World Touring Car Championship: at the Valencia circuit double success for Team Alfa Romeo N.technology

Alfa Romeo dominated the scene on the Valencia circuit, winning both races valid for the World Touring Car Championship with Englishman James Thompson in a Team Alfa Romeo N.technology Alfa 156. The extraordinary undertaking arrived right on the day in which Luna Rossa qualified for the final of the Louis Vuitton Cup, another symbol of technology applied to sport and featuring in the same Spanish city.

This was a great performance by the driver, certainly, but the excellent work done by the Alfa Romeo N.technology team must also be highlighted, as Thompson himself said at the end of the two races: “You can’t ask for more than a pole and two wins. I’m over the moon. I think I’ve won two races in one day only a couple of times before in my life, but never at these levels. You can’t achieve these goals if the car you’re in is no good, and for this I have to thank the team. We worked hard for the whole weekend so as to be fastest into the first bend and make overtaking relatively easy. It was hard with Yvan in Race 1, but in Race 2 Jörg (Müller) and Andy (Priaulx) were fairer than fair. For me the championship has just started!”

A really difficult undertaking, considering the quality of the field and, above all, remembering that in the second race there is a reverse grid start. In detail, in the first race, Thompson’s Alfa Romeo 156 started in pole and held on to the lead right to the end, preceding Nicola Larini’s Chevrolet, Yvan Muller’s and Jordi Gene’s Seats and the Bmw of Andy Priaulx.

In Race 2, James Thompson’s car started in eighth position as per the regulations, and he set off on a spectacular pursuit through the field to bring himself out on top over the BMWs of Jorg Muller and Priaulx.

The next date on the World Touring Car calendar is the French circuit of Pau on 3 June.

Turin 20 May 2007