Indeed, Priaulx was certainly the man on form in his 320i at Oschersleben and although Zanardi stole the headlines, the sub-story was also that the Guernseyman finally broke the victory drought that had left him without a win in the WTCCs inaugural season. Although the penalty given to James Thompson arguably aided Priaulx’s cause in the first race, he was still convincingly quick despite his weight, while a storming drive in the second race meant he secured a very encouraging 18 points in Germany, allowing him to close the gap to Müller right down.
It was also a successful race for Jörg Müller whose two third places vaulted him up the order to now lie fourth, albeit a healthy 24 points behind the championship lead. It was a fighting drive from Müller too, who fought back from 11th place on the grid in the first race in Germany courtesy of a 10 place grid penalty to trail Priaulx and Rickard Rydell for third, while he repeated that feat in the second event even if a desperate move on Zanardi at the final corner cost him a certain second place.
But while the form of the works Schnitzer BMWs of Jörg and Dirk Müller, as well as Priaulx is somewhat expected, the persistence of Zanardi throughout the second race in Germany was nothing short of extraordinary. Securing his first ever win in touring cars, Zanardi powered away from pole position to hold off the attentions of his distantly related team mates to make it nine different race winners from 14 races, as well as go down in history for his efforts.
Antonio García on the other hand endured another weekend to forget when he failed to score in either race, even if a collision on the final corner of the first race did prevent him to getting into the top eight and potentially claim the pole position that Zanardi readily took advantage of later in the day. Turkey will be an important point to prove for the duo though, with Zanardi eager to show that his win would was not a fluke, while García will be determined to get back on terms in a championship that at one point saw him in strong contention.
![Alex Zanardi leads at the start at Oschersleben [Pic credit: FIA WTCC]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/167257.jpg)
