ETCC - Spa - Race

2003 European Touring Car Championship
Rounds 11&12 -25/26 July, Spa (Belgium) -RACE

Priaulx hands his team a home win

The Spa weekend ended in the best possible fashion for Belgian based RBM, who
run BMW Team Great Britain, with Andy Priaulx claiming victory in the second
race of the day. It was also a great weekend for BMW Team Deutschland as podium
finishes for both Dirk and Jörg Müller helped reduce Gabriele Tarquini' lead in
the Drivers'Championship to just two points. BMW continues to lead the
Manufacturer' Championship and the lead over Alfa Romeo has now been increased
to 35 points. The event produced two exciting races and BMW were the quickest
cars with Andy setting fastest lap in race one and Jörg in race two.

BMW Team Deutschland -Schnitzer Motorsport - Charly Lamm: We had two exciting
races today and I am very pleased to have scored so many points. It was our
target to come to Spa and get closer to Gabriele Tarquini in the championship
battle, and we achieved this with both drivers. Now we can have a rest and see
where we are when we come back to the championship in Sweden in September.

Dirk Müller (GER) -Carrying 10 kilos of ballast: Qual 2nd ; Race 1 - 2nd ;
Race 2 -3rd : It was a brilliant weekend for me. In one way I am happy and the
other not so as I think I had a chance to win the first race, so was sorry I
didn't do it. In race two there was so much action in every corner you never
knew what was going to happen next. I had an incident with Rydell, who hit me
in the side, but I was able to keep going as I had a good car. I want to thank
Jörg for letting me by, which was a great thing. I pushed hard to get by Nicola
but just couldn't do it.

Jörg Müller (GER) - Qual 3rd ; Race 1 - 3rd ; Race 2 - 4th : It is very
important to score points, especially when you have forty kilos in your car.
The cars at the moment are quite different and I am sure there will be some
great fights in the next few races. Some circuits suit the BMWs better and some
the Alfas. The only bad thing I see is the last race is in Monza, and that is
definitely an Alfa Romeo circuit. In race two I let Dirk by as I saw he was
coming up very fast and thought he would probably have a better chance of
getting by Larini.

BMW Team Great Britain - RBM - Bart Mampaey: In my career with the team this
is the most sensational victory I have ever had. In race one we had a bad start
because of a handbrake problem. Andy lost nine places so went from pole to
tenth, but it was obvious from the lap times he had the car to win here. He
finished sixth in a close but fair battle with Giovanardi. What a second race
he then had from third on the grid! He overtook Duncan and then just drove away
from everybody.

Andy Priaulx (GBR) - Qual 6th ; Race 1 - 6th; Race 2 - 1st : All credit to my
team this weekend, they have been tremendous. I have had an excellent car. We
have worked very well together. At this level all the drivers are very good and
it makes the difference when you are with a good team. They have done well and
I have rewarded them with a good result. I needed that good result after the
first race when I made a mistake and left the handbrake half on. I had to get
my head down and make the best of a bad situation. In the second race I knew I
had the speed to win. I made a good start, got by Duncan and then was able to
pull away.

BMW Team Italy-Spain - Ravaglia Motorsport - Roberto Ravaglia: Fabrizio did a
good first race. In the end I feel we were not as competitive on this circuit
as the other BMWs. I don't want to make excuses, but perhaps it was because we
were the only team not to test here.

Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA) - Qual 5th; Race 1 - 5th; Race 2 - 16th: It was not
a good weekend. I was not so disappointed because the first race was good. It
was interesting as I was able to fight with other drivers until the end of the
race. I don't know why in the second race with new tyres I immediately had
difficulties. I kept losing time and the last two laps of the race were very
difficult. Eventually I spun because I had a collision with Huisman. I know
from this position I cannot win the championship.

Antonio Garcia (ESP) - Qual 17th ; Race 1 - 17th ; Race 2 - 12th : I was quite
confident for the first race as after the warm up we made a few changes to the
set-up. At the start of race one I had some Alfas in front of me and when the
lights went to green they were stopped and, with nowhere to go, I went on the
grass. I didn't think this was a problem as I was trying to avoid a crash at
the start, but I was given a drive through penalty for this. Without this I
think I could have been in the top eight. In the second race I had a problem
with the quickshift and this dropped me back. We are not as competitive as we
have been in the past so now we have to work on this for the next races.

Results: Race 1 - 8 laps - 1. Gabriele Tarquini ( ITA /Alfa Romeo )
20:38.796, 2. Dirk Müller (GER/ BMW 320i) 20:39.173, 3. Jörg Müller (GER/
BMW 320i) 20:39.496, 4. Nicola Larini (ITA/Alfa Romeo) 20:39.962, 5. Fabrizio
Giovanardi (ITA/BMW 320i) 20:40.889, 6. Andy Priaulx (GBR/BMW 320i) 20:40.9957.
Duncan Huisman (NED/ BMW) 20:45.572, 8. Roberto Colciago (ITA/Alfa Romeo)
20:45.739.

Race 2 - 8 laps - 1. Andy Priaulx (GBR/BMW 320i) 20:27.500, 2. Nicola Larini
(ITA/Alfa Romeo) 20:31.229, 3. Dirk Müller (GER/BMW 320i) 20:31.641, 4. Jörg
Müller (GER/ BMW 320i) 20:31.802, 5. roberto Colciago (ITA/Alfa Romeo)
20:39.236, 6. Duncan Huisman (NED/ BMW 320i) 20:41.140, 7. Paolo RUBERTI
(ITA/ Alfa Romeo) 20:41.294, 8. Tom Coronel (NED/BMW 320i) 20:42.297.

Championships Positions:
Drivers: 1. Tarquini 64, 2. J Muller 62, 3. D Muller 58, 4. A Priaulx 57, 5. N
Larini 57, 6. R Colciago 37, 7. F Giovanardi 32, 8. D Huisman 28, 9. A Garcia
21, 10. T Coronel 11, 11. Rydell 10, 12 Balzan 9, 13 P Ruberti 9, 14. F
Francia 4, 15 Gené , 16 A Couto 3, 17. S Tavano 2

Manufacturers: 1. BMW. 179, 2. Alfa Romeo 144, 3. Seat 4.