 15 26 36 IT Sascha Plöderl RS-Line IPZ Racing Ford Focus ST170 10 Retired 27 Ret 19 IT Valle Mäkelä GR Asia SEAT Toledo Cupra 4 Collision 16 DNS 55 IT Alessandro Balzan Scuderia del Girasole SEAT Toledo Cupra 26 DNS 23 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Lacetti 28 DNS 30 IT Stefano D'Aste Proteam Motorsport BMW 320i 29 DNS 33 IT Adam Lacko IEP Team BMW 320i 32 DNS 37 IT Frank Diefenbacher RS-Line IPZ Racing Ford Focus ST170 33 DSQ 20 IT Tom Coronel GR Asia SEAT Toledo Cupra 12 Disqualified 23
Note: Tom Coronel was disqualified from 14th as his car failed to comply with the ride height. No driver was given 14th.
Standings after the races
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Dirk Müller 29 2 Jörg Müller 25 3 Andy Priaulx 23 4 Antonio García 19 5 Gabriele Tarquini 14
Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 BMW 65 2 Alfa Romeo 46 3 SEAT 33 4 Chevrolet 12 5 Ford 0
Note: Only the top five positions are included for the drivers standings.
References
External links