Augusto Farfus endured a frustrating start to his World Touring Car Championship campaign after losing a podium finish on home soil in Brazil.
The
BMW Team Germany driver had produced a fine drive in the opening race of the weekend at Curitiba as he delighted the home fans by bringing his BMW 320si home in third place, despite dropping to fifth on the opening lap after running wide at turn one.
Having battled past team-mate Jorg Muller for fourth, he then got ahead of the SEAT Leon TDi of Gabriele Tarquini after a cat and mouse battle between the two and held off the challenge of Muller on the final lap to secure the position.
"The start wasn't the problem, but there was a bit of a mess at the first corner and I went onto the grass and was able to slot into fifth place,” he said following race one. "I was right on the limit and could not have pushed more, we were quite strong and they did a very good job. It is very hard to overtake in those conditions and I am happy with third as the championship is very long."
Farfus then battled to a sixth place finish in race two, but then received news that he was to be excluded from race one after race stewards found that the 'V' support for fixing the engine protection didn't comply with the regulations. As such, he was left with just three points from the weekend to lie seventh in the championship standings.
"It's disappointing to lose six points that I fought so hard for on the track," he reflected. "The speed of our car was very good, but we are still lacking outright speed so we can attack the diesel cars on the straight. We made a lot of progress over the winter."
Farfus' exclusion meant team-mate Muller inherited third place in the opening race, while the German achieved his target of a double points finish by finishing fourth in race two, leaving him in a solid fourth place in the standings after the opening weekend of racing.
![Jorg Muller - BMW Team Germany BMW 320si [pic credit: FIA WTCC]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/411955.jpg)
