2008 World Touring Car Championship

  • Wido Rossen

VAN LAGEN AND ORIDO PENALISED

Sunday in Macau, Jaap van Lagen and Manabu Orido will take the start of the first race from the back of the grid. Both drivers were penalised by the Stewards, who disallowed all the times they had set in Friday’s qualifying session. Russian Bear Motorsport’s van Lagen had qualified in 21st position, but his LADA 110 car was found not conform at the ride height check.

Orido had posted the 20th fastest lap in his Chevrolet Lacetti, but he failed to stop twice at the weighing bay
 
  • Wido Rossen

QUALIFYING – MENU ON POLE AGAIN
from last year with a last gasp effort that was worth a new lap record of 2:30.285, nearly one second faster than his 2007 pole. The Chevrolet man beat the outgoing world champion Andy Priaulx by 0.17 seconds as they crossed the line together a few seconds before the session expired.

Five different drivers sat on pole position during the 45-minute session.

Yvan Muller gave a big boost to his title hopes by setting the third fastest lap, while the only other pretender to the world crown, his fellow SEAT driver Gabriele Tarquini, had to settle with eighth position after a incident put a premature end to his efforts.

The top-three Chevrolet-BMW-SEAT sequence was repeated by the drivers who qualified in fourth, fifth and sixth positions: Robert Huff, Augusto Farfus and Jordi Gené. Excellent result for Huff, who is aiming for third place in the championship, disappointing for Farfus, who had topped the three previous sessions and saw his hopes vanishing on his last qualifying attempt when he hit the wall at the Solitude Esses.

The two N.technology Honda cars failed to make the top ten; James Thompson posted the 11th fastest lap, 1.4 seconds off the pole, and local hero André Couto the 16th.

Tom Coronel was forced to skip most of the session because the SUNRED team were still working to repair his car after the crash in the second practice, however he managed to join after the second red flag in time to clock the 17th fastest lap.

Once again Sergio Hernández claimed the Indepedents' pole position, ousting Franz Engstler in the late stages of the session.

Qualifying was disrupted twice by the red flag: first with 18 minutes to go, after Masaki Kano's BMW stopped on the track at Moorish Hill; then again, four minutes after the restart, when Tarquini crashed at Paiol.


( source fiawtcc )
 
WTCC: Advantage Muller for title at Macau Yvan Muller took command in the title race with Gabriele Tarquini for the FIA 2008 World Touring Car Championship at Macau. Muller clinched third while Tarquini only took eight!
"It is true, I'm in a good position but I want to be prudent until everything is over. Anything is possible in Macau but I’m happy for this result which gives me a better position than Gabriele," said Muller.

"But his doesn’t change my plans and I want to be focussed on finishing both races in the best possible position."

Tarquini made a mistake during his run and touched the barriers. He had to pit for repairs and was unable to do any further qualifying laps.

"It’s a shame. The car was working very well and after I made the first try for a fast lap, I started for the second but was too optimistic while braking. The front wheel blocked and I crashed against the fences. It hasn’t been a good qualifying although I tried to give the best as always. But mistakes are expensive here," said Tarquini.

Tarquini could drop even further in the final standings as Rob Huff and Rickard Rydell are ahead of him in the qualifying session. But the Italian has not given up completely.

"My chances are smaller now but I'll be fighting for the championship until the last minute," said Tarquini.

touringcartimes.com
 
Yvan Muller (Seat Leon) is World Touring Car Champion 2008

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For the first time in history a Seat driver claimed the world championship title in the FIA World Touring Car Championship. In the streets of Macau frenchman Yvan Muller drove his Seat Leon TDI to a third position in race one, thereby claiming his first world title in the WTCC. Muller's teammate Gabriele Tarquini claimed a second position in the world championship, also in a Seat Leon TDI.
The first race on Circuito da Guia was won by Alain Menu in a Chevrolet Lacetti.
 
Fantastic race again. What a move Huff puled on Priaux in the Lisboa :) Too bad he didn't succeed, because it would have been the move of the year!

Congrats to Yvan Muller who really deserves this after a very strong season
 
man! have you guys seen the race ?!?!?! :jaw:

race 2 at first it looked like thompson would bring a second win to N-technology, but then he hit a wall, and everybody though it would be farfus. then again, maybe tarquini hit him, since they both got caught in an accident, in which menu later got involved, giving the 1st place to huff and a second podium to y. muller & priaulx!

damn the end of the race was a thrilling one! :D:D:D
 
  • Chris Noble

Gutted for Thomson as he was leading, During the commentary is seemed that he had hit oil, but it now looks like Farfus hit Thomson and pushed him into the wall wrecking Thomsons car.

It would also explain why Farfus's wheel came off, Also Thomsons onboard at the very end showed Farfus hitting him into the wall. But the crazy bit of Tarquini driving over farfus' wheel!!! his car just took off and could have rolled lol!

Well done to Huff for winning the race though! I reckon the oil came from Tarquini after driving over farfus' wheel.

Really hope Thomson, N Technology and Honda come back next year as the Honda is turning into a very good car now!
 

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