The 2008 FIA WTCC Race of Brazil was the opening round of the 2008 World Touring Car Championship season and the third running of the FIA WTCC Race of Brazil. It took place on 2 March at the Autodromo Internacional de Curitiba in Pinhais, Brazil.

Both races were won by SEAT Sport with Yvan Muller winning race one and Gabriele Tarquini winning race two.

Background Having run their diesel engine in three of their cars towards the end of 2007, SEAT Sport entered five cars powered by their TDI engine for 2008 as they looked to challenge BMW.

Report

Testing and free practice Augusto Farfus was quickest in the Friday test session, Sergio Hernández in 14th was the best placed independent driver.

Fellow BMW driver Jörg Müller topped the first free practice session on Saturday morning which took place on a drying track.

SUNRED Engineering's Tom Coronel was quickest in the second practice session, just 0.002 seconds quicker than the BMW of Farfus.

Qualifying Yvan Muller led a SEAT front row with Rickard Rydell second. Farfus was third for BMW having had two of his fast laps interrupted, the first when the red flags came out for Chevrolet's Alain Menu who crashed at the final corner and the second time when he had to avoid a spinning Jörg Müller. Tarquini had the engine in his car changed prior to qualifying and ended the session fourth fastest while Nicola Larini was the best of the Chevrolets in fifth. His teammate Robert Huff was caught out by the red flag and started eighth for race one. Jordi Gené was ninth having suffered brake problems and Coronel behind him was the best–placed petrol–powered SEAT. Exagon Engineering's Pierre-Yves Corthals was the independents' pole sitter in 15th.

Menu escaped without injury from accident but was transferred to hospital shortly after for precautionary scans. He was later cleared to race having qualified 11th.

Warm-Up Farfus led a BMW 1–2–3 in the Sunday morning warm–up session, pole sitter Yvan Muller was ninth.

Race One Yvan Muller held first place at the start ahead of Rydell, Tarquini ran first in the early stages of the race before being passed by Farfus. Farfus was closing in second–placed Rydell but was unable to make a move having had to defend from teammate Jörg Müller on the last lap. Andy Priaulx had started 12th and climbed up the order to finish 5th, passing Tarquini and Gené in the final laps. Yvan Muller and Rydell successfully converted their front row starts into a SEAT 1–2, Coronel finished eighth to take pole position for race two. Corthals was the victor in the independents' trophy.

Gené and Corthals were both later given 30–second penalties after the race for driving infringements, Corthals' penalty handed victory in the independents' trophy to Olivier Tielemans. It was also discovered that the BMW of Farfus did not comply with the technical regulations and he was excluded from the race.

Race Two Coronel started on pole position, a bad start saw him drop well down the order. Porteiro assumed the lead which was then taken by Tarquini further around the first lap. On lap nine a charging Priaulx passed Félix Porteiro to take second place on lap nine and by the end of the race was on the tail of Tarquini. Tarquini finished first to take the second win of the weekend for SEAT, Priaulx was second and Porteiro third. Jörg Müller ended up fourth ahead of Yvan Muller after an intense battle between the pair. Coronel ended up outside the points in ninth. Tielemans was the independents' victor again.

Results

Qualifying Name Team Car Time 1 12 Yvan Muller SEAT Sport SEAT León TDI 1:24.295 2 10 Rickard Rydell SEAT Sport SEAT León TDI 1:24.404 3 3 Augusto Farfus BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 1:24.482 4 11 Gabriele Tarquini SEAT Sport SEAT León TDI 1:24.527 5 6 Nicola Larini Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Lacetti 1:24.579 6 2 Jörg Müller BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 1:24.659 7 18 Tiago Monteiro SEAT Sport SEAT León TDI 1:24.730 8 7 Robert Huff Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Lacetti 1:24.738 9 9 Jordi Gené SEAT Sport SEAT León TDI 1:24.785 10 20 Tom Coronel SUNRED Engineering SEAT León TFSI 1:24.987 11 8 Alain Menu Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Lacetti 1:24.993 12 1 Andy Priaulx BMW Team UK BMW 320si 1:25.046 13 5 Félix Porteiro BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 1:25.166 14 4 Alessandro Zanardi BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 1:25.175 15 23 Pierre-Yves Corthals Exagon Engineering SEAT León TFSIY 1:25.363 16 31 Sergio Hernández Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 1:25.721 17 26 Stefano D'Aste Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 1:25.806 18 16 Olivier Tielemans Wiechers-Sport BMW 320siY 1:26.003 19 42 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 1:26.437 20 43 Andrey Romanov Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 1:27.813 21 13 Ibrahim Okyay Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport BMW 320siY 1:28.412

Race 1 Name Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 12 Yvan Muller SEAT Sport SEAT León TDI 16 23:47.024 1 10 2 10 Rickard Rydell SEAT Sport SEAT León TDI 16 +0.763 2 8 3 2 Jörg Müller BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 16 +1.512 6 6 4 1 Andy Priaulx BMW Team UK BMW 320si 16 +6.747 12 5 5 11 Gabriele Tarquini SEAT Sport SEAT León TDI 16 +8.247 4 4 6 5 Félix Porteiro BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 16 +15.564 13 3 7 20 Tom Coronel SUNRED Engineering SEAT León TFSI 16 +16.334 10 2 8 16 Olivier Tielemans Wiechers-Sport BMW 320siY 16 +22.871 18 1 9 26 Stefano D'Aste Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 16 +25.886 17 10 42 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 16 +30.859 19 11 9 Jordi Gené SEAT Sport SEAT León TDI 16 +38.170 9 12 43 Andrey Romanov Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 16 +46.658 20 13 23 Pierre-Yves Corthals Exagon Engineering SEAT León TFSIY 16 +48.035 15 14 31 Sergio Hernández Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 15 +1 Lap 16 15 4 Alessandro Zanardi BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 15 +1 Lap 14 16 13 Ibrahim Okyay Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport BMW 320siY 15 +1 Lap 21 17 18 Tiago Monteiro SEAT Sport SEAT León TDI 13 +3 Laps 7 Ret 7 Robert Huff Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Lacetti 7 Race incident 8 Ret 6 Nicola Larini Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Lacetti 2 Race incident 3 Ret 8 Alain Menu Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Lacetti 2 Race incident 11 DSQ 3 Augusto Farfus BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 16 Disqualified 3 Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Race 2 Name Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 11 Gabriele Tarquini SEAT Sport SEAT León TDI 14 20:06.577 4 10 2 1 Andy Priaulx BMW Team UK BMW 320si 14 +0.327 5 8 3 5 Félix Porteiro BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 14 +1.202 3 6 4 2 Jörg Müller BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 14 +1.745 6 5 5 12 Yvan Muller SEAT Sport SEAT León TDI 14 +5.045 8 4 6 3 Augusto Farfus BMW Team Germany BMW 320si 14 +5.360 21 3 7 10 Rickard Rydell SEAT Sport Seat Leon TDI 14 +6.306 7 2 8 9 Jordi Gené SEAT Sport SEAT León TDI 14 +7.637 11 1 9 20 Tom Coronel SUNRED Engineering SEAT León TFSI 14 +13.536 2 10 8 Alain Menu Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Lacetti 14 +17.262 10 11 4 Alessandro Zanardi BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320si 14 +17.693 15 12 6 Nicola Larini Chevrolet RML BMW 320si 14 +17.901 19 13 18 Tiago Monteiro SEAT Sport SEAT León TDI 14 +18.597 17 14 16 Olivier Tielemans Wiechers-Sport BMW 320siY 14 +18.822 1 15 31 Sergio Hernández Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 14 +19.242 14 16 26 Stefano D'Aste Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320siY 14 +20.272 9 17 42 Franz Engstler Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 14 +21.476 10 18 23 Pierre-Yves Corthals Exagon Engineering SEAT León TFSIY 14 +24.299 13 19 23 Andrey Romanov Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320siY 14 +41.445 12 20 13 Ibrahim Okyay Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport BMW 320siY 13 +1 Lap 16 Ret 7 Robert Huff Chevrolet RML Chevrolet Lacetti 1 Race incident 18 Bold denotes Fastest lap.

Standings after the event

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Yvan Muller 14 2 Gabriele Tarquini 14 3 Andy Priaulx 13 4 Jörg Müller 11 5 Rickard Rydell 10

Yokohama Independents' Trophy standings Pos Driver Points 1 Olivier Tielemans 20 2 Stefano D'Aste 14 3 Franz Engstler 11 4 Sergio Hernández 11 5 Andrey Romanov 8

Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 SEAT 33 2 BMW 25 3 Chevrolet 7

Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of drivers' standings.

References

External links World Touring Car Championship official website