Preview – Spa-Francorchamps 2005.

Thursday, 28th July 2005

Following its inaugural trip to Central America, so as to redeem its new global status, the FIA World Touring Car Championship resumes usual order this week with the series returning to Europe and Belgium for rounds eleven and twelve at the legendary Spa-Francochamps circuit.

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If BMW have reached a patch of bad form then it seems Alfa Romeo are hitting their stride after three rounds where they have clawed back the deficit to their German rivals. This has largely been down to the performance of Fabrizio Giovanardi though, with the touring car legend invigorating his flagging career with his second win of the year in Mexico. Combined with a third in the second race, Giovanardi has managed to haul himself into contention by being the top Alfa Romeo driver and sits just two points behind Müller. However, he will be carrying a maximum 60kg of ballast at Spa.

Alfa Romeo Racing team mates Gabriele Tarquini, James Thompson and Augusto Farfus Jr are not far behind but with each failing to finish the second of the two races in Mexico, they have slipped down the order into the clutches of the SEAT drivers, who themselves have seen a massive upturn in performance in recent races.

Mexico proved a particularly fruitful experience for team leader Rickard Rydell and young team mate Peter Terting with the latter getting tongues wagging with his first win in his debut season at the wheel of the Toledo. The former SEAT Supercopa star made the most of his front row starting position in the second race courtesy of the reverse grid system to hold off Garcia for a well earned win. The German’s weekend could have been so much better too as he originally qualified for the first race in second place, but was given a ten place grid penalty courtesy of an incident in the previous round at Imola. His win made him the seventh different winner from ten rounds, but with 35kg of ballast, a repeat performance is not so expected.

Rydell too will also be weighed down by plenty of ballast thanks to a consistent season that has yielded a win and two podiums. However, while Rydell is confident that SEAT Sport will go well in Belgium, he is looking towards victory coming from Gené or Plato rather than himself or Terting thanks to their lack of weight.