NEWS // THOMPSON TAKES FIA ETC CUP

Englishman James Thompson captured his first FIA European Touring Car Cup title today with a win in race two which followed his 3rd place in the opening race. Thompson, piloting his usual Danish Touring Car Championship Honda Accord Euro R, topped the points after two eventful races in rather difficult weather conditions at the Braga circuit in Portugal... [read more]

Britian's Harry Vaulkhard (below) was set up to take the overall win when in race two he led the field only to be pressurised into a lurid grass tracking moment by the highly experianced Thompson.

This dropped him down the field to sixth and enabled Thompson who had battled all the way back from 11th place after a lap one off track moment to stroke it home to the line.

Race one (below) had seen a win for Hungarian Norbert Michelisz in his Seat Leon which he followed up with a fitth place finish in race two which saw the drier conditions of the two encounters.

Reigning champion Michel Nykjaer couldnot complete a hatrick of ETC-Cup titles with after retiring from race two with his Chevrolet Lacetti looking extremely secondhand after some heavy contact at both it's rear and front ends.


FIA ETCC CUP BRAGA, OCTOBER 25th

RACE 1 RESULT - S2000:

1 5 S20 Norbert MICHELISZ HUN SEAT Leon 25:54.375 17 118.90 1:29.731
2 4 S20 Franz ENGSTLER GER BMW 320si 25:54.817 17 0.442 118.87 1:30.330
3 11 S20 James THOMPSON GBR Honda Accord Euro R 25:58.058 17 3.683 118.62 1:29.847
4 1 S20 Michel NYKJAER DEN Chevrolet Lacetti 26:04.658 17 10.283 118.12 1:30.512
5 10 S20 Harry VAULKHARD GBR Chevrolet Lacetti 26:15.302 17 20.927 117.32 1:30.815
6 8 S20 Jose MONROY POR Chevrolet Lacetti 26:28.500 17 34.125 116.35 1:31.846
7 6 S20 Francisco CARVALHO POR SEAT Leon 26:47.645 17 53.270 114.96 1:33.029
8 9 S20 D Felix DA COSTA POR Chevrolet Lacetti 26:51.893 17 57.518 114.66 1:30.600
9 2 S20 Tomas ENGSTROM SWE Honda Accord Euro R 27:01.376 17 1:07.001 113.99 1:33.554
10 3 S20 Urmas KITSING EST BMW 320si 27:01.730 17 1:07.355 113.96 1:32.296

RACE 2 RESULT - S2000:

1 11 S20 James THOMPSON GBR Honda Accord Euro R 24:57.638 17 123.41 1:25.402
2 4 S20 Franz ENGSTLER GER BMW 320si 25:00.394 17 2.756 123.18 1:25.375
3 2 S20 Tomas ENGSTROM SWE Honda Accord Euro R 25:03.633 17 5.995 122.91 1:25.508
4 6 S20 Francisco CARVALHO POR SEAT Leon 25:08.304 17 10.666 122.53 1:25.884
5 5 S20 Norbert MICHELISZ HUN SEAT Leon 25:24.579 17 26.941 121.23 1:27.654
6 10 S20 Harry VAULKHARD GBR Chevrolet Lacetti 25:25.453 17 27.815 121.16 1:26.134
7 9 S20 D Felix DA COSTA POR Chevrolet Lacetti 25:34.238 17 36.600 120.46 1:25.711
8 12 S20 Per POULSEN DEN Honda Accord Euro R 25:42.374 17 44.736 119.83 1:28.436

FINAL CLASSIFICATIONS:

1 James THOMPSON (GBR) MSA Honda Accord Euro R 6 10 16
2 Franz ENGSTLER (GER) DMSB BMW 320si 8 8 16
3 Norbert MICHELISZ (HUN) MNASZ SEAT León TDI 10 4 14
4 Francisco CARVALHO (POR) FPAK SEAT León TFSI 2 5 7
5 Harry VAULKHARD (GBR) MSA Chevrolet Lacetti 4 3 7
6 Tomas ENGSTRÖM (SWE) SBF Honda Accord Euro R 0 6 6
7 Michel NYKJÆR (DEN) DASU Chevrolet Lacetti 5 0 5
8 José MONROY (POR) FPAK Chevrolet Lacetti 3 0 3
10 Duarte Félix DA COSTA (POR) FPAK Chevrolet Lacetti 1 2 3
11 Per POULSEN (DEN) DASU Honda Accord Euro R 0 1 1


Photos: FIA Media
Editorial: Neil Tozer