Today, Sunday, the drivers in the Repsol SEAT Sport team faced two complicated races at Brands Hatch, but in spite of the all the difficulties they were able to mainatin their positions at the top of the two WTCC classifications, drivers and constructors, after eight rounds of the twelve in this year`s championship.
The points won by the Repsol drivers Gabriele Tarquini, Rickard Rydell and Tiago Monteiro, and the two for Yvan Muller in the second race, mean that the team stays in the same positions as before today`s races at the end of the day at the British track of Brands Hatch. Alain Menú and Augusto Farfus were the two winners today. This was in accordance with the predictions made by the engineers at the SEAT Sport team who knew that the recent changes made to technical rules would make it more difficult to keep up with the pace of their rivals in the UK.
An accident on Druids on the first lap of the first race eliminated Yvan Muller – his first retirement since 2005 – this also complicated his chances in the second race. The Repsol drivers Gabriele Tarquini and Rickard Rydell took over the leading positions and finished 4th and 5th, Tiago Monteiro was 7th and Jordi Gené was further back after an accident.
In the second race Monteiro and Rydell were fighting for 3rd place, hoping for Tarquini to arrive and for Muller to fight back, the latter finished 7th after starting right at the back of the field on the final lap. Rydell collaborated with Tarquini, whilst Monteiro and Gené did the same with Muller, who both won important points in the overall, by doing some productive teamwork.
In the constructors` classification SEAT has an advantage of 10 points over BMW and 64 over Chevrolet. In the drivers ranking Yvan Muller stays in the lead, but Gabriele Tarquini, second, has reduced the gap and is only 5 points behind his teammate. Augusto Farfus is 3rd just a single point behind Tarquini.
The next round of the WTCC takes place at the German circuit of Oschersleben, on 5th-6th September.
