Following Audi’s success with the diesel powered “R10” and barely a month after the Spanish firm announced that it’ll enter the FIA World Touring Car Championship with the Leon TDI, Seat became the first manufacturer to win a round of the WTCC series in a diesel powered car. The Seat Leon TDI WTCC, driven by Yvan Muller, won the first of two races at the Motorsport Arena in Oschersleben, Germany.
Commenting on his success, Muller said, “I am very pleased to give the SEAT León TDI its first World Championship win. We took a big risk introducing it in the middle of the season, but after a lot of hard work to make this new technical innovation work, it has paid us back. We did not expect to win here today, but I am very pleased we did.” -Press release after the jump
HISTORIC WTCC VICTORY IN GERMANY FOR SEAT SPORT
SEAT León TDI scores first diesel engine victory in the WTCC
SEAT scored an historic result in the FIA World Touring Car Championship, by becoming the first manufacturer to win a round of the series in a diesel engined car. The SEAT León TDI WTCC, driven by Yvan Muller, won the first of two races at the Motorsport Arena in Oschersleben, German today, ahead of the SEAT León of pole-sitter Gabriele Tarquini – who continues to highlight how competitive the petrol-engined León is. In Race 2, Jordi Gené completed a remarkable day, finishing 3rd in his SEAT León TDI – having started Race 1 from 18th on the grid!
The results moves Yvan from 6th to 4th in the Drivers’ standings, just 16 points behind the leader (Augusto Farfus) and right in contention for the title with six races remaining. Gabriele is just 5 points further behind in 5th. SEAT out-scored BMW for the second consecutive WTCC race weekend to close the gap to 29 points, while it is now 25 points clear of 3rd-placed Chevrolet. SEAT remains the only team to beat BMW on its home touring car race, with Yvan’s victory matching Rickard Rydell’s ETCC race win in 2004.
Jordi was upset to have qualified 18th, especially as he had been fastest in the first sector and heading towards pole before he made a mistake. Jaime Puig, Director of SEAT Sport, told his driver to ‘keep the faith’ – and it was an inspired piece of advice as Jordi did exactly that, and finished 6th and 3rd respectively. Tiago Monteiro had two hard fought races, finishing 10th and 8th, while Michel Jourdain was fast all weekend, and turned a frustrating 20th qualifying slot into excellent 12th and 9th place race results. Peter Terting, making a comeback to the WTCC with SEAT Sport, had bad lucky. He was a victim of a Turn 2 accident in Race 1 and finished 2 laps down in Race 2, after pitting to repair front bodywork damage.
SEAT scored a 1-2 in the WTCC Independents’ Trophy, with the SEAT Sport Italia Leóns of Roberto Colciago and Massimiliano Pedala winning Races 1 and 2 respectively. It was an incredible performance by both drivers, as Colciago had qualified 3rd overall for the first race, and Pedala had to recover from a first corner accident in Race 1 to win the category in Race 2. That Race 1 start-line accident severely damaged Pierre-Yves Corthals’ Independents’ Trophy leading SEAT Belgium León, sidelining it for the rest of the weekend – and he leaves Germany 3rd in the standings.
Race 1
Gabriele and Yvan made the perfect rolling start, heading side-by side at the front of the 26 car field down into the sharp left Turn 1, as the SEAT León drivers held a secure 1-2 position. Things were far from perfect behind, as Alex Zanardi (BMW) collided with Alain Menu (Chevorlet), who in turn hit the Independents’ Trophy leading driver Pierre-Yves Corthals (SEAT Belgium León) and Massimiliano Pedala (SEAT Sport Italia León) – which saw all four cars hit the pit wall. There then followed an accident coming out of Turn 2, when Felix Porteiro (BMW) and Nicola Larini (Chevorlet) appeared to collide, taking the SEAT Leóns of Peter Terting and Tom Coronel with them – with all four cars retiring from the race.
Jordi was the main beneficiary of these two mid-field incidents, moving from 18th to 6th in his SEAT León TDI – a position he would hold to the end, after brilliantly defending the challenge of Augusto Farfus (BMW).
The Safety Car came out for two laps and the 14 lap race was extended to 16. Yvan was pushing his team-mate hard, and on lap 5 the Frenchman took a different line through Turn 1 and overtook Gabriele on the inside of Turn 2. It was a fair and clean move, and although Gabriele continued to push Yvan hard all the way to the chequered flag, Yvan gave the SEAT León TDI an historic first WTCC victory. Having finished 2nd (in Pau) and 3rd (at Valencia), it was Yvan’s first WTCC victory of the 2007 season.
Tiago Monteiro had moved from 7th to 6th, but his race was spoilt at Turn 1 when Roberto Colciago (SEAT Sport Italia León) clipped the back of his León. With the bodywork rubbing on the rear right tyre, Tiago slowly slipped down to finish 10th. Colciago, meanwhile, had a great race, setting the fastest lap on lap 8 (1:37.262 / 136.80kph) and finishing 8th – ensuring a pole position start for Race 2
Michel Jourdain Jr did extremely well to avoid both first lap accidents and was rewarded with a 12th place finish, having started 20th.
Classification
1. Yvan Muller (SEAT León TDI)…27:57.209
2. Gabriele Tarquini (SEAT Leon)…27:57.655
3. James Thompson (Alfa Romeo)…27:58.002
4. Jorg Muller (BMW)…27:58.465
5. Andy Priaulx (BMW)…27:58.689
6. Jordi Gené (SEAT León TDI)…27:59.973
10. Tiago Monteiro (SEAT León)…28:05.842
12. Michel Jourdain Jr. (SEAT León)…28:13.782
DNF. Peter Terting (SEAT León)
Race 2
Blue skies and bright sunshine had been replaced by clouds and strong wins in the three and a half hours between the end of Race 1 and the beginning of Race 2. Roberto Colciago started from pole, but he was beaten to the first corner by the rear-wheel drive BMWs of Augusto Farfus and Andy Priaulx. Worst still, the SEAT Sport Italia León driver was pushed wide and into the gravel – rejoining at the back of the pack and eventually finishing 14th.
Jordi Gené made a fantastic start from 3rd and the inside line into Turn 1 paid dividends. However, as the cars funnelled into the narrow gap, Jordi’s front wheel was hit and for the remainder of the 14 lap race his steering was out and his car was crabbing down the straights. He did amazingly well to keep James Thompson (Alfa Romeo) behind and he was always close enough to pounce if the fighting Farfus and Priaulx collided – which they didn’t.
Tiago Monteiro was pushing his SEAT León to the limited and ran off the track and across the grass on lap 8, dropping from 6th to 8th and giving team-mate Gabriele Tarquini 7th place in the process. They were followed home by Michel Jourdain in 9th, who finished off a good day with a confidence-boosting performance. Peter Terting’s unlucky race weekend continued, when he had to come into the pits for front bodywork repairs. The talented young German driver finished 2 laps down in 22nd position.
Classification
1. Augusto Farfus (BMW)…22:55.632
2. Andy Priaulx (BMW)… 22:56.196
3. Jordi Gené (SEAT León TDI)…22:58.136
4. James Thompson (Alfa Romeo)… 22:58.494
5. Yvan Muller (SEAT León TDI)…22:59.327
6. Rob Huff (Chevrolet)…22:59.704
7. Gabriele Tarquini (SEAT León)…23:00.270
8. Tiago Monteiro (SEAT León)…23:03.906
9. Michel Jourdain Jr. (SEAT León)…23:05.494
22. Peter Terting (SEAT León)…+2 laps
Driver quotes
Yvan Muller: (SEAT León TDI nº12): “I am very pleased to give the SEAT León TDI its first World Championship win. We took a big risk introducing it in the middle of the season, but after a lot of hard work to make this new technical innovation work, it has paid us back. We did not expect to win here today, but I am very pleased we did.”
Gabriele Tarquini (SEAT León nº 11): “I was very pleased to have qualified on pole, but race day today has been very tough. I scored ten points in the Drivers’ Championship, and I think it is the maximum I could have hoped to score this weekend. The car has worked well all weekend, but I would have liked to have had more speed down the straights.”
Tiago Monteiro (SEAT León nº 18): “It was a weekend full of experience for me, with a lot of overtaking, pushing and crashing. You know the racing is going to be tight when twenty cars qualify within one second of each other, and this is what happened. I made two good starts, but both races were full of incidents. It was a great result for the team, with the first victory for the León TDI and podiums for Yvan, Gabriele and Jordi, and it’s been a very positive race weekend.”
Jordi Gené (SEAT León TDI nº 9): “I started today eighteenth on the grid and with so much bad luck this year I had too many ghosts on my mind. Jaime [Puig] told me to keep the faith, and he was right. Of course I would have liked to have won with the León TDI, but the most important thing is that this is a great result for SEAT. To introduce a new car in the middle of the season is a lot of work, and this is a great reward for the team.”
Michel Jourdain Jr (SEAT León nº10): “I’ve been competitive this weekend and I’m faster each race, but things didn’t go my way again. I was involved in an accident in race one, but I pushed really hard in race two, and in the end I am not so unhappy. I am faster each race and that is the most important thing. Good luck will come I’m sure.”
Peter Terting (SEAT León nº 40): “I’m really disappointed, because I was looking forward to racing in the WTCC again and all I’ve had is bad luck. I had the pace and the car was good, but the accident in the first race had nothing to do with me and I picked up damage in the second race.”
Jaime Puig, Director SEAT Sport: “It has been a fantastic race weekend for us and a great result for the León TDI. I would like to thank the people at SEAT who put faith in us to do this project and the team who have worked very hard in such a short space of time to make the TDI competitive. It was a difficult decision to introduce the diesel engine mid-season, but we saw the potential and made the brave move to go with it. We will also continue to develop the petrol engined León, because this is also very important to us; it is very competitive, as pole position and two victories in the Independents’ Trophy in Germany prove.”
2007 FIA World Touring Car Championship – Standings after Round 16
Manufacturers’
1. BMW, 204 points.
2. SEAT, 175 points.
3. Chevrolet, 150 points.
4. Alfa Romeo, 84 points.
Drivers’
1. Augusto Farfus, 69 points.
2. Andy Priaulx, 68 points.
3. Jörg. Muller, 63 points.
4. Yvan Muller, 56 points.
5. GabrieleTarquini, 51 points.
6. Nicola Larini, 48 points
10. Tiago Monteiro, 29 points.
11. Jordi Gené, 23 points.
18. Michel Jourdain Jr, 3 points.
Independents’ Trophy
1. S. D’Aste, 99 points.
2. L. Rangoni, 93 points.
3. P-Y Corthals, 92 points.
4. R. Colciago, 50 points.
Next Race: Rounds 17/18 of the FIA WTCC takes place at Brands Hatch in the UK on September 22/23
