MotorSportVoice - 2009 - WTCC France & BTCC Donington Park

The historic street circuit of Pau welcomed the World Touring Car Championship to France during an event which would provide talking points for sometime to come. Donington Park surprised many as it was granted the a racing licence by the Motor Sports Association, meaning the British Touring Car Championship meeting would go ahead on a circuit which always provided top class racing action.

The series of events during the WTCC weekend began with the turbo pressure issue regarding the SEAT TDI cars. The variable tolerance based on the atmospheric temperature and pressure of each individual event was removed for Pau. This resulted in the fastest time posted by one of the cars in qualifying, only managing 15th place on the grid. SEAT issued a statement questioning their place in the series. In the remainder of qualifying Andy Priaulx claimed a brilliant pole position, only to have his car fail post-qualifying checks where it had been deemed to have over-revved. This caused him to lose his fastest time and meant he had to fall back on his second fastest time which gave him 5th spot on the grid. A number of other cars were affected by the post-qualifying penalties which resulted in a very mixed up grid. Rob Huff claimed victory in the first race of the day as he started well and moved up to second early on. He made an opportunist pass on Augusto Farfus soon after, when the Brazilian hit oil. Huff then drove to perfection around the narrow streets of Pau, as he fended off a barrage of pass attempts from Farfus. He was in turn chased throughout by fellow BMW drivers Jorg Muller, Andy Priaulx, Felix Porteiro, Sergio Hernandez and Franz Engstler. Alain Menu ended up 8th after a long battle with Priaulx for fourth. He gave up position to Hernandez and Engstler late on to secure a more favourable grid position for the second race. The second race itself was a major contributing factor to the series of events that would cast a shadow on the WTCC. Menu lost the lead off the start to the rear wheel drive car of Franz Engstler. Jorg Muller and Andy Priaulx tangled on the first lap. Muller was forced to struggle back to the pits, and Priaulx continued with superficial damage. Felix Porteiro was again in the centre of the action as he spun Sergio Hernandez around, and Tom Boardman broke his rear suspension after he collided with a barrier. The most jaw-dropping moment of the race, weekend and probably the season came as the Safety Car was deployed at the end of the lap. As Engstler came around turn one at lowered speed due to the waved yellow flags, the safety car emerged from the pit lane and pulled directly into the path of Engstler, who attempted to swerve around it but made heavy contact with the safety car. Thankfully all involved were injury free, but the race as red-flagged to allow marshals to clear the wreckages of the two cars from the circuit. On the restart Alain Menu led from Augusto Farfus, Rob Huff and Andy Priaulx. This order was maintained until the chequered flag, with an intense four way battle ongoing. The biggest mover was Alex Zanardi, he scythed his way through a number of SEATs to finish a fine fifth. Even after the race had finished, controversy reigned. Fifteen cars were found to be in breach of the same regulations which saw drivers have their qualification times stripped away. This time no action was taken against the drivers.

Donington Park was more than ready to host the BTCC, as Fabrizio Giovanardi posted the fastest time in qualifying. His joy was short-lived, as his car failed to restart after the weighbridge checks. This meant that the Italian maestro would be forced to start from the back of the grid. This meant that youngster Andrew Jordan would take his first ever qualifying pole position in the BTCC ahead of Harry Vaulkhard. James Thompson set about showing his true qualities as he became the first driver to secure two wins in the 2009 season. He made a break early on in both race one and race two. He was unchallenged for both victories, as his Team Dynamics car looked perfectly set up on the greasy and damp circuit. Matt Neal recovered from an early off in race one to eventually finish third. Giovanardi clambered up the order as he finished eighth. In the second race, Neal finished second ahead of Giovanardi in third. Jordan retired after an incident with Rob Collard during a huge on track battle. The final race of the weekend saw another double winner for 2009, as Rob Collard claimed another win for the Motorbase team. He made a perfect start, and didn't look back leading from the first corner to the flag. Thompson made a gamble before the race, and elected to go out on a mixture of wet and slick tyres, and as the race neared its conclusion he was lapping quicker than anyone else on the circuit. He eventually finish 6th, but had the track dried a little quicker than it did he would probably have been challenging for the victory as well. Harry Vaulkhard tipped Giovanardi into an unnecessary spin late on in the race. The Italian finished 5th after again demonstrating some immense car control. Vaulkhard was pipped on the line by Thompson, and eventually finished 7th.

The World Rally Championship is the next event on the calendar, as Olbia hosts Rally d'Italia Sardegna from 22nd to 24th May 2009.