WTCC Brands Hatch

[VkmSpouge]

Looking good for the British drivers so far.
James Thompson looking very good on home territory in his Alfa Romeo. Topping the first two Free Practice sessions. Colin Turkington and Andy Priaulx both inside the top top ten in the sessions and Rob Huff is also going well.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Menu on pole. Thompson 2nd and Turkington 3rd.

[VkmSpouge]

Colin Turkington is looking pretty competitive. It would be great to see him take a victory.

[MG2004]

Colin was very impressive on tyres he had almost no experience of!

Here are some photos from today
http://flickr.com/photos/mike_ward/sets/72157602122838579/detail/

Can't make it for raceday tomorrow unfortunately. Is it on TV at all?

[Steelrat]

Races are race one on Eurosport1 at 12:00 and 15:30. Warm-up is on Eurosport2 at 10:00

[MG2004]

Thanks steelrat!

I just posted some support race photos too at
http://flickr.com/photos/mike_ward/sets/72157602123355695/detail/

including some very exotic machinery in the GTs.

[SEATFreak]

MG2004
Can't make it for raceday tomorrow unfortunately. Is it on TV at all?

And if you don't have SKY it is on in the wee small hours of Wednesday at about 3am on C4.

Does anyone have any timings for the event?.....on second thoughts don't bother. You won't anyway :laugh:

[VkmSpouge]

Gosh that first race was boring. Almost nothing happened and when the handful of overtaking moves did happen the TV missed them.
Congratulations to Alain Menu for taking a fine victory. Thompson and Turkington were probably the fastest drivers there. I though Colin Turkington did very well, clearly shows the BTCC teams and drivers are capable of matching the WTCC lot :D .
Andy Priaulx got 7th at the end which is an effective 6th place so by my calculations he now leads the title by about 2 points. A third place start and the fact it appears to be extremely difficult for the WTCC drivers to overtake here, could mean Priaulx can get a very good result in the second race.

[SEATFreak]

I was a bit through the streaming on the WTCC website and other than the constant stop-start nature of the streaming the other thing that I didn't enjoy was the processional nature of the race.

Still, I saw a little bit of what, for me, was how good BTCC drivers can be in the WTCC. Though a lot could be down to the strength of the cars and their teams, four (five if you count Menu) in the top six have raced recently in the BTCC - and in the case of Turks still does. Thompson was second, Turks was "third", Yvan was fourth and Huff was sixth.

And the TDI's again showed how competitive they are.

Another thing. Speaking of Leon drivers I see a Russian driver by the name of Krylov competed. Does anyone know anything about him?

[BeansBeansBeans]

Yes, it was a very tight race, with few incidents or overtaking moves.

Turkington displayed some great defensive driving to hold off Yvan Muller in the early stages, and I was delighted to see him take 3rd, even though he was effectively waved through by Gene to benefit Muller.

[BDunnell]

I found that race a bore, although it was pleasingly bereft of silliness. And how bad is the Eurosport coverage? I've always found the channel's efforts a bit amateurish, but this was something else. The commentary in particular is terrible.

[tyreman2]

He is a last minute replacement in the GR-Asia car for Timur Sadrinov who had a problem with his passport he races in Rusian touring cars see the wttcc website

[VkmSpouge]

Another pretty dull race but at least there was a tad more excitement with Menu nerfing Farfus and Thompson holding off Coronel in the dying laps.
Congratulations to Andy Priaulx on taking a fine victory. A home win :D . Rob Huff making two Brits on the podium in two successive races. Porteiro did a decent job as a wingman to the Guernseyman and Turkington again showing how good he and WSR are coming in 4th place and again being by far the best independent team there.
Wish they would play at least one verse of the national anthems, its like they simply want to get it out of the way.

[bt52b]

I think there is a post race prog' on Globecast at 8pm on Tuesday

[bt52b]

I think there is a post race prog' on Globecast at 8pm on Tuesday

Anyone hear anything but music :confused:

[SEATFreak]

What do you guys think of the incident on the safety car lap where Alain Menu was alleged to have made an attempted passing move on Augusto Farfus?

I saw the incident on the highlights package and my purely personal opinion is I think it was unfair in that Alain didn't actually pass the entire length of the BMW but it was far in that I think Alain was attempting to pass. I think Alain should have held back. I could be wrong but that is just what I think and it doesn't mirror what most think.

[BeansBeansBeans]

I think Menu was in the wrong.

He was attempting to race under safety car condtions.

[Iain]

Typical Alain Menu in the pack incident. Out front he's fine, but if he's in with other cars, he gets too aggressive and makes mistakes like that.

It was an interesting day. I don't think the GP circuit promoted overtaking, as taking away Surtees and Clearways from the Indy circuit removes two potential passing points. Out the back it's so fast and flowing, that you really need a mistake from the car in front or a big power advantage to get past.

Surprised that the crowd wasn't bigger as well, as it's been well promoted. Mind you I think half the crowd were assembled on the grid before both races. There were a lot more people down there than before a BTCC race!

I was disappointed with the access to the drivers though. They all had unadvertised autograph sessions at 2pm at their respective hospitality units on the outfield, but they were well hidden in the main paddock, with barriers erected between trucks so that access to the back of garages was made difficult. I'm hoping SEAT are going to wheel out Gabriele at Thruxton in the 3rd car so I can get the autograph I didn't manage to get at the WTCC! :p :

[BDunnell]

I'm always surprised that drivers in various formulae don't close up to the car in front more when the safety car is about to come in, but what happened at Brands probably demonstrates why.

It reminded me somewhat of the clash between David Brabham and Patrick Watts in the second race of the Easter BTCC meeting at Brands in 1995, when Watts got pitched into the pit wall as a result of Brabham moving across in front of him. I bet Farfus had little idea Menu was there, let alone starting an attempt to pass.

[Les]

I was disappointed with the access to the drivers though. They all had unadvertised autograph sessions at 2pm at their respective hospitality units on the outfield, but they were well hidden in the main paddock, with barriers erected between trucks so that access to the back of garages was made difficult. I'm hoping SEAT are going to wheel out Gabriele at Thruxton in the 3rd car so I can get the autograph I didn't manage to get at the WTCC! :p :
I can't believe they charged for the pit lane walkabout with 2 drivers then they were (all) out in the support paddock - mad!.
As for the barriers - I worked that one a treat - up to Colin's truck, down the side, natter to him then along the whole lot of garages but behind the trucks.... no barriers to stop me :)
i'm off to monza next weekend - you want me to try and get that autograph?

[Iain]

It was my model Alfa WTCC car that I wanted signed, so I'll have to wait until I next see him in action to get it done. :) Got James Thompson to sign the other one from 2005, but the distance between the Alfa and the SEAT hospitality units was too great to get both at once!

[Les]

bummer.... saw there were Chevy models on sale but I have yet to see another Huffy one.