Valencia: BMW race report

Priaulx concludes European season with fourth place for BMW.

Valencia, 19th September 2010. BMW Team RBM's Andy Priaulx (GB) remains in a promising position in the fight for the title after rounds 17 and 18 of the FIA World Touring Car Championship in Valencia (ES). At the "Circuit de la Comunitat" the triple world champion finished fifth in race one and came fourth in race two. Augusto Farfus (BR) dropped to the back of the field following a puncture after another car hit the Brazilian's BMW 320si WTCC in race one. Thanks to a spirited fight back in the afternoon race, Farfus managed to achieve an eighth-placed finish and scored four points.

SEAT's Gabriele Tarquini (IT) and Tiago Monteiro (PT) secured victories at the 4.005-kilometre circuit. After the end of the European leg of the WTCC season, Priaulx still ranks second in the Drivers' Championship. He has 240 points, and the gap to Yvan Muller (FR, Chevrolet) is 25 points. Farfus is seventh in the overall standings with 149 points.

The World Touring Car Championship now enters a six-week break, which will be used to transport the teams' cars and equipment to Asia by sea freight. On 31st October the next two rounds of the series are scheduled to take place in Okayama (JP), while the season finale takes place in Macau (CN) three weeks later.

Bart Mampaey (Team Principal):
"We experienced two very turbulent and difficult races today. The good news is Andy managed to score points in both races, although this track doesn't really suit our car. His main rivals in the title fight finished on the podium in both races, so every point was crucial to not let the gap to the leader become too big. Augusto was hit in race one, which cost him championship points and a promising grid position for race two. He then successfully worked his way up from 18th to eighth. This proves a lot more would have been possible for him today."

Andy Priaulx (Car Number 11):
Race 1: 5th, 1:46.222 min -- Race 2: 4th, 1:47.015 min -- Car weight: 1,198 kg
"This weekend was all about damage limitation in my championship battle. Race one was great and I reckon the first lap was the best first lap of my career. At the start of race two there was all sorts of action and my job was to make it through safely, which I did. All in all not a bad weekend, and I was happy with the way the car went in the race with a good balance on the used tyres."

Augusto Farfus (Car Number 10):
Race 1: 18th, 1:46.353 min -- Race 2: 8th, 1:47.247 min -- Car weight: 1,198 kg
"I'm disappointed, as I could have scored a far better result today than eighth had the accident not happened. Unfortunately a piece of my car's rear bumper cut my right rear tyre following Fredy Barth's hit. Race one was over after that. I made a great start in race two, ultimately finishing eighth. But I'm obviously not satisfied with the outcome of this weekend. Luck was not on my side. Now I hope to score some strong results in Okayama and Macau to bring the season to a positive end."

-source: bmw