The 2005 FIA WTCC Race of Italy was the opening round of the 2005 World Touring Car Championship season, the first season of the revived World Touring Car Championship, after a previous season in 1987. It was held at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza at Monza in Italy on April 10, 2005. BMW and Alfa Romeo took one victory each, Dirk Müller winning Race 1 for the former, and James Thompson winning Race 2.
Report
Qualifying Dirk Müller took pole position for the first World Touring Car Championship race by topping the timesheets in the qualifying session with a time of 1:59.009. Two other BMWs had finished behind him, fellow BMW Team Deutschland driver Jörg Müller, and the BMW Team Italy-Spain car of Antonio García. However, Jörg had his best time disallowed by the stewards after he failed to stop at the weighing scales, dropping him to 18th. Alfa Romeo Racing Team drivers Gabriele Tarquini and Augusto Farfus qualified in third and fourth place, with reigning European Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx fifth for BMW Team UK. The session was brought to a premature end after Alain Menu crashed his Chevrolet Lacetti, bringing out the red flags.http://www.fiawtcc.com/archives/2005/reports/R01_02_Qualifying.pdf Qualifying report
Race 1 Dirk Müller led the first race of the new FIA World Touring Car Championship from pole position to take the victory. Behind him, Gabriele Tarquini finished second, with his Alfa Romeo teammate Augusto Farfus finishing third after managing to keep Andy Priaulx at bay. Antonio García slipped back from his front row starting position to finish fifth after he had been nudged off the track by Farfus during an overtaking manoeuvre. The remaining Alfa Romeo drivers, Fabrizio Giovanardi and James Thompson, finished in sixth and seventh position, with SEAT Sport's Rickard Rydell taking the last point in eighth as well as pole position for Race 2, for which the top eight finishers from the first race are reversed on the race two grid. Marc Hennerici finished 13th overall to take the victory in the Independent's Trophy.http://www.fiawtcc.com/archives/2005/reports/R01_02_Races.pdf Race report
Race 2 Polesitter Rydell was passed by Thompson for the lead at the start of the second race. Meanwhile, Giovanardi stalled on the second row of the grid. García and Dirk Müller were able to pass Rydell for second and third and began chasing Thompson for the lead, but García made a mistake and lost three positions to Müller, Farfus and Tarquini. On the sixth lap, Farfus ran wide at the first chicane, while Müller and Tarquini clashed, putting the Italian out of the race. This allowed García to regain third behind Dirk Müller. Thompson crossed the line to win the race ahead of Dirk Müller and García. Jörg Müller recovered from 29th on the grid to finish in fourth, with Jordi Gené, Alessandro Zanardi and Giovanardi rounding out the points. Hennerici won the Independent's Trophy after finishing tenth.
Classification
Race 1 Pos No Driver Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 43 Dirk Müller BMW Team Deutschland BMW 320i 9 18:03.203 1 10 2 2 Gabriele Tarquini Alfa Romeo Racing Team Alfa Romeo 156 9 +2.465 3 8 3 7 Augusto Farfus Alfa Romeo Racing Team Alfa Romeo 156 9 +3.854 4 6 4 1 Andy Priaulx BMW Team UK BMW 320i 9 +3.977 5 5 5 5 Antonio García BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320i 9 +8.088 2 4 6 6 Fabrizio Giovanardi Alfa Romeo Racing Team Alfa Romeo 156 9 +8.248 8 3 7 3 James Thompson Alfa Romeo Racing Team Alfa Romeo 156 9 +8.910 9 2 8 8 Rickard Rydell SEAT Sport SEAT Toledo Cupra 9 +9.192 7 1 9 9 Jordi Gené SEAT Sport SEAT Toledo Cupra 9 +9.414 6 10 4 Alex Zanardi BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320i 9 +14.843 11 11 10 Peter Terting SEAT Sport SEAT Toledo Cupra 9 +16.042 10 12 26 Roberto Colciago JAS Motorsport Honda Accord Euro R 9 +20.441 13 13 32 IT Marc Hennerici Wiechers-Sport BMW 320i 9 +21.819 12 14 34 IT Tomas Engström Honda Dealer Team Sweden Honda Accord Euro R 9 +26.396 17 15 20 IT Tom Coronel GR Asia SEAT Toledo Cupra 9 +26.571 20 16 30 IT Stefano D'Aste Proteam Motorsport BMW 320i 9 +26.837 16 17 51 IT Salvatore Tavano DB Motorsport Alfa Romeo 156 9 +31.827 19 18 55 IT Alessandro Balzan Scuderia del Girasole SEAT Toledo Cupra 9 +33.477 25 19 52 IT Andrea Larini DB Motorsport Alfa Romeo 156 9 +37.711 15 20 21 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Lacetti 9 +37.720 21 21 27 IT Adriano de Micheli JAS Motorsport Honda Accord Euro R 9 +43.914 30 22 23 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Lacetti 9 +44.271 23 23 53 IT Gianluca de Lorenzi GDL Racing BMW 320i 9 +44.827 31 24 22 Nicola Larini Chevrolet Chevrolet Lacetti 9 +45.767 24 25 33 IT Adam Lacko IEP Team Alfa Romeo 156 Gta 9 +49.641 22 26 35 IT Jens Hellström Honda Dealer Team Sweden Honda Civic Type-R 9 +57.996 33 27 54 IT Stefano Valli Zerocinque Motorsport BMW 320i 9 +58.363 32 28 15 Thomas Jäger Ford Hotfiel Sport Ford Focus 9 +1:05.240 25 29 42 Jörg Müller BMW Team Deutschland BMW 320i 8 +1 Lap 18 Ret 14 Thomas Klenke Ford Hotfiel Sport Ford Focus 4 Accident 28 Ret 19 IT Valle Mäkelä GR Asia SEAT Toledo Cupra 4 Accident 26 Ret 31 IT Giuseppe Cirò Proteam Motorsport BMW 320i 0 Mechanical 29 DNS 28 IT Carl Rosenblad Crawford Racing BMW 320i 0 14
Race 2 Pos No Driver Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 3 James Thompson Alfa Romeo Racing Team Alfa Romeo 156 9 18:13.906 2 10 2 43 Dirk Müller BMW Team Deutschland BMW 320i 9 +0.530 8 8 3 5 Antonio García BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320i 9 +0.765 4 6 4 42 Jörg Müller BMW Team Deutschland BMW 320i 9 +1.248 29 5 5 1 Andy Priaulx BMW Team UK BMW 320i 9 +1.467 5 4 6 9 Jordi Gené SEAT Sport SEAT Toledo Cupra 9 +2.470 9 3 7 4 Alex Zanardi BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320i 9 +5.976 10 2 8 6 Fabrizio Giovanardi Alfa Romeo Racing Team Alfa Romeo 156 9 +6.767 3 1 9 7 Augusto Farfus Alfa Romeo Racing Team Alfa Romeo 156 9 +8.904 6 10 32 IT Marc Hennerici Wiechers-Sport BMW 320i 9 +18.231 13 11 55 IT Alessandro Balzan Scuderia del Girasole SEAT Toledo Cupra 9 +24.527 18 12 33 IT Adam Lacko IEP Team Alfa Romeo 156 Gta 9 +31.611 25 13 19 IT Valle Mäkelä GR Asia SEAT Toledo Cupra 9 +31.991 32 14 27 IT Adriano de Micheli JAS Motorsport Honda Accord Euro R 9 +32.555 21 15 22 Nicola Larini Chevrolet Chevrolet Lacetti 9 +33.545 22 16 51 IT Salvatore Tavano DB Motorsport Alfa Romeo 156 9 +34.121 17 17 10 Peter Terting SEAT Sport SEAT Toledo Cupra 9 +37.443 11 18 31 IT Giuseppe Cirò Proteam Motorsport BMW 320i 9 +37.480 31 19 54 IT Stefano Valli Zerocinque Motorsport BMW 320i 9 +42.228 27 20 52 IT Andrea Larini DB Motorsport Alfa Romeo 156 9 +44.679 19 21 35 IT Jens Hellström Honda Dealer Team Sweden Honda Civic Type-R 9 +1:12.036 26 22 30 IT Stefano D'Aste Proteam Motorsport BMW 320i 8 +1 Lap 16 23 34 IT Tomas Engström Honda Dealer Team Sweden Honda Accord Euro R 8 +1 Lap 14 RET 23 Alain Menu Chevrolet Chevrolet Lacetti 6 Engine 22 Ret 2 Gabriele Tarquini Alfa Romeo Racing Team Alfa Romeo 156 5 Spun off 7 Ret 21 Robert Huff Chevrolet Chevrolet Lacetti 5 Collision 20 Ret 53 IT Gianluca de Lorenzi GDL Racing BMW 320i 5 Collision 23 Ret 20 IT Tom Coronel GR Asia SEAT Toledo Cupra 4 Mechanical 15 Ret 26 Roberto Colciago JAS Motorsport Honda Accord Euro R 4 Accident 12 Ret 8 Rickard Rydell SEAT Sport SEAT Toledo Cupra 1 Accident 1 Ret 15 Thomas Jäger Ford Hotfiel Sport Ford Focus 0 Mechanical 28 DNS 14 Thomas Klenke Ford Hotfiel Sport Ford Focus 0 30 DNS 28 IT Carl Rosenblad Crawford Racing BMW 320i 0 33
Standings after the races
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Dirk Müller 18 2 James Thompson 12 3 Antonio García 10 4 Andy Priaulx 9 5 Gabriele Tarquini 8
Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 BMW 29 2 Alfa Romeo 28 3 SEAT 15 4 Chevrolet 6 5 Ford 0
Note: Only the top five positions are included for the drivers standings.
References
External links Results booklet from fiawtcc.com archives